I made these bars for Jenny for her Virtual Baby Shower. I wanted to make something that I knew used a few of her favorite ingredients.
Plus, I was looking at all the ripe bananas on my countertop here in Aruba and was wondering what I was going to do with them. If you think bananas ripen fast where you are, just c’mon down to the Equator and watch them literally ripen before your very eyes in a hot little kitchen.
I aim to please especially for pregnant ladies and ingredients that Jenny uses frequently, and which I incorporated into the bars, include:
Biscoff Spread – her Biscoff Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies are amazing and she has so many Biscoff recipes on her site
Bananas – her Chocolate Banana Bread with Marshmallow Bits is so moist
Graham Cracker Crumbs – Rolo Smores Monkey Bread anyone?
Chocolate – because every pregnant woman needs more of this in her life
After mashing that list together, these bars are what I came up with.
The top layer is a mixture of Biscoff spread and sweetened condensed milk and it thickens slightly and turns caramely, with oodles of gooey chocolate chips poking through.
The edges of the bars are just a tiny bit chewy from the graham crackers crumbs and the center stays tender and soft from the sweetened condensed milk, the Biscoff Spread, and the bananas.
While these baked, the smell of graham crackers, butter, chocolate and bananas wafting through the house was intoxicating.
Scott asked what on earth I was baking that smelled so good?
And I said, “Just something for a pregnant girl I know in Orange County.” He was utterly baffled.
The bars are a snap to make and here’s what to do:
Crush graham crackers either by hand or in the food processor until you have 1 cup, add 1 stick of melted butter, stir and press into a baking pan.
Add sliced bananas and chocolate chips.
And then flood it.
The flood is a mixture of one can of sweetened condensed milk and one-third cup Biscoff Spread. Best tasting flood-water ever.
Or if you’re in Aruba, it’s not technically Biscoff that I used, but rather Dutch cookie butter
I am 100% convinced it’s the exact same thing as Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread because the glass jars (minus the label of course), the type of cap, and the product inside is all identical.
In a side-by-side comparison the spread inside the TJ’s jars and the Dutch jars tastes and looks 100% identical.
I know Trader Joe’s private labels their products and in this case, they use the same supplier as the Dutch. Just a little food trivia for all the Biscoff and cookie butter fanatics.
While baking, the flood of sweet creaminess melts into the graham cracker layer, the bananas sweeten, and this is the result.
I hope you like these, Jenny!
We sure did and the pan was gone in a day.
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Chocolate Banana and Biscoff Graham Bars
makes one 8-by-8-inch pan, about 9 squares
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted (half of one stick)
about 1 1/2 large ripe bananas, sliced into rounds
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup Biscoff Spread or Cookie Butter Spread (or creamy peanut butter)
Preheat oven to 325F, line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter and stir to mix. Transfer mixture to prepared pan, spreading it evenly and using your fingers to pack it down. Add sliced bananas (about 1/8th-inch thick slices) over entire surface of graham crackers; likely needing 60 to 70 slices to cover the surface of the pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the bananas; set pan aside.
In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, Biscoff, and heat on high power for about 20 seconds, helping to soften the Biscoff, and stir to combine until mixture is uniform (if your Biscoff is already soft and can be stirred easily into the sweetened condensed milk, skip the microwaving step). Evenly pour the Biscoff-sweet milk mixture over the chocolate chips. Bake for 23 to 26 minutes, or until top is set and golden and edges have pulled away slightly from the sides of the pan; taking care not to overbake because the sweet milk and graham crackers will have a tendency to scorch nearing the completion of baking.
Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Optionally, garnish with whipped cream or whipped topping, or serve with a scoop of ice cream. Store bars in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. I prefer these chilled and keep them in the refrigerator.
To keep gluten-free, use gluten-free graham crackers and replace the cookie butter spread with peanut butter and add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
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Related Recipes:
Magic Eight Bars – made with a graham cracker crust and nearly identical to Seven Layer Bars or Hello Dolly Bars, tweaking the seven ingredients, and adding one more, for magic number eight
Coconut Peanut Butter Magic Cake Bars – one of my favorite desserts of 2012 and also uses the sweetened condensed milk flooding technique, with peanut butter rather than cookie butter
Cookie Butter Spread Ginger Molasses Cookies (No Bake, Vegan, with GF option)
Creamy Cookie Butter White Chocolate Banana Smoothie
No-Bake Peanut Butter Biscoff Cookie Dough Bites (Vegan, almost GF with easy adaptation) – Made with peanut butter + Biscoff cookies or make them with Biscoff + Biscoff Cookies
Cookie Butter Funfetti Triple Chip Bars – sweetened condensed milk and cookie butter at it again, so gooey and great – I loved these
Have you ever tried Biscoff or Cookie Butter Spread or baked with it?
