Monkey Bars
Monkey bars are moist snacking cakes that might remind you of banana bread.
Monkey bars are moist snacking cakes that might remind you of banana bread.
So I made some alterations to this recipe. Like some others, I replaced the raisins with semi-sweet chocolate chips, added another 1/4 cup walnuts, and increased the amount of bananas to a full cup to ensure that I got the full banana taste. And....I fell in love! Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe. Highly recommended!
I too have been making these for years and really love them. Tonight I subbed chopped roasted UNsalted peanuts for walnuts and found that a great idea--kind of like peanut butter and banana. I do use a whole egg instead of whites unless I just happen to have a carton of whites. Also use half whole wheat, half unbleached for a nice texture. I agree that a TB of ground flaxseed also enhances the nutty flavor.
My family loves this. I have been making it for years. The only modification I make is to use 1/2 white whole wheat flour, & 1/2 white flour. Truly delicious. A great after school snack for teenage boys, it disappears from the pan when I'm not looking!
Since my kids don't like raisins OR nuts in things, I substituted chocolate chips for the raisins and flaked coconut for the nuts. Used apple juice instead of rum and used powdered buttermilk mix. Only one of my kids liked the bars, but the adults liked them a lot. The addition of coconut makes them really special. Very moist - more of a cake than a bar.
These are quick and easy to make, and did I mention that they are delicious! Definitely a keeper. I used rum and milk instead of buttermilk, and they turned out great. Will make again!
My quick go to recipe. I substitute mini chocolate chips for the raisins.
I have made this recipe a ton of times and it is great. You can easily swap out half of the flour for whole wheat. I add cinnamon and have changed the nuts to pecans. I prefer Flor de Cana rum.
When i made this i used skim milk, no nuts, and added rum (one of the best parts haha!). It turned out moist and delicious! Maybe just a lil too rummy tasting for me, but my boyfriend seemed to enjoy it like that. Next time i'll add a little less rum. : )
Substitutions: flour (1/2 wheat, 1/2 white), for butter (1/2 butter, 1/2 low-fat plain yogurt), skim-milk instead of buttermilk and finally for walnuts (half walnut and half semisweet chocolate chips). It was sooo good and mine turned out like a bar (not so much cake-like)
These were amazing for breakfast! I doubled the recipe and made multiple subs and they still came out delish! I used whole wheat flour, fat free yogurt, and applesauce in stead of butter. I also added 1/2 cup chocolate chips. (changed calories to 140/bar and added fiber) These disappeared in record time.
delicious! a big hit with my kids (ages 2 and 5) will make again!
This was moist and tasty. If it comes out dry, you've done something wrong.
Super moist and a hit. I used dried cranberries and cranberry juice instead of the raisins and rum, nonfat vanilla yogurt for 1/2 of butter, choc chips instead of walnuts, milk instead of buttermilk, and I forgot the powdered sugar. (It was unneeded.) Perfect dessert or breakfast.
Very disappointed they turned out very dry. I followed the recipe to the letter.
Great snack bread! I made some healthy alterations and still found it delicious. In case you're interested: apple sauce in place of butter halved the sugar added wheat bran and flax seed, and thus more applesauce to keep the same consistency. I didn't have rum or apple juice, so again I subbed applesauce. I also didn't have buttermilk so I subbed plain low-fat yogurt. Topped it with an oatmeal crumble and some cinnamon. =Great!
WICKED sweet recipe. I will make this over and over again. LOVED the addition of the rum to the raisins. I added 1 t. of cinnamon to the batter, and used 1/2 c. whole wheat flour and 1/2 c. white flour. Next time I will make it with all wheat flour, decrease butter and add more banana like other reviews suggested. It is such a yummy healthy dessert!
This recipe is FANTASTIC! I used rum and found that it gave the "bars" a great taste. I didn't have buttermilk in the house, so I used milk. For the raisins, I used golden. Other than that I didn't make any substitutions, I like making recipes as close as possible the first time around to see how much tampering needs to be done - this one is perfect as is!
This was fantastic! Next time I will try some dark chocolate and may try adding some oats or baking these as muffins. These are definitely not bar-like...very light and cake-like. Will definitely make them again. Only change I made was to use one whole egg instead of the two egg whites and to soak the raisins in bourbon.
So I used 2 tbsp rice milk plus a splash of white vinegar instead of buttermilk, decreased the butter, increased the banana, and put wheat berries in instead of walnuts. I also added the rum to the brown sugar and baked it in a cake pan. It is SO YUMMY! My boyfriend just about ate it all in one sitting. Highly recommend.