Chocolate Bottom Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

I stumbled upon this recipe a few months back and decided it was by far my new favorite banana bar! If you love banana bars, and even if you don't, you will definitely be a fan of these...that is, if you like chocolate, of course :)



CHOCOLATE BOTTOM BANANA BARS with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

 Ingredients: *1/2 cup butter, *1 cup sugar, *1 egg, *1 tsp vanilla extract, *3 bananas, *1 1/2 cups flour, *1 tsp baking powder, *1 tsp baking soda, *1/2 tsp salt, *1/4 cup baking cocoa, and *1 cup milk chocolate chips. FROSTING: *4 oz cream cheese, *1 cup powdered sugar, and *1 tsp vanilla extract.

Directions: *Preheat oven to 350 degrees. *Grease a 9x13 baking pan. *In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar, then add the egg and vanilla until combined. *Next, add the bananas to that. *In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. *Gradually add dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients. *Divide the batter in half, and set one half aside. *With the half still in the mixing bowl, add the cocoa powder and mix well. *Fold in the chocolate chips with that. *Spread the chocolate half evenly into the greased pan. *Then spread the half that was set aside ontop of that. *Bake in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Toothpick should come out fairly clean. *While the bars are baking, beat cream cheese with powdered sugar vanilla extract for the frosting. *Once bars are done baking and cooled, spread cream cheese frosting over the top. *Top with sprinkles if you're feeling fancy :)

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Sitting around at home on rainy days is enough to drive a girl crazy! Been doing some baking lately, but haven't had the ambition to post what I've been making on my blog. Figured I had a little time to kill today so here goes...Chocolate Mint Cookies!

Ingredients: *2 cups all purpose flour *2/3 cup cocoa powder *1 tsp baking soda *1/2 tsp salt *2 sticks butter *2/3 cup sugar *2/3 cup packed brown sugar *1 tsp vanilla extract *2 large eggs *1 pkg crushed Andes Mints

Directions: *Preheat oven to 325 degrees *Combine dry ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl *In mixing bowl, beat softened butter, sugars, and vanilla extract *Add eggs one at a time *Gradually add in dry mixture until well combined *Fold in crushed mints *Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for about 12 minutes