Do you have any special baby shower (or bridal shower) recipes?
Feel free to link up your favorite recipes.
Have a great week everyone and best of luck on the upcoming birth of your third little boy, Jenny!
I’m not pregnant but if I was I eat this every single day.
LOL I love your sense of humor!
Woe is me!…Speculoos butter is easily found here in France…but not graham crackers!..Do you think I could substitute speculoos cookie crumbs and still do justice to your fabulous recipe? Would the “Biscoff” vibe become too redundant?….Thank you for your gazillion ideas for easy luscious fare….
The speculoos cookie crumbs would be wonderful. I wish I had easy access to them! Try them and LMK how it goes for you!
As soon as I get an oven I will have to do this. Maybe I will even borrow somebody’s oven as long as I can find cookie butter. We lack nothing in the realm of Nuttella, but other butters are more hard to come by. :(
I love this recipe!! It is exactly what I have been looking for.
I have tried biscoff spread and I like it :-)
Wow, you managed to combine 3 of the my favorites into one bar – chocolate, biscoff and bananas! I could (and do) eat biscoff spread by the spoonful but I’ve never tried it with bananas… I’m featuring this post in today’s Food Fetish Friday (with a link-back and attribution). I hope you have no objections and thanks for the inspiration…
and thanks so much for linking them up :)
Hi! Was wondering if using a glass baking dish would make a difference? (Instead of pan)
You may need to reduce the baking time and b/c of the sweetened cond milk I still HIGHLY recommend lining the pan so you’re are scraping it off. Save yourself the elbow grease!
Ohh! Those bars look so amazing. I am a huge fan of cookie butter and I can’t buy it unless I have a reason to bake with it (or I will just sit and eat the entire container), so thanks for giving me one ; )
and they’re so good – I hope you make them!
Ok, I just want to slurp up that flood water:-) And I’m not pregnant but I want the entire pan to myself! You have outdone yourself on these Averie:-)
you’re the only person who’s mentioned my floodwater analogy and yes, the best flood ever :)
Yummers!! These bars perfectly fits Jenny’s decadent creations :)
You know, I’m starting to feel like a major creep about never having tried Biscoff. I think Biscoff may be taking over the world. I think Biscoff may be running for president. And yet I haven’t seen it in any stores and I don’t have any in my own pantry. Either way, these look amazing. I just can’t handle it. Delish, as always!!
Cookie butter at TJs; extremely similar. You have TJs. Get thee some. You’re gonna fall in love with it!
I made these last night since I have lots of graham cracker crumbs left from making the milk bar cookies. My oven must be screwy thou since i had to cook them forever till they set! I think maybe I would cut down a little on the condensed milk and they might have cooked faster. Either way they came out yummy and rich and gooey :)
My oven here runs hot and I budgeted in for that to some extent by padding the baking time I wrote in the post. However, like anything with bananas, sauce, sweetened condensed milk, nut butters – oven times will vary. Also it will continue to dry out as time passes so if it’s a little moist on day 1, that’s probably a good thing on day 3 (if they last that long!). Glad you liked them!
They definitely wont last that long! I had to bring them to the office to share so I didn’t eat the whole pan myself… I will be surprised if they last past lunch!
And really, I’d always rather err on the side of a little gooey and juicy and dried out and cardboard…blech!
Oh my goodness amazing!
goodness me, you can do no wrong in my eyes! these look incredibly perfect. i can’t get enough of biscoff!
xo
http://allykayler.blogspot.ca/
Thanks, Ally!
I’m not pregnant but if I was I eat this every single day. Then I would blame the baby. This looks amazing! Such a fun little baby shower event :)
Good grief I could eat the whole plate…swoon!
These sound incredibly delicious!
Wow, how incredible to be so talented! Great recipe and great inspiration!!
Thanks, Anina!
Dam girl, your bars look amazing! I need these in my life! I have to buy bananas today!! :)
And with your love of PB, you could use PB in them too but I really love the cookie butter!
you are so incredibly thoughtful and these just ooze with goodness!
I hope people in your real life will be showering you with showers, soon! :)
Ahhhh-mazing!! A great blend of flavors and I can only dream as to how they tasted :( I guess I’ll just have to make some..right?
Thanks, Gerry!
Awww you guys are just too sweet! And these bars! Oh my, you’re killing me here! I’m trying to diet for a weekend long vacation in Lake Tahoe but I don’t see that happening anymore!
Have fun in Tahoe! I love it up there!
Averie!
These look absolutely amazing!
Perfect for Jenny!
You beam with BRIGHT SUNSHINE Averie!
