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Put your overripe bananas to work in a big pan of Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting. They are definitely one of the most spectacular banana desserts ever.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
Ingredient notes
- Mashed ripe bananas: If frozen, thaw on the counter while you prep the other ingredients. To ripen bananas in real time, preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange the unpeeled bananas on the baking sheet. Bake until banana skins are completely black all over, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool. Scoop the banana pulp from the peel, then mash.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 15” x 10” x 1” pan (jelly roll pan) with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In an electric mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and beat until incorporated. Beat in banana and vanilla until incorporated. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until uniformly combined.
- Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
- To make the cream cheese frosting, in a standing mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat well.
- Spread evenly over cooled bars.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 24 squares, 2 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch each, cut in a 4×6 configuration (unless you cut them into 12 unnecessarily large pieces like we did immediately above).
- Storage: Refrigerate any uneaten bars within 2 hours and store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can bring them to room temperature before serving or eat them cold (I personally love cold cream cheese frosting).
- Freezing: Tightly cover unfrosted or frosted bars and freeze them up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Cool completely before frosting: Frosting spreads most easily on cooled bars. If the bars are still warm, you might end up lifting part of the cake off as you spread, making holes in the top and mixing cake with frosting.
- Travel: To bring frosted banana bars to a party, cut them at home but keep them in the pan. Stick toothpicks at regular intervals into the top of the frosting, then drape plastic wrap lightly over the toothpicks to prevent the plastic from sticking to the frosting.
- More mix-ins: Stir in toasted walnuts, toasted pecans, or mini chocolate chips before baking.
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Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Put your overripe bananas to work in a big pan of Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting. They are definitely one of the most spectacular banana desserts ever.
Ingredients
For the bars:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter softened (1 stick)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium, see note 1)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the frosting:
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened (1 stick)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the bars:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 15” x 10” x 1” pan (jelly roll pan) with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs and beat until incorporated. Beat in banana and vanilla until incorporated. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until uniformly combined. Spread into prepared pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
To make the frosting:
- In a standing mixer fit with the paddle attachment, or with an electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat well. Spread evenly over cooled bars.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Mashed ripe bananas: If frozen, thaw on the counter while you prep the other ingredients. To ripen bananas in real time, preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange the unpeeled bananas on the baking sheet. Bake until banana skins are completely black all over, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool. Scoop the banana pulp from the peel, then mash.
- Yield: This recipe makes 24 squares, 2 1/2-inch by 2 1/2-inch each, cut in a 4×6 configuration.
- Storage: Refrigerate any uneaten bars within 2 hours and store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can bring them to room temperature before serving or eat them cold (I personally love cold cream cheese frosting).
- Freezing: Tightly cover unfrosted or frosted bars and freeze them up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Cool completely before frosting: Frosting spreads most easily on cooled bars. If the bars are still warm, you might end up lifting part of the cake off as you spread, making holes in the top and mixing cake with frosting.
- Travel: To bring frosted banana bars to a party, cut them at home but keep them in the pan. Stick toothpicks at regular intervals into the top of the frosting, then drape plastic wrap lightly over the toothpicks to prevent the plastic from sticking to the frosting.
- More mix-ins: Stir in toasted walnuts, toasted pecans, or mini chocolate chips before baking.
Nutrition
Serving: 1barCalories: 267kcalCarbohydrates: 47gProtein: 2gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 44mgSodium: 135mgPotassium: 57mgFiber: 1gSugar: 37gVitamin A: 277IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg
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Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
20 stars. 5 From me and 15 from the neighbors I made them for who loved them. After starting, I realized I only had 2 eggs, so I subbed 1/4 cup of vanilla yogurt for the 3rd egg and they turned out great. Everyone loved them, even the little kids. SUCH a hit. Thanks Meghan!!
Hi Greta, you are so welcome! I’m happy everyone loved them! Take care! – Meggan
Is it possible to increase this recipe to a 12 x 18 pan? Feeding a bigger crowd here.
Hi Mary, I haven’t tried this myself, but I think you could increase it by a couple servings. The half sheet has a volume of 12 cups, while the jelly roll pan has a volume of 10 cups. Adding additional batter to a taller pan may result in a longer cooking time, so I would keep an eye on it. I don’t want you to have ruined banana bars, though. I hope this helps! Take care! – Meggan
Bake time says 1 hour and 5 minutes? Is this correct for a 15 x 10 x 1? One of the comments suggested 50 minutes in a 9 x 13.
Hi Bonnie, thanks for the question! It is a little confusing, so I hope I can help. The total time to actively cook this recipe is 1 hour and 5 minutes, in step #4 the cake is baked until set, about 20 to 25 minutes, and then needs to cool down at least 30 minutes. The rest of the cooking time is to make the frosting. The actual baking time though is 20 to 25 minutes. I did test it in a 9 x 13-inch pan and it took 50 minutes baking time for the center to set, since a reader asked. I hope this helps clear it up, sorry about that. Take care! – Meggan
This recipe was very easy to make. My 3 year old grandson helped me make it. It came out delicious. Thank you, Nancy
Hi, these banana bars are fantastic just thought that I’d let you know that when you are covering the bars with plastic wrap and toothpicks, put miniature marshmallows on the tip of the toothpicks to stop the toothpicks from poking through the plastic wrap. That’s a little trick that my Grandmother taught me.
This looks delicious! Should salted or unsalted butter be used? Thank you – can’t wait to try it.
Hi Irene! Technically you should probably use unsalted butter for everything because salt content varies by brand of butter. However, my mom (and all my friends and relatives in Wisconsin) don’t buy unsalted butter, ever. I’ve made it with both, it’s delicious with both. I honestly can’t tell the difference. There is a pinch of salt in the recipe, but it’s not going to taste salty if you use salted butter. I hope that helps! It’s a great question. Thank you. :)
Ha! I LOVE that you can (probably) eat more than me, Meggan. Next time I out-eat everyone at the table, I’ll think of you!!
The banana cake it stunning. Stunningly simple, too. I have a bit of a battle on my hands to get to the browning bananas before my husband throws them away (!!) but this is a great idea if ever i do have some bananas needing immediate usage!
Bake bananas in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes! Line the pan you bake them in in case they leak!