Sweet blueberries give these magic cookie bars a pop of purple and extra fruit flavor, while banana keeps them easy, healthy, and refined sugar-free!
When magic is already built into the title I’m honestly at a loss for words to describe all the extra _______ the purple brings to these berry bars.
Wizardry?
Magnificence?
Splendliferous-ness? (real word!)
Pure purple perfection?
I am relating to the Supercalifragilous scene form Mary Poppins on a whole new level now – sometimes you just have to string together your own syllables when existing words aren’t cutting it.
The purple color is certainly pretty to look at and partially the cause of my loss for words, but the flavor mix of blueberry + coconut + chocolate is just as astounding as the appearance – maybe more. You know what, I think I’ll just keep the over-the-top wordiness thing rolling for the entire post, cool?
Inspired by my original magic cookie bars made markedly more magical by subbing simple banana puree in lieu of the sweetened condensed milk, I thought it was time for a twist. A stellar spinoff shall we say. Because those bars have quickly become an FOF reader favorite, which I attribute to the fact that they look and taste indulgent while surreptitiously being the easiest thing to make.
The tantalizing trio of nuts, coconut, and chocolate is hard to beat, but if you ask me this purple version pulled it off flawlessly. I like pecans enough, but I love plump juicy baked blueberries a whole lot more. And hey, no one said you couldn’t still add the nuts too! The berry swap also makes them especially summery, and if you haven’t noticed this season is kinda my favorite for recipes…and every other reason besides Christmas.
Almond crust. Yep it’s my favorite 2 ingredient crust back again. Almond flour + maple syrup. You’ve seen it. Maybe you’ve tried it. Hopefully you loved it. Rich, buttery, and beloved by me. Not to mention so easy to make and bake to golden-edged gloriousness.
For best texture, you want to pre-bake the crust by itself for 15 minutes before adding the other goodies on top. And equally as important is letting it cool down before adding the puree and toppings otherwise, the chips will melt and turn the entire top layer chocolate. Delicious but not purple.
If almond flour isn’t your jam, there is an oat flour option here that will work instead.
Purple filling. The purple stuff that holds it all together is a mixture of banana and blueberries pureed together like the simplest smoothie. The banana makes is what makes the bars naturally sweet, and also bake and set perfectly without any additional ingredients.
I used two small ripe bananas (riper = sweeter!) and about half a cup of fresh blueberries, although frozen berries would work too. I blended all that fruity-ness together in this fun new small-sized container for the Vitamix Ascent, which I am loving lately for smoothies and other small batch recipes.
Be sure to spread the puree on top of the crust before adding the chips, coconut, and berries. If you do it the other way around it will be quite the purple mess trying to get everything evenly mixed.
Sprinkled-on stuff. I had a tough time deciding whether to swap out the shredded coconut for blueberries or the nuts, but in the end berry + coconut is too good a pair to pass up. In my original dream vision for this recipe I wanted to use vegan white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet, but those are tricky to find so I skipped it. In the end I’m glad I stuck with regular chocolate. I forget sometimes just how wicked chocolate + blueberries are together. I gotta say these magic bars are definitely my favorite of the two, and it’s not just because of the color.
These beyond-easy bars brings some badass berry flavor with a blazing purple-blue hue to back it up and chocolate too because it’s the best kind of baking bonus.
Okay that last bit took a Dr. Seuss turn. Next post – no words longer than five letters because this big words thing is exhausting and I have way too many thesaurus.com tabs open right now.
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PinDescription
Sweet blueberries give these magic cookie bars a pop of purple and extra fruit flavor, while banana keeps them easy, healthy, and refined sugar-free!
Ingredients
Crust (see notes for an oat option)
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 2–3 tbsp maple syrup
Blueberry Layer
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup blueberries ((fresh or frozen))
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Combine the almond flour and maple syrup in a bowl. Mix to create a sticky clumpy dough that holds together when pressed. Add 1 tbsp water if it seems too dry.
- Press the crust into an 8×5″ baking dish (or a loaf pan) lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes at 350F. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 15 minutes.
- While the crust is cooling, blend the bananas and 1/2 cup blueberries.
