Banana Bread Bars

This is a recipe making the rounds on Facebook.  It is a good way to use up over ripe bananas.  If I see a bag of over ripe bananas at the grocery store, they are usually marked way down.  I buy them and put them in the freezer.  I use them in smoothies and recipes.  It adds great sweetness without as much additional sugar.  You can either freeze them with the peel on or peel them and freeze in a freezer bag.  They need to thaw for a bit to get the peel off if you choose that method.  Banana bars usually have cream cheese frosting, but this brown butter frosting is delicious.

Banana Bread Bars

1-1/2 c. sugar
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 eggs
1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting:
1/2 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk

Directions:
1.  Heat oven to 375F.  Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan.  For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.  Blend inbananas and vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute.  Stir in walnuts.

2.  Spread batter evenly into pan.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

3.  Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling.  Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.

4.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk.  Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting).  Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).

Yield: 2 dozen large bars

P.S.  Did you know that if you peel a banana upside down away from the stem, you won't get the strings?