Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting

I’ve had two different browned butter banana-adjacent things that I’ve baked in the last few months, but this one has definitely gotten the most love.

Some call it bars, some call it banana bread, and some would call it cake… doesn’t matter what you call it, it’ll turn out the same!

INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED:

Frosting:

• Milk, room temp - 1/4 cup

• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

• Butter - 3/4 cup

• Butter, chilled - 2 tsp

• Powdered sugar - 3 cups

Bread bars:

• Ripe bananas, mashed - 1 1/2 cups (around 4 regular bananas)

• Eggs - 2

• Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

• AP flour - 2 cups

• Butter - 1/2 cup

• White sugar - 1 cup

• Brown sugar - 1/2 cup

• Sour cream - 1 cup

• Kosher salt - 1/2 tsp

• Baking soda - 1 tsp

• PAM / non-stickspray

UTENSILS I’D SUGGEST HAVING:

• 9 x 13 baking pan

• Flat spatula

• Medium or large saucepan

• Measuring cup

• Fork

• Two medium bowls with one lid

• Whisk

• Stand or hand mixer (+ whisk attachment)

ORDER OF OPERATIONS:

1. Brown your butter and separate some for the bars and some for the frosting

2. Whisk in other ingredients and pour into pan to bake

3. Make frosting while the bread bars are baking

4. Cool bars

5. Frost and serve

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat? Yes - 350 degrees F (176 degrees C)

Bread bars:

• Spray your 9x13 pan with non-stick spray

• Grab both the butter from the bar ingredients list and the frosting ingredients (1 1/4 cup total), excluding the 2 additional tbsp, and add this butter to your saucepan over medium heat to brown.

• If you chop your butter into smaller chunks, stirring every few minutes, it will melt faster. Brown the butter until it becomes a medium amber color and smells almost nutty.

  • Tip: your butter will go through several stages during this process; you’ll see the first melted stage where milk solids are floating on top; then a bubbling stage that almost pops and makes noise as if you were cooking with grease; lastly, there will be a little foam that forms on top before it comes to the right color — don’t worry, these are all fine and it’ll calm down when it’s nearly done.

  • Tip #2: the butter can go from amber and nice-smelling to burnt fairly quickly, so you do not want to walk away from it once the color starts to change.

• Measure out 1/2 cup of your browned butter and place in bowl #1 for the bars.

• Pour your remaining butter into mixing bowl #2 and drop in the extra 2 tbsp of chilled butter to melt.

• Place bowl #2 into the fridge to solidify for the frosting.

• Take bowl #1 which has your 1/2 cup of butter reserved for the bars and whisk in both the brown and white sugar.

• Whisk in the eggs, mashed banana, vanilla extract, and sour cream. Then, pour your batter into the prepped pan and use a spatula to even it out.

• Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry with some crumbs when you test the middle. Make your frosting while the bars are in the oven.

• Let the banana bars cool completely (about 30 mins) before frosting using a spatula to smooth it across the top.

Frosting:

• Once your bowl of brown butter in the fridge is solid (but still soft to the touch), use a stand mixer with the whisk attachment to gradually mix in the powdered sugar one cup at a time.

• Next, add your vanilla extract and milk and mix until the frosting is fluffy and smooth. You can place frosting in the fridge to prevent melting if your kitchen is warm while the bars cool down.

• Slice and enjoy!