Banana Bars with Coconut Sugar & Sourdough
One of the best problems in life is having too many bananas that are starting to overripen - I always use it as an excuse to make a sweet treat with the bananas. Since I already shared my banana bread recipe, I thought I would try a banana bar recipe using coconut sugar and sourdough starter discard.
These bars came out even better than I hoped for - the coconut sugar adds such a nice taste and the texture of the dough is almost custard-y and just so moist and delicious. A lot of recipes for banana bars have frosting on them but I feel like these are perfect as is (but feel free to add frosting if you would like!). You could also make this your own by adding chocolate chips, nuts, or even some peanut butter swirled throughout.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
3 large ripe bananas (340-360 g), mashed
2 and 3/4 cup (310 g) all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup (170 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 and 1/2 cup (185 g) coconut sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cup (310 g) buttermilk, room temperature
75 g sourdough starter discard
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C) and grease a 9x13 baking pan.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.
Grind the coconut sugar in a coffee/spice grinder.
Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed for about a minute, until smooth and creamy. Add the coconut sugar and beat for a couple minutes, until creamed together. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Next, add the flour mix in three batches alternating with the buttermilk. And finally add the sourdough discard and mix until just combined.
Pour the batter into the 9x13 baking pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Note: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a homemade version by combining a tablespoon of lemon juice with room-temperature milk (add to a measuring cup and pour the milk until it reaches the 1 and 1/4 cup mark). Stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