Love popping in to your sunny world!
xo
You are such a sweetheart! I miss following along with all you’re up to on Instagram. I should get back to it ….one day :)
xo
Since I first started baking with cookie butter when I spotted your cookie butter funfetti bars ages ago, I’ve been going through so many jars that I’ve had to start making my own to cut costs. Loving the CB love here–thanks for another fantastic recipe!
love that you’re making your own CB! If you have a recipe that you’ve been loving, link it up! I want to see that one!
http://wallflourgirl.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/homemade-cookie-butter/ Bon chance and bon appetit!
I need that! DELISH!!
Oh my gosh Averie. I had to read that title twice. Like a double take. These are SO GOOD! I need to make them – soon!
They’ve got one or two of my fave things going on :)
Amazing. Amazing that you can come up with another bar recipe that looks gooey and sweet and delicious and is EASY! When is your bar cookbook coming out??! ;-)
You’re the second person in this post who’s specifically said *bars cookbook*. Maybe one day :)
Ooooh, these are so goooooeeeeey! Love it!
Your recipe looks so darn good!! I love the description too… you have me wanting to make them tonight!
Love these Averie! Banana + Biscoff has become a favorite snack of mine!
And now you can bake them :)
I’ve just had Biscoff spread for the first time. OMG SO GOOD.
I just bought the Belgium Biscoff Spread at Woodman’s yesterday (a WI and IL chain store). I tore into it the second I got home to see if it tasted like TJ’s and it tastes exactly the same. I paid $4.99 for it. I’m not sure how much TJ’s cookie butter is though.
From memory, I think the TJs spread is about $3.99 – approximately.
Um…wow!! My teeth are hurting just looking at this…but in a good way :)
Yum, these bars look fantastic, a perfect blend of flavors!
thanks, Laura!
Wow!
Yesterday at World Market I saw chunky Biscoff spread.
I’ve held off on buying any of the spread because of the added oil and sugar. I stick to plain ‘ol PB.
I need oil & sugar in my diet! They help fuel long runs!
I’m not preg, but these are definitely appealing to me! They’d appeal to me even more on the beach in Aruba, but they’re looking great from SD too. :-)
Wish we all could have met up in the OC or in San Diego and had the shower and sampled all the goodies in person! How fun would that have been!
God, I love this recipe! Banana+chocolate+ peanut butter- must taste great :D
Thanks, Bee! And I’m loving your pancakes in a jar – tooooo cute!
Those bars are sure to please any pregnant woman, and probably everyone else. I can imagine how fast the bananas turn. When it’s hot out, I find if I don’t take them out of the plastic grocery bag like the moment I get home, they are already turning. So frustrating as I eat tons of bananas and can only eat them if they are slightly on the green side.
They can turn INSIDE the fridge here..it’s kinda crazy how a jungle makes that happen :)
Oh mygosh these look SO GOOEY and decadent!!
That looks soo good! I almost want to sub with peanut butter instead of cookie butter and see how that tastes. I just love a peanut butter,banana, and chocolate combination.
Nevermind, I see you said you could use peanut butter. Sounds so delicious!!
i am literally drooling over these. i need to get my hands on some Cookie Butter right away!
Amazing bar, Averie. I love all the flavor combo here. Perfect little treat!
Well every single thing you make pretty much blows my mind – so thank you :)
Like monkey bars! I bet these were sweet and rich and the family loved them.
They were, and yes – and I wished there was a name for a cookie butter/biscoff bar like monkey bars :)
I still haven’t tried biscoff!!! These bars look amazing, and I’ll have to remember to pick up some biscoff soon!
yes you HAVE to try it, pronto!
You totally picked the best.flavors.ever to incorporate into these bars! They look amazing and I can only imagine how WONDERFUL it made your house smell just baking them, much less how happy they made your tummy feel eating them :) yum!
I thought you may like these :)
Wow, these look amazing, Averie!! what a great idea to combine biscoff and bananas!!
You had me at ccokie butter!!!! :-)
Looks perfect for Jenny!~
THIS is my kind of treat! Simple, delicious, perfect!
i am *literally* drooling
I think you should make a bar cookbook. For real. You are bad skilled in the ways of the gooey bar. I don’t know how you do it, but they all look different, I’m sure taste different, and sound absolutely sinful!
They actually DO all taste different. Bars are so much easier than cookies or cupcakes or anything that needs to be made one-by-one. And trust me, I would love to take you up on that idea :)
How FUN are these bars!! So glad you could join in on the fun today :)
So appreciative that you could *organize* this fun today! I know things like this don’t come together on their own – so THANK you for spearheading this great event, my friend!
OHHHH my lands, I need like 5 zillion of these.
Great treat for the shower…or any day!
Such an awesome combination of ingredients!! LOVE it!!!!
Thanks, Kristan!
Saving these! They look great, and I love the combination of bananas and chocolate!
Thanks, Angie – hope you try them one day!
