Homemade brownies topped with a creamy vanilla pudding and my personal favorite – cool whip. These Banana Split Brownie Bars are always going to be a hit!
Banana Split Brownie Bars
I love a good brownie – but y’all already know that. I also love to put spins on recipes that I love to make them fun and updated. So, here we have a banana split brownie bar! Derived from my beloved Fudgy Chocolate Brownie recipe and piled high with all kinds of fun toppings.
What is a Banana Split?
Ok, this might sound like a dumb question – but I feel like I didn’t really know what a banana split consisted of for the longest time. Maybe that’s because I only ever get plain ice cream or a brownie sundae when I’m jonesing for something delicious.
A banana split is a dessert that you can often find at ice cream shops. It consists of a banana split in half lengthwise, with a scoop of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream in the center. It’s usually topped with chocolate sauce, maraschino cherries, and some type of nut. I’m honestly getting hungry over here just writing about these, I may have to add a banana split recipe to the blog sometime soon!
Let’s all agree that next time we go to an ice cream shop we all have to get a banana split, ok?
Equipment you may need…
- Mixing bowls: I love these glass mixing bowls from Amazon. They’re especially perfect for food photography.
- Wooden spoon: I only use wooden spoons and rubber spatulas when I’m baking, and I love these!
- Measuring cups/spoons: I’ve been linking these in all of my posts because I love them SO much! They are beautiful and look just like some other expensive ones on the market (but wayyy cheaper).
- 8-inch square pan: I love these from USA pan because they’ve got nice slick corners and they’re a light color, but use what you have!
- Parchment Paper Sheets: I do and always will buy my parchment paper in sheets from Amazon. I would never ever go back to the rolls because they’re just soooo much easier to work with. Order some and I promise you’ll agree!
- Rubber spatula: The perfect thing to use when baking.
Ingredients for Banana Split Brownie Bars
- Unsalted butter
- Cocoa Powder
- Bittersweet chocolate bar
- Vegetable oil
- Large eggs
- Light brown sugar
- Powdered sugar
- Pure vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Kosher salt
- Chopped walnuts
- Strawberry Instant Pudding Mix
- Whole milk
- Cool Whip
Tips for Banana Split Brownie Bars
- Whisk the butter and brown sugar into submission. I’m laughing to myself as I’m writing this because it’s just so true. If you want those perfectly crinkly tops on your brownies, you need to whisk HARD for at least 2 to 3 minutes – but until you can dip your finger into the mixture and no longer feel sugar granules between your fingers. It take a while, and you can go ahead and plan for this to be your arm workout for the day, but it is soooo worth it.
- Use room temperature eggs. I know I say this for just about every recipe, but it’s especially important when you’re making brownies. Because we’re using 3 eggs, the temperature really makes a difference in the overall texture of the batter and their ability to incorporate well.
- Don’t overbake! Brownies are meant to be 1 thing and 1 thing only: gooey. If you agree, then I highly recommend removing your brownies from the oven just a litttttle bit early. They’ll continue to bake in the pan as they cool, but the gooey texture is achieved by slightly under baking. Just trust me, you’ll thank me later.
- Make your pudding more PINK! I add a little bit of food coloring to my pudding just to make it extra pink. It makes this recipe so much more fun and inviting 🙂
- Use cool whip. Ok y’all know I’m usually one for making things homemade, but sometimes you just need to add some cool whip and be done with it. That’s what I did in this recipe, and I think the texture and flavor compliments everything perfectly.
How to Store
Anything with pudding and cool whip on top is best eaten immediately, but you can store these bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
Other Bar recipes I love:
That’s all for me friends, I hope you all have as much fun with this recipe as I did – and if you make it be sure to tag me @sarahsdayoff so I can see them!
Love,
Sarah
“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you!” -2 Samuel 7:22-
Banana Split Brownie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 (4-oz) bar bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 (3.4-oz) box strawberry creme instant pudding mix
- 2 cups cold whole milk
- Pink gel food coloring (optional)
- 1 (8-oz) container cool whip thawed
- Sliced bananas (optional)
- Maraschino cherries (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8-inch pan with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on each side.
- Place butter in a medium bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals until fully melted. Add the chocolate to the bowl and let stand 3 minutes. Whisk until smooth.
- Meanwhile, add eggs and brown sugar to a separate large bowl. Whisk vigorously for at least 3 minutes or until the sugar granules have dissolved completely. You can test this by dipping your finger into the mixture and rubbing it between 2 fingers. You shouldn't feel any sugar granules. The longer you whisk, the more sugar will dissolve.
- Whisk in the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt.
- Switch to a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Fold in the flour until no streaks remain. Fold in the walnuts.
- Transfer batter to prepared baking pan, and bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately bang the pan against the countertop a few times (I place a pot holder on the counter when I do this).
- Allow the brownies to cool to room temperature, about 90 minutes to 2 hours. The brownies will be ready to slice when you can easily lift them from the pan using the parchment paper overhang and they remain quite firm in the middle (don't bend too much).
- While the brownies cool, whisk the instant pudding mix and milk vigorously in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Add a couple drops of pink food coloring, if desired, to make the pudding extra pink. Place in the refrigerator until brownies have cooled completely.
- Spread pudding over brownies in a thin, even layer. Evenly spread cool whip over pudding layer. Chill brownie bars for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Slice bars, and top each with banana slices and maraschino cherries.
Notes
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