These Banana Bread Bars are soft, moist and indulgent. I can’t resist them! I think it’s the Brown Butter Frosting that makes them so addictive.

Use very ripe, blackened bananas for this recipe. Overripe bananas freeze well so you can stockpile bananas until you are ready to use them in smoothies or for these Banana Bread Bars. Make sure the bananas are thawed and at room temperature before baking with them. I freeze them in their skins and squeeze the banana out of one end once they are thawed.

I found this recipe on food.com. After following the original recipe, the only thing I wanted to change was the frosting. It was way too thick and sugary the first time I made these so I used half the powdered sugar this time and the Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting were perrrrfect!

***UPDATE 4/2018: I have successfully made these using only 1 cup (200 g) of granulated sugar in the cake mixture and they were sweet enough, especially with the frosting on top. These are also very good with ½ cup (55 g) chopped walnuts added in.***

Print Pin

No ratings yet

Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings bars

Ingredients

Banana Bread Bars

1 ½ cups (300 g) sugar
1 cup (250 g) sour cream room temperature
½ cup (113 g) butter room temperature
2 eggs room temperature
4 medium or 5 small ripe bananas mashed (about 1 ½ cups (325 ml) mashed banana)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 pkg. vanilla sugar
2 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt

Brown Butter Frosting

½ cup (113 g) butter
2 cups (220 g) powdered sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 pkg. vanilla sugar
3 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F (180°C). Grease a 9x13-inch (25x40 cm) baking pan. For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter and eggs until creamy. Beat in mashed bananas and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix just until flour is fully incorporated (for about 1 minute).
Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool.
For the frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Continue to heat the butter, swirling occasionally, until the sediments (solids at the bottom of the pan) turn golden brown. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar, vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and milk. Immediately spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars. Cool completely and cut into bars. Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to three days.

Notes

Recipe adapted from food.com.