This is a favorite. Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting are something I grew up with. I love making these for my family!
I don’t know about you, but I love anything banana. Banana bread, banana cream pie, banana pudding, banana taffy…believe it or not I just had banana taffy today and it was delicious.
I grew up eating banana bars, in fact this is my Grandma’s recipe! Grandma’s have the BEST recipes. I love making family recipes because they bring me back. My mom made these all the time growing up – they would sit on the island and I remember cutting slice, after slice, after slice.
I hope you like banana and even if you don’t, please try these! They are not over powering with banana flavor and the cinnamon brings an extra level of deliciousness to them.
The cream cheese frosting is the real star of this dessert anyway. It’s so creamy and flavorful and complements the light banana flavor so well. Let’s be honest, cream cheese frosting is the star of any dessert. I truly believe that a frosting either makes or breaks the dessert, so it HAS to be good.
A few quick tips about these banana bars. They taste better the next day, you can sub the sour cream for Greek yogurt and a dash of cinnamon on the top makes them pretty.
Enjoy!
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- Banana Bars
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 mashed ripe bananas
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
- 11/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Butter the bottom and sides of a 9×13 inch metal baking pan; set aside
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the sour cream, and vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the mashed banana. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, the top will also be a light brown. Mine actually baked for 30 minutes, but in my old oven it only took about 25.
- Transfer pan to wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the cream cheese frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low-speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled banana bars.
Emily V.
Jess! These bars are SO delicious! I couldn’t get enough of that frosting either. Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂 I even brought some to ACF and everyone gobbled them right up and I, of course, gave you credit.
Jessica Erin
I am so glad you liked them!
marcia
did u measure out exactly 2.5 cups of confectioners sugar or did u double it?
Jessica Erin
Hi Marcia! If the recipe says ‘2 cups sifted flour’ you should sift the flour into a bowl, then measure it. If the recipe says ‘2 cups flour, sifted’, you should measure the flour first, then sift it. Does this help?