Mmmm these look fabulous! I’ve yet to try the cookie butter–its on my list of things to try!
Oh you HAVE to try it if you haven’t yet!
These look absolutely amazing! I’ve found a few TJ’s Cookie Butter “same thing” jars too and I love it! I am so glad I was pointed to your blog! I love making healthier treats for my own readers, but these will have to be all for me :)
Well these have bananas in them, so they’re healthy…right :)
Averie!! You are so sweet and I am totally drooling over these gorgeous bars! Will be making them very soon! Thanks cutie!! xoxo
We hope you were surprised, Jenny, and I only wish I was close enough to you right now to bring you one of these in person. If you ever need a hand after the birth, I’m an hour away and can hold a baby while you at least have time for a shower :)
I’ve never tried the biscoff spread (or TJ’s version), but I’ve loved the biscoff cookies ever since my first airplane ride as a kid, and the flight attendant gave one to me. Love at first bite!
Oh you HAVE to try the spread if you love the cookies. Seriously blows the cookies away! Same flavor but 100x more awesome!
Looks delicious! I would so love to try some. I love the combination of chocolate and banana so I know I would love this.
These have my mouth watering this morning. They look fabulous and perfect!
Thanks, Robyn!
Wow. There are no words for these bars. I love how gooey those bananas look on top from the baking. D’lish!
Thanks, Carrie! And for saying hi! :)
oh how perfect for Jenny!! these look insanely delicious Averie!!
Awww, Cheryl, Thanks!!
These are great! Such a fun combination of flavors :)
I love gooey bars and the flavor combo in these. Cookie butter is good stuff! I saw an episode of Chopped with speculoos as a mystery ingredient (along with a hunk of meat). Had I not been one of your regular readers, I probably wouldn’t have known what it even was! I think I’ll stick to making desserts with it though.
Oh wow, that would be the best episode ever for me to be a contestant on – I would love to dream something up with speculoos, minus the mystery meat. Lol
These are so beautiful! Loving how you incorporated some of Jenny’s favorite ingredients into a bar for her shower…and this combo sounds delicious! Wish we were clinking glasses this morning at an actual shower!
I wish we were clinking glasses in person, too! Saw the pics of you at the H & D event – would love to have clinked glasses there, too…how fabulous it looked!
Just finished a jar. I try to keep it to a couple spoonfuls a day. Pretty sure I could live on cookie butter. Great tip aabout subing peanutbutter with ci
nn.B-)
I try to limit all my spreads to a few spoonfulls (or a quarter cup) a day but some days that doesn’t happen (most days) ….Lol
Ok girl, I’m not sure how you did it but you managed to pack the BEST flavors into one with these bars. They look absolutely perfect. I can only imagine how that biscoff/SC milk layer tastes… the caramel undertones, the gooey, chewy, and soft exterior. Wow. I love using sweetened condensed milk in recipes… it is so versatile! Other things I love here: the small ingredient list, the pretty banana slices – I love how the SC milk layer bakes down and the bananas pop through. It all looks so gooey and practically irresistible! I bet white chocolate would be FAB in these bars as well. Plus, I love using my little 8×8 pan. SO much better than my ginormous 13×9 I used this weekend!
I’ve always thought biscoff + TJs cookie butter were practically the same thing. Good to know that… they really are! PS: adorable plate. :)
When I was making these, was thinking of you b/c I know you love your bananas and all the other flavors in here, too. We’re twins :) And yes, 8×8 pans whenever possible. More variety, less quantity, since there’s no 9×13 pan of it just waiting to be finished off. Not that that’s a huge problem, but ya know :) And thanks for the Pin!
OMG! This post just made me droll all over my keyboard and craving sweets like crazy! Its a shame that we do not have speculoos here in Germany… quite a reason to make a short trip to the Netherlands, right?
Since you’re so close to the Netherlands, I say YES – take a mini vacation…all for Speculoos :)
These look amazing! I have to make them ASAP!! And they’re so easy!
Yes EASY is the name of the game!
Oh my sweet sweet treats this looks divine! Love he simplistic nature of your recipes and how delicious all of them seem to be. I have about 3-4 full, unopened jars of Trader Joes cookie spread in my pantry for a rainy day.
Simplistic is key – the less stand mixers and long ingredient lists for the recipes I post, the better. Most people tell me they want to make a quick dessert; not an epic one on a rainy afternoon. Speaking of which, break out your cookie butter spread now! :)
These look incredible Averie!! Love that you incorporated all of Jenny’s favorite ingredients! I am so excited to try these. That Biscoff / sweetened condensed milk combo combo sounds like perfection!! :)
And I know you have quite a few gooey butter cakes and gooey bars that use a can of sweetened condensed milk with PB poured over the top. That flooding technique never fails :) Thanks for coordinating this awesome event with Marla!