~TO DIE FOR~ BANANA BREAD BARS W/BROWN BUTTER FROSTING

My new addiction lately is Pinterest.com. I find myself mindlessly looking at photos of crafts, food, décor and anything that catches my interest. I have tried maybe 3 or 4 recipes from Pinterest but none of them compare to this unbelievable recipe that I have pictured above. I am NOT  kidding when I say they are TO DIE FOR!!! These ARE the bomb. If you like banana bread, you won’t want to ever use another recipe…..this IS your new recipe….it’s that amazing. First I will give you the recipe and then tell you what happened the first time I made them. Here’s the recipe…

Ingredients:

Banana Bread Bars:

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting:

1/2 c. butter

4 c. powdered sugar

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsp. milk

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 375F.  Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan.  For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.  Blend in bananas and vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute.  Stir in walnuts.

2.  Spread batter evenly into pan.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

3.  Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling.  Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.

4.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk.  Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting).  Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).

Yield: 2 dozen large bars

Ok…now the first time I made these I was very distracted and was multi-tasking.  I had put the stick of butter in the microwave to soften a bit and forgot it. So…I made the recipe without the butter and in 20 minutes the banana bars came out and were fantastic! Don’t ask  me why…but you CAN cook them without that butter but they rise up quicker. So…here I had this partially melted butter in the microwave….what did I do???….I figured if I was already blowing the diet, I should still use it….I poked holes in the hot bread with a fork…slathered the butter over it and it sunk in….and left the bread with an incredible buttery/banana taste. I wouldn’t recommend that though…..that was a mistake on my part that ended up ok!

Some quick tips that helped me:

1. Watch the butter when boiling. It turns a light brown quickly. Don’t let it brown too much or it will ruin the flavor. Both times I made these, they cooked quicker than the recipe called for in the oven. The first time, the bars were done in 20 minutes. The second time, in 17. Start checking on them at 20 minutes I would say.

2. Keep the frosting a bit warm and stirred. Immediately after I took out the bread, I poked holes with a fork and frosted. It got down into the bread and made it Oh so Gooey Good. I decided to add a couple tablespoons of Maple Syrup to my frosting and it added a very nice flavor combined with the banana bread.

3. Cut into smaller bars than recommended because these are very, very rich and the moistest cake/bread you will EVAH taste!!!!! Oh MY FREAKING GOD ARE THEY GOOD……you have been warned…..not for anyone who is dieting! Let me know if you try them??? Your husband will adore you and your kids will too. People won’t be able to speak….they will just mumble when they eat these. You will be thinking of  these bars every time your bananas get ripe! Enjoy…..I won’t be making these again for a while…..back on the diet tomorrow…..but I will have the memories of these to carry me through…….MMMMMM…..good.