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Banana Bars with Brown Butter Icing

November 9, 2012 by Audra 27 Comments

One of the questions people are always always asking me about writing a baking blog is how I manage to eat anything other than sweets 24/7. I usually try one of whatever I make, save a couple for Andy, and then give the rest away as fast as I can. These bars were no exception, and they were out of my house within an hour of photographing them. And good thing too, because these may be the most addicting, delicious things I’ve tasted in ages. (So good that I may have gone back and hit up Andy’s stash later in the day!)

It starts with the most buttery soft banana bar that is the perfect texture and flavor, (I had the over- ripe and perfect baking bananas for these.) While the freshly baked cake-like bars are still warm, they are slathered with a thick brown-butter icing, flecked with bits of nutty brown buttery goodness.

The icing soaks into the warm cake, and melts just a teeny bit, and creates a truly wonderful flavor combination that I’m now obsessed with. I’ve always loved brown butter, but this unique icing is really spectacular- I’ll be using it again without a doubt!

Banana Bars with Brown Butter Icing

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Banana Bars with Brown Butter Icing
Yield: 12 bars
 
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ¼ cup butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup (about 2) very ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • brown butter frosting:
  • ¼ c. butter
  • 2 c. powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1½ tbsp. milk
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 375F. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper. (I overlap two pieces so the sides hang over the pan. It makes removing the bars easy as can be.)
  2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.
  3. Blend in bananas and vanilla extract.
  4. Add flour, baking soda, salt, stir together until just combined. Spread batter evenly into pan.
  5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly and then remove from pan using the parchment to lift.
Meanwhile, for frosting:
  1. Place butter in a heatproof dish with a well-fit dish on top. Microwave butter for 4-5 minutes. You will hear it bubble and pop and after wards it should be perfectly browned. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth and thick.
  2. Spread the icing on the bars when they have cooled for about 10-15 minutes. The frosting goes on much easier when the bars are a little warm, it also creates an amazing soft, slightly-melty affect.
3.5.3251

Recipe adapted from: Life’s Simple Measures

Filed Under: Bars, Recipes Tagged With: Banana, Brown Butter

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Comments

  1. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says

    November 9, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    You seriously rock my world! Love this!

    Reply
  2. Jess Wakasugi says

    November 9, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    Omgosh, you don’t know how incredibly excited and honored I am to see that you made a recipe from my blog. I absolutely adore your blog and all of your creations, I’ve been following you for a while and you have easily become one of my favorite bakers. Thanks so very much for trying out this recipe and I’m so glad to see you liked the bars! Have a wonderful weekend :)

    Reply
  3. Audra says

    November 9, 2012 at 2:46 pm

    These bars are SO good. I’m so glad I found the recipe! :)

    Reply
  4. Tara Donato says

    November 9, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    I happen to have two overly ripe bananas on my kitchen table right now! Definitely going to make these today. I LOVE when I just happen to have all of the ingredients ready to go!!

    Reply
  5. Audra says

    November 9, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    Yes I love when that happens too! I hope you love them as much as I did! :)

    Reply
  6. Ally's Sweet & Savory Eats says

    November 9, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    I’m in heaven. Just sayin’

    Reply
  7. Jessica_AKitchenAddiction says

    November 9, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Oh my. I like banana bars plain. . .but this icing would make them irresistible!

    Reply
  8. Cassie | Bake Your Day says

    November 9, 2012 at 9:29 pm

    Yeah, I would have been pushing these out the door as fast as they came out of the oven because I couldn’t risk eating the whole pan. These look amazing…you can never go wrong with brown butter!

    Reply
  9. Grubarazzi says

    November 9, 2012 at 11:58 pm

    These look out of this world!

    Reply
  10. betsy says

    November 10, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    they look delicious (long time follower, first time commenter). What are the specks in the icing? do you use vanilla beans??

    Reply
  11. Audra says

    November 10, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    Hey Betsy! The specks are from the brown butter- it always has little specks throughout :)

    Reply
    • The Kook @ The Kitchen Kook says

      January 30, 2013 at 4:48 pm

      I love those specks! They make anything look prettier and more rustic. Another one of the many reasons to love brown butter!

      Reply
  12. betsy says

    November 10, 2012 at 8:56 pm

    thanks for the response! I’ll have to make soon! As always, your food looks amazing!!

    Reply
  13. Tracey says

    November 11, 2012 at 6:27 pm

    Oh yes, please!! I’m obsessed with all things brown butter so I know these bars would be a hit here. I’m the same way with the things I bake – the sooner I can get them out of the house, the better :)

    Reply
  14. betsy says

    November 19, 2012 at 2:32 am

    made it-amazing!

    Reply
  15. Kim_assailly says

    December 31, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    What do you mean by “a well-fit top” when you are browning the butter?

    Reply
  16. Audra says

    January 6, 2013 at 4:26 am

    Hey Kim- sorry for the late reply. I just mean something that fits well. For example if you are using a glass measuring cup- place a saucer that is snug on top so the butter doesn’t splatter out! :)

    Reply
  17. Audra says

    January 6, 2013 at 4:26 am

    I’m so glad you liked them! They are a favorite…

    Reply
  18. The Kook @ The Kitchen Kook says

    January 30, 2013 at 4:46 pm

    Mmm. I just made these banana bars, and I cannot get over how MOIST and SOFT they are! Even though I just made them, your pictures are tempting me to make another batch. I clearly have a problem – a baking addiction, if you will..

    Here are the ones I made!
    http://thekitchenkook.blogspot.com/2013/01/moist-banana-bars-with-brown-butter.html

    Reply
    • Audra says

      January 30, 2013 at 4:50 pm

      Thank you! I’m so glad you liked them! :)

      Reply
  19. Suzanne m. says

    March 11, 2013 at 1:55 pm

    Hmm, tried these with high expectations, but not sure I’ll make them again. Cake was dense and flabby (and baked longer than indicated). Icing was extremely sweet. Even my sweet-loving husband thought so. Might try the banana scones with the next batch of overripe fruit.

    Reply
  20. Shawnna G says

    December 20, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    You should know HOW MUCH JOY this recipe brings! it is a magical treat :)

    Reply
    • Audra says

      December 20, 2013 at 10:12 pm

      Thanks Shawnna- I love these bars so much!

      Reply
  21. Sophia Joy says

    April 16, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    First time commenter, short time lurker and have definitely enjoyed looking through your recipes!! {READ: getting lost for three hours… I do work. HAH! Obviously not.}

    Back to my questions… I will be using applesauce in place of sour cream and half bread flour/all purpose mix.. Along with all those substitutions would brown sugar be okay here..? I love the molasses flavour so much!!!!

    P.S. This is only going to be for ME!!!!!!!! {: Wee!!

    Reply
    • Audra says

      April 17, 2015 at 11:27 am

      Hi Sophia! I think brown sugar would be Ok in this one- but I haven’t tried it so I can’t promise it won’t change the texture slightly. :)

      Reply
  22. Rachel Page says

    May 21, 2015 at 5:22 am

    I made these yesterday, and they were amazing! I expected something quite rich and heavy, but to my surprise they weren’t.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Easy Dinosaur Cupcakes says:
    January 31, 2017 at 6:00 am

    […] day. You start with a cupcake- any old cupcake recipe you like. I made banana cupcakes using this recipe, but in cupcake form. I swirled on some classic cream cheese frosting, and that was the base. I […]

    Reply

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