Banana Bread Bars w/ Browned Butter Frosting

Oh my heavens! These are the best bars ever!  Is what I said to myself when I first made these bars, the recipe for which I found on Life's Simple Measures.  I will never again make banana bread to use up old bananas, and once you try this, neither will you.  Browned butter does something absolutely magical when mixed with the creamy flavor of bananas.  Ahhh..... the only change I might make next time is I want to try browning the butter that goes into the batter first.  A one-two punch of browned butter?  I think YES!

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I liked these bars so much that they are what I chose to enter in our county fair this year and I won a BLUE ribbon!  Woot! I won another blue ribbon for my Dark Chocolate Cherry Brownies.  Now, stop reading this blog and start making these bars :)

Banana Bread Bars:

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1-3/4 c. (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

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 in bananas and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. Stir in walnuts.

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

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. Watch the butter closely!  The TURN happens quickly, and you don't want to burn your butter!!

 

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