High-Protein Banana Squares with Cottage Cheese.
Blend it. Pour it. Bake it golden. Eat something that tastes indulgent and costs you nothing.
INGREDIENTS:
The Batter
3 very ripe bananas, mashed until completely smooth
250g / 1 cup full-fat cottage cheese
3 large eggs, room temperature
60ml / ¼ cup pure maple syrup or honey
2 tsp / 10ml vanilla extract
160g / 1⅓ cups rolled oats, blended to flour
1 tsp / 4g baking powder
½ tsp / 2g bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp / 2g ground cinnamon
¼ tsp / 1g fine salt
Chocolate & Banana:
150g / 1 cup dark chocolate chips, divided
2 firm ripe bananas, sliced into rounds
Extra chocolate chips for the top
Use the darkest, most overripe bananas you can find — black-skinned bananas are sweeter, more aromatic, and produce a denser, more flavorful cake. Under-ripe bananas produce a flat, starchy result.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F and line a 20x20cm / 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment, leaving overhang on two sides for easy lifting.
Blitz rolled oats in a blender for 60 seconds until a fine, even flour forms — no whole oat pieces remaining.
Mash bananas thoroughly until the mixture is completely smooth and no fibrous lumps remain.
Add cottage cheese, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla to the mashed banana — whisk vigorously until the mixture is uniform and smooth.
Tip in oat flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, and salt — fold until the batter just comes together.
Fold in 100g / ⅔ cup chocolate chips — distribute evenly throughout the batter.
Pour batter into the lined pan and spread flat and even to all corners.
Lay banana rounds across the entire top surface in overlapping rows — press each slice lightly into the batter.
Scatter the remaining chocolate chips densely over the banana layer and exposed batter.
Bake 28–32 minutes until the top is deeply caramelized, the banana slices are golden at the edges, and a skewer comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
Rest in the pan for a full 15 minutes — cutting too early produces crumbling squares that fall apart on the plate.
Lift out using the parchment overhang and set on a cutting board.
Cut into 9 or 12 equal squares with a single clean downward stroke — wipe the knife between cuts for clean edges.
Plate on a white ceramic dish caramelized side up — serve warm for maximum chocolate chip melt, or room temperature for cleaner slices.
Pro tip: Blend the cottage cheese with the eggs and banana in a blender before adding the dry ingredients — this eliminates every trace of cottage cheese texture and produces a silkier, more uniform batter that bakes into a noticeably smoother, more cake-like crumb.
The top cracks golden under the knife, the interior is dense and moist with melted chocolate running through the crumb, the caramelized banana sits soft and sweet on top — breakfast that tastes like a decision you made for yourself, not for your macros.
