Peanut Butter Chip Banana Bars

I'm on a serious mission to find creative ways to use my entire banana graveyard by the time I move out in 3 short weeks. For those of you that don't know what a banana graveyard is, it's the lonely top shelf of my freezer home to half a dozen ripe bananas that are begging to be incorporated into baked goods.  They actually look dead because of the dark brown color they turn when they freeze.  No matter how hard I try to bake banana things, the collection seems to keep growing.  Though I pride myself on my banana bread recipe, I'm bored of baking the same loaf and having it go stale after one day in the summer (thank you Lake Erie humidity!).  I did, however, come up with a new recipe that I'm really excited about: peanut butter chip banana bars.  It's pretty great that I came up with a new way to use my banana graveyard, even more great that they taste delicious, but fantastic that they rely on peanut butter and banana, my favorite flavor combination on earth!!

Before you measure any ingredients, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit - this is a super fast recipe!  I started with the basic dry ingredients and wet ingredients, separated into 2 bowls.  I measured flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and gave it a quick stir so it was evenly blended.  I set these ingredients aside because I don't need them quite yet.  Then, in a large bowl, I used a hand mixer to beat the white sugar, brown sugar, Crisco butter shortening and vanilla extract into a fluffy mixture.  

Once this step was complete, I added the egg and mashed bananas and continued to beat until it was a smooth, creamy mixture.  I gradually beat in the dry ingredients, a little at a time.  If you add it all at once, the batter becomes dense, which is not what you're hoping for when the goal is soft, fluffy peanut butter chip banana bars.  I honestly think this might be the easiest baking recipe I've ever made, because it literally took less than 10 minutes to make the scratch-made batter from start to finish.  The quicker you can make it the quicker you can eat it!

All that was left to do was stir in the Reese's peanut butter chips, which can be found in the baking aisle near the chocolate chips; then it's time for the oven!  After spreading the beautiful mixture into a 9"x13" baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray, I baked the bars for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick came out clean and the top was a light golden brown.

They literally smelled so good that I cut into them 10 minutes after they came out of the oven, almost burning myself in the process.  Patience has never been my strong suit...especially when it comes to peanut butter banana things!