Monkey Bars

I've had this recipe for Monkey Bars a couple of weeks now and finally got around to acquiring all of the necessary ingredients. Owen and Connor helped me mix them up. Here's the recipe I used (I got it from our community newsletter):

~ Monkey Bars ~

Ingredients:

Vegetable Cooking Spray
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water
1 ripe banana
1/4 cup dried currants

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the oats, cinnamon and flour and mix well.

3. In a small bowl, combine the apple juice, vanilla extract and 1/2 cup of warm water. Add this to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Stir in the banana and currants. Spread the dough into the prepared pan.

4. Bake until the top is golden, about 1 hour.

5. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 12 squares and serve. These bars can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.

A few notes - I doubled the recipe and baked it in an 8 X 13 pan. I think they were only in the oven for about 30 minutes so I think 1 hour for an 8-inch would be way too long. Keep an eye on it. The batter seemed too wet so I added a bit more flour. Also, we didn't use currants, but put in chocolate chips instead.