Banana Bars

We had a bunch of bananas recently that were VERY ripe and needed to be used. You probably already have multiple recipes for banana bars—but we thought these bars were especially delicious! The recipe just makes a 13 x 9-inch pan (less than my other recipes), but handy for when you don’t need to make a huge batch. The bars are not very tall, so a 1-inch high pan will be plenty high. These bars are very moist, and the cream cheese frosting is the perfect topping.

1 cup sugar
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 medium)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides (or spray with Baker’s Joy) of 13 x 9-inch pan. In large bowl, mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs with spoon (or use standing mixer). In separate bowl, stir together dry ingredients, then add dry ingredients to banana mixture and mix together. Spread in pan.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Frost with cream cheese frosting. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

In medium bowl, mix cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Gradually beat in powdered sugar with spoon, scraping bowl occasionally, until smooth and spreadable.