- Pour the purple puree on top of the cooled crust.
- Sprinkle on the chocolate chips, 1 cup blueberries, and coconut. Gently press down until the banana puree rises up covering everything.
- Bake for 40 minutes at 350F.
- Cool then chill overnight.
- The next day, slice and enjoy! Keep in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
I much prefer this almond flour crust, but for an oat flour option see this recipe
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 376
- Sugar: 21g
- Fat: 25
- Carbohydrates: 36g
- Fiber: 7g
- Protein: 9g
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What do you do with the last 1 cup of fresh blueberries? I didn’t see instructions for those.
So sorry, just fixed that! You add them whole with the chocolate chips and coconut, and press it all into the blueberry puree mixture. Hope that makes sense 🙂
can you use applesauce for the bananas? allergic to them
Hmm I haven’t tried it with applesauce but I don’t think they will hold there shape because applesauce doesn’t really bake/set the same way. What I would suggest instead is about 2/3 cup non-dairy milk + 6 pitted medjool dates + 2 tbsp arrowroot or cornstarch blended with the 1/2 cup blueberries. Hope that helps!
thank you, will try today…
Did this work for you? I’m thinking of trying these and I don’t have any bananas, but the suggestion she made sounds like it would taste great.
I didn’t know your magic bars could get any more magical… but you did it!! These purple beauties sound so summery and perfect! <3 coconut + blueberries = hnnnng!
Something about purple is pure magic! What was I thinking as a kid when I thought my favorite color was red?🙄 lol Thanks girl <3
So I always underestimate the yumminess of the combination of blueberries + chocolate, but the aesthetics alone here are enough to motivate me to try these! Then you add coconut, and you’re right, I don’t think there’s enough words in the dictionary to appropriately describe how delightful these must be – although I must admit I was SUPER impressed by all of your wordy descriptions/alliterations 🙂 Seriously though, I love how much fruit is going on in these bars, and the texture!!!! Can’t handle it. They look amazing.
Somehow strawberries or raspberries always seem more apropos for pairing with chocolate and I forget how marvelous blueberries + cacao can be! Hehe yes the purple color is quite enticing for me too, I have a whole pinterest board just for purple food–love it so much 🙂
This looks so decadent! And thru this recipe I went to your original bars and those look amazing! I hope to try them both out soon, but now can’t decide which one will be first. I’ve been watching all of your terrific short videos along with the recipes and I just absolutely love them!! They are put together so wonderfully, down to the regular action of dropping in the last of the ingredients. They are so helpful to tie your pre-description and recipe all together. Lovely! Thanks for all you do.
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Thank you so much for watching and reading and for the kind words too <3 I'm partial to this purple version but both are delicious! I hope you get a chance to try one or the other soon Annie 🙂
Just wow to this blueberry twist of your original magic bars!! I have never tried blueberries and chocolate together but I imagine it really intensifies the chocolate flavor so much! Plus, you can’t beat that color. Blueberries always produce the most gorgeous desserts. I’m in love with that mini new blender too, I need one of those in my kitchen stat. These are actually fairly healthy too, so I wouldn’t feel the least bit bad about stuffing my face with them. Not that I ever do with dessert anyways, LOL. I see that you just posted another ice cream recipe too, my goodness, I thought I was going obsessive with the ice cream making, but I see you’ve clearly gotten me beat, hahaha. Can’t wait to go drool some more at your new recipe!
Wait, you’ve never had the blueberry + chocolate combo??😱 But blueberries are a fruit you actually like and I know you like chocolate at least a little bit (😉) so this needs to change soon! I might even prefer it to strawberry + chocolate. Too hard to choose though. Ha yes the ice cream obsession has reached a ridiculous level, I’m trying to stop…but not very hard lol. And totally agree on the stuff-you-face-anyways thing, but relatively healthy is always a nice bonus😊
Made these but had to run out the door unexpectedly for 4 days! Put them in the freezer and pulled them out when we got back. I think my bananas were too big because it didn’t set up very well but man, oh man were they delicious! I’m going to try again with smaller bananas because these were amazing.
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I am so happy they turned out delicious despite the slightly rushed preparation! I haven’t personally tried them frozen yet, but I bet they taste yummy that way too. Thanks for the feedback Elyse, and I hope the next batch is even better 🙂
That’s always one of my concerns whenever a recipe calls for a certain amount of banana’s. They come in various sizes! I prefer a measured amount to be completely sure. But I do appreciate all of the recipes very much. Would you consider in future giving the exact amount?
Totally understand! In this case small variances won’t mess it up, but in banana bread or something like that it can make a big difference which is why I have started including weight measurements on my most recent recipes as well so hopefully that will help going forward 🙂
It will help. thank you!!! And I just read your post about going from Vegan to possibly an AIP diet (which I am reading up on). I appreciate your post because for some of us it is a real journey figuring out what we can eat. My daughter and I are both Celiac. She in her 20’s and I in my 40’s. What I could once eat I now find that I can’t. Or sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. My point is that what you said in your ‘Things Change’ post shows that you have to be adaptable. Just because someone else swears by a certain diet doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Or maybe it works for you body now but now but not for your body later as we are always changing. We’re just trying to feel our best. But your recipes help me to feel like I actually have some options to what I eat. It can get really disheartening eating the same things over and over. I hope you continue to share (if you want) and please know it is all appreciated.
I think for almost all of us it’s a constant journey of trial and error and learning a little more every time. But dealing with diagnosed celiac makes it that much tougher I am sure. Adaptability is HUGE, I completely agree. Not to mention the impact eating or not eating certain foods for a long time has on our gut, it’s constantly adapting and changing too. Sometimes I find completely switching it up and eating things I normally don’t can actually make me feel so much better than I expect, so I hope you keep experimenting and I am so so happy my recipes can help in your life too 🙂
I was wondering if I can just use normal flour? Is this possible ?? Xxx and would it be ok to wrap it to take to school with out it melting? One more quick thing how long till you can cut and eat it😻They look so yummy
Gotcha on Instagram messages, yes? Good luck and I hope they turn out perfect 🙂
Is there a suitable substitute for the almond flour? Could I use half oat flour and half almond flour? Thanks! I’m looking forward to trying these!
You could definitely try that! It should work fine–may need a little extra maple syrup since oat flour tends to be drier than almond. Hope they turn out well!
Can you use regular flour instead?
Regular flour will make for a much chewier crust without any fat/oil, and you will need a lot more maple syrup since AP is much more absorptive than almond flour. I can’t tell you exact amounts without trying it, but if you have a favorite AP flour crust recipe feel free to use it here instead 🙂
Does it matter if the banana are fresh or frozen?
Hi Allison! I recommend fresh for this one. Freezing and defrosting tends to make bananas really watery which may throw off the texture and make the bars not set properly since there is no thickener or anything here. Sorry!
OMG these look so amazing.
If you like bluebs (who doesn’t?) then I think you will love them 🙂 Thanks for checking them out Maria!
Do you think a different fruit would work? Like raspberries or blackberries?
Absolutely! It will be delish with either, or even cherries. Although be careful with raspberries/blackberries because they are so seedy you will need to blend the berries, strain it, and then blend again with the banana 🙂
Thanks for the tip!! Trying out the recipe this weekend!
Hi can you let me know the nutritional info of these please?
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Just added it to the recipe card for you 🙂
Made these today and oh my goodness – they are amazing! What a clever idea to use the banana in that way and wow, the results blew me away. Shared them with a few of my neighbors and every one of them loved them as well. I added some chopped walnuts for the texture, but may try almonds next time. So so yummy! Will need to make them again very soon. Thank you again for another fab recipe!
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I am so happy you enjoyed these, Robin🤗🤗 The banana works amazing well, right?! Love the nutty addition too, and I bet almonds would be amazing they always pair well with berry things😋 Thanks for the feedback!
Aloha! These bars are amazing! I wanted to make them keto friendly and have substitutes for everything except the bananas. Do you have a recommendation ?
Hmm I’m not the most familiar with keto baking, are you vegan as well or can you use eggs?