Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Bars

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Bars - made November 12, 2022 from The Baker Mama 

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 4 medium, ripe bananas)

1 cup chocolate chips

Streusel

1/2 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together oats, baking powder and baking soda. Add the oat mixture to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Fold in mashed banana and 1 cup chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
5. Streusel: in a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter, brown sugar and oats with a fork until crumbly. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the batter.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

I'm not sure how I feel about this recipe. It's easy to make and it doesn't contain flour so it's gluten-free if you use gluten-free baking powder. 

I wasn't actually trying to make a gluten-free recipe; it just worked out that way. I saw this on pinterest and thought the original blog's pictures looked great. My niece's boyfriend is a peanut butter lover so I thought it would also be good to try out recipes with peanut butter.

What I got wrong is I focused too much on the peanut butter oatmeal part of the title and underestimated the "banana bread bars" part. Yup, the banana flavor pretty much overwhelmed the peanut butter flavor.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a case of my (incorrect) expectations not being met. 

As a relatively healthy bar chock full of peanut butter, oats, bananas and chocolate chips (feels like an Elvis dessert), this delivers. especially when eaten warm. 

Unfortunately, for my baking purposes which is mostly for care packages to deployed troops, I think these are too moist to be sent safely overseas, even vacuum sealed. 

They're not that sweet, even using overripe bananas so if you wanted a chewy bar cookie that isn't too rich or sweet, this is a good option. It's not overwhelmingly peanut butter-y though so this would probably speak more to banana bread and/or oatmeal lovers.