Banana Bars Recipe

Soft, moist and easy Banana Bars Recipe that you can whip up just within 15 minutes of prep time! Topped with a caramel frosting, this is such a simple yet satisfying treat any time of the day!

Try Strawberry Oats Bars next! You are sure to love these Pumpkin Bars as well.

Got those stale bananas lying around on your counter top and you are tired of making Banana Muffins and Banana Bread with them? Then this recipe is it!

If you are feeling lazy just dust the bars with confectioners' sugar and dig in as soon as they come out of oven.

Now if you are feeling innovative, try your favorite frostings on them. Top with your favorite topping ingredients! I mean go gaga with them if you want. The choice is yours!

When I say these bars recipe is an easy one to put together, I am damn serious. You only need one mixing bowl, a hand beater and skills to whisk some ingredients. 😉

These bars are loved by all. Children enjoy them as an after school snack. Whenever I bring them to potlucks they are the first ones to disappear.

Oh and these are so perfect as a quick breakfast and any time snacking too (if you aren't looking for a super healthy option)!

 Lets quickly talk about the ingredients that you will need.

Ingredients for these bars:

Bananas: You will need a cup of mashed bananas for this recipe. About 3 medium sized bananas would yield about a cup of bananas. Make sure to use ripen bananas for best banana flavor.

Butter: Butter imparts a beautiful flavor to these bars. Do not substitute butter with any other oils. Make sure the butter is softened before you begin to cream it.

Sour Cream: Now this ingredient is the real moist maker in this recipe. Now only it will make the bars soft, but will also add a richness to them. Always use full fat sour cream for best texture and flavor. Bars made with low fat cream won't be as soft and rich.

Leavener: We will need baking soda to lift the bars as they bake. Make sure your leaveners isn't expired before adding it to the batter.

Eggs: We will require 2 eggs at room temperature. Take them out of refrigerator 30-40 minutes before whipping the batter up. If you forget, here is a trick to quickly bring eggs to room temp. Heat up a cup of water in microwave for a minute and dip eggs in it for about 5 minutes to bring them to room temperature quickly.

Vanilla: Opt for pure vanilla for best flavor. You can also use a combination of vanilla and maple to flavor these bars.

Add ins: Ig you like textures and flavor contrasts in your baked goods, add ¾ cup chocolate chips or chopped walnuts or pecan to the batter. I didn't this time.

How to put this recipe together:

We will start off by beating room temperature butter with sugar for a few minutes. Once that comes together, add and mix rest of the wet ingredients together.

Then fold in all the dry ingredients in the batter and finally goes in the mashed banana, We pour the batter on a lined sheet pan and bake then until done.

That's pretty much it!

Now after the bars have completely cooled down, we will frost them.

Tips to make perfect Bars:

Avoid Over-mixing: Over mixing can cause formation of gluten in the batter. That results in a dry and hard bake, you definitely don't want that!

Avoid over baking: Keep a close eye on your oven once you reach almost to the end of baking time. Since every oven is a little different you don't want to end up over baking them. Bake only till they pass toothpick test.

Room Temperature everything! I know you already know it and heard it 100s of times. But you most certainly need your eggs, butter, sour cream and bananas to be on room temperature for this recipe. That way you will create a uniform batter and your bars will be flawless.

Use a kitchen scale to measure ingredients: Kitchen scale takes the guess game out of play. A cup might not be a cup, but 250 gms will always be 250 gms. Always remember that! 😉

How to quickly ripen bananas?

If your bananas are just aren't ready yet for baking, place them on a lined baking tray with peels on. Bake them for about 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 deg F. The peels will turn brown at this stage. Allow them too cool down before peeling and using in the batter.

Different Frostings that you can use:

Cream Cheese Frosting is my second favorite for these bars.

Also Chocolate Ganache pairs wonderfully well with bananas.

You can never go wrong with a classic Vanilla Frosting either!

Peanut butter Frosting would be killer here too.

Toppings Choices:

Oh there are plenty. Top your bars off with banana chips, coconut flakes, peanuts, chocolate chips, dried berries or even mini pretzels. All of these taste wonderful here.

If you liked this recipe, please give it a star review! Also, tell me in the comments below, how did it turn out for you! How did your family or guests like it?

How did you personalize it? And don’t forget to share your wonderful creations with me on Instagram at #greedyeatsblog Let's be friends on Pinterest and Facebook too!

Recipe

Banana Bars

Soft, moist and easy Banana Bars Recipe that you can whip up just within 15 minutes of prep time! Topped with a caramel frosting, this is such a simple yet satisfying treat any time of the day!

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings 24 People

1x2x3x

Calories: 220kcal

Author: Neha

Equipment

• 1 15x10x1 inch Baking Pan

Ingredients

• ▢ ½ cup Butter (softened to room temp)
• ▢ 1 and ½ cups Granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 large Eggs (at room temperature)
• ▢ 1 cup Sour cream
• ▢ 2 teaspoons Pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 cups All purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• ▢ 1 cup Mashed Bananas (about 2-3 depending on their size)
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon Salt

For the frosting:

• ▢ ⅓ cup + 1 Tablespoon (75 gms) Granulated sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup Water (to moisten the sugar)
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ 2 oz Evaporated Milk (whole milk or heavy cream can be substituted as well)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ▢ 1 and ½ sticks Softened Butter (softened to room temp, cubed into 12 cubes of 1 tablespoon each)
• ▢ 1 cup Confectioners' sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 deg F and line a 15x10x1 baking pan with parchment paper. Set it aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, using a stand/handheld mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar till the butter gets super fluffy and turns light in color. About 2-3 minutes. Next add in eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.
• Add in sour cream and vanilla. Mix them well to combine. Now add flour, baking soda and salt to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just till flour disappears into the batter. Add and mix in mashed bananas too.
• Transfer the batter into pre-lined pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the pan over a wire rack and allow the bars to cool down completely in the pan. Let the bars cool completely before frosting.

For the Caramel Frosting:

• In a large sauce pan, add sugar and moisten it with water. Bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. Once it comes to a boil, stop stirring and allow the sugar to caramelize. Swirl the pan occasionally and cook till sugar gets a dark amber color.
• Now remove form heat and pour in the milk. It bubbles a lot at this stage so be careful. Stir until the mixture gets smooth. Next add in half a stick of butter (from the cubed butter) and vanilla to the caramelized sugar mixture. Mix till butter melts. Allow the mixture to cool down to room temp in refrigerator.
• Now beat the butter using a hand beater or stand mixer till it turns light. Slowly add in all the confectioners' sugar and continue beating. Scrape the bowl as desired. Gradually add the remaining 1 stick of cubed butter in and allow it to mix well before adding more.

  Once all the butter is in, beat for an extra minute and frost as desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Bar | Calories: 220kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Sodium: 112mg | Sugar: 22g

Tried this recipe? Pin it for later!Mention @greedyeats or tag #Greedyeats!