Banana Nut Breakfast Bars

After reading these reviews, I suspect the challenge with this recipe is which peanut butter to use. There is a huge amount of variation in texture, taste, and ingredients, particularly salt and sugar. I won't cook a recipe calling for peanut butter unless it at least specifies whether to use natural or commercial varieties.

I liked the idea of this recipe (whole grains, healthy oils, natural sweeteners) but it fell short of my taste expectations. I have made this twice and I agree with other reviews that say the bars are bland. The first time I followed the recipe. The batter was thin and the finished bars were oily. I switched to sunflower oil and cut it back to 2 tablespoons the second time, but the bars were a bit dry and again the batter was thin. I'm an experienced home cook who started baking in the 1970's.

These weren’t bad but neither were they great. The flavors are muddled, the texture heavy. Meh.

These aren’t bad, but two tablespoons of salt is way too much, and I like my baked goods with some salty flavor in them. A bit bland (used almond butter, not PB), and if I hadn’t added chocolate chunks I don’t think I would have liked them. I also used a very fruity olive oil with great flavor, but the other ingredients (mostly the chocolate) drowned it out. If I did it over, I’d use more banana, half the salt, peanut butter and less expensive olive oil.

I wanted to love these. Everything that goes into them is something I love. The bake seems good, and they smell great. But the taste is… strange, and definitely not good. Disappointing.

I read the notes first, and then made the following modifications: used a combination of almond butter and peanut butter, cut salt by half (used sea salt though), doubled the vanilla, used a mix of cardamom and cinnamon, cut the honey to 3 T, and added less than 1/4 cu dark chocolate chips. Smells wonderful, tastes good. It did not come out oily. It would have been even more flavorful if my bananas were a bit riper. It’s not my favorite baked good but it’s tasty and a lot healthier.

My son doesn’t like peanut butter so I subbed tahini. Came out great!

Too salty. Next time I will cut the salt in half and maybe add some chocolate chips as some have suggested here.

I reduced honey to 4T and threw in a bunch of mini chocolate chips. Then mixed the walnuts in with the batter and topped with sliced almonds. Delicious

I should have read the comments first. Even after trusting my intuition and cutting the salt by 1/4tsp these were inedibly salty. That's the only flavor they have, actually. Somehow, the saltiness was enhanced over night and we had to throw them out. This is the third time now I've made a NYT Coking recipe that called for ludicrous salt. What's the deal? Going to try again but omit the salt except for a topping and add some chocolate chips. I think there's a decent recipe here it just needs help

Wasn't sure what to expect from this given the split between the 4-star overall rating, and a number of negative comments, but tried it anyway, and quite liked it! Mine came out tasting of both bananas & peanut butter, with a very soft consistency ("fudgy," as described). Easy. Good recipe to have on hand for using up ripe bananas. Made exactly as suggested except I used cashews on top because I was out of walnuts.

almost didn’t make this because of all the bad reviews, but I’m so glad I did because it was exactly what I was looking for: a wholesome breakfast treat that you can eat on the go! Maybe everyone was disappointed because they actually just wanted dessert?? I made a couple small tweaks and thought the result was so good AND they kept really nicely. The changes I made were: 6 tbsp melted butter instead of oil Maple syrup instead of honey 1.5 cups oats Dried cherries

Use bananas that are so ripe they're almost liquid in the peel (takes about a week). Reduce honey and oil to 3 tablespoons. Only 1/2 cup of almond butter. Add a scoop of protein powder. Triple the spices and vanilla (use pumpkin spice instead of plain cinnamon). Add plenty of nuts. This gets you the perfect "healthy" cake base. I make this weekly with a variety of flavor variations (apple coffee cake, brownie chocolate chip, carrot cake, pear tart, ect.)

I was nearly discouraged from trying this recipe by all the negative comments. But I really like these bars. They’re not sweet, which is exactly what I want in a breakfast option. They have heft thanks to the oats and peanut butter. And a nice crunch and nuttiness from the walnuts. The salt complaints, I would guess, come down to Morton vs Diamond Crystal (or other brands) — I had no problems using Diamond in the amounts recommended. I’d make this recipe again and happily enjoy it!

Based on other comments, I decreased the oil and the honey - but I stirred in about a quarter cup of chocolate hazelnut spread. : ) No cinnamon, so I added a dash of allspice and about a half teaspoon of ginger. Husband just went back for another piece.