Chunky Monkey Bars are delicious banana walnut cookie-like bars that are packed with plenty of chocolate chips.
Ben & Jerry’s released an ice cream called, Chunky Monkey® in 1988. It’s a banana ice cream that is studded with chocolate chunks and walnuts. It’s a classic fan favorite. Now you can make these chunky monkey bars at home, and they have the same flavors!
This recipe comes from The Big, Fun Kids Baking Book by Food Network Magazine. I like this baking recipe book for kids because the instructions are written pretty simply (and okay for adults too). There are more than 100 baking treat recipes with photos of all. This book would be a great gift for the young foodie.
Here are a few more recipes that have caught my eye:
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Muffins
- Butterscotch Pretzel Bars
- Plum Pie Cookies
- Milk Chocolate Cookie Cups
- Cookie Butter Cupcakes
- PB&J Sheet Cake
- Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
- DIY Sprinkles
Ingredients needed:
- all purpose flour
- salt
- unsalted butter
- white sugar
- dark brown sugar
- eggs
- overripe bananas
- vanilla extract
- semisweet chocolate chips
- chopped walnuts
How to make Chunky Monkey Bars:
There is a full, printable recipe at the end of this post. You will need a 9×13-inch pan to make this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the pan with foil or parchment paper, and spray with nonstick spray.
Whisk together the flour and salt. In another bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugars until creamy. Mix in the eggs, banana and vanilla.
Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Spread the batter in the pan with a rubber spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bars comes out clean- 35 to 40 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and let the bars cool completely.
How to freeze Chunky Monkey Bars:
These bars freeze beautifully so they’re a great make-ahead dessert option.
- Bake and cool the cookie bars.
- Slice the bars into squares. If you lined your baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, simply pull the slab of bars out of the pan, place onto a cutting board, and cut into squares.
- Layer the bars between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. The parchment paper ensures that the bars don’t stick to each other and that the tops of the cookie bars stay intact.
- Thaw the bars overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
Here are a few more banana dessert recipes you might like to try:
- Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Classic Banana Bundt Cake
- Banana Bread Blondies
- Banana Cream Pie
- No Bake Banana Rum Cheesecake
Chunky Monkey Bars
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large overripe banana, mashed with a fork
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with foil. leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Coat the foil with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugars until creamy- about 2 minutes. Mix in the eggs, banana and vanilla; beat until combined. Beat in the flour mixture until just combined, then stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts with a wooden spoon.
- Spread the batter in the pan with a rubber spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bars comes out clean- 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the bars cool completely.
- Lift the bars out of the pan using the overhanging foil. Peel off the foil. Cut into squares.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am in the middle of making this recipe. Where is the leavening? no baking powder or soda. This will be very dense.
There is no leavening in the recipe (just double checked from the cookbook it came from). Yes, they do turn out as dense bars, but they are delicious. How did they turn out for you?
My family loved these bars SO MUCH!! They have already requested another batch!
I was looking for something to make with over ripe bananas and these Chunky Monkey Cookie Bars were just the thing. My kids loved them so much that they were gone by the next day.
These Chunky Monkey Bars are my new favorite thing, they are absolutely delicious!
I like that you use only 1 banana usually you have to have at least 2 to make dessert.