Banana Bars Tips
How do you ripen bananas quickly?
To ripen bananas quickly, just pop your bananas in a paper bag, fold over to close and check in a day. The enclosed environment traps ethylene, the compound responsible for ripening bananas. For even better results, add an apple to the bag (it also releases ethylene). Don’t want to wait a day? You can
ripen bananas in minutes or hours using an oven or freezer.
What are some alternatives to cream cheese frosting?
It’s hard to go wrong with a
creamy caramel frosting. Feeling a bit more adventurous? Why not go Elvis-inspired with a
chocolate peanut butter frosting? Spread over the top, then sprinkle the banana bars with chopped peanuts or crumbled cooked bacon!
What other toppings can you add to banana bars?
Try your hand at a classic
homemade chocolate ganache. Cool and spread over the top, then decorate with dried banana chips or chopped pecans. Or, for the simplest topping of all, lightly dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Research contributed by Christine Rukavena, Taste of Home Book Editor
Reviews
Horrible, bars were super dense no flavor . Super disappointed
I made these for my daughters school lunches. They were a huge hit! I did 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar. I also added half a bag of semisweet chocolate