Frosted Banana Bars

Frosted Banana Bars from Taste of Home.

I made these delicious bars from the 2000 Taste of Home Annual Recipes cookbook.  I hadn't made them for years and I had forgotten how good they are.  I served them to our Small Group and sent a bunch of them to work with Mr. SBQ.  Some of the responses were - "Oh my gosh - those are awesome"; "what a treat"; "delicious"; "YUM"; "so awesome, so awesome".  And, Little C said the banana flavor was really good.   :)

The nice thing is that they are pretty easy and serve a lot of people!

Frosted Banana Bars

I have included the link to the recipe, and the recipe straight from Taste of Home's website.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
• FROSTING:
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3-3/4 to 4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in bananas.
• Spread into a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (do not overbake). Cool.
• For frosting, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually beat in enough confectioners' sugar to achieve desired consistency. Frost bars. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 3-4 dozen.

Nutritional Facts1 serving (1 each) equals 148 calories, 7 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 28 mg cholesterol, 96 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 1 g protein.

Originally published as Frosted Banana Bars in Taste of Home June/July 2000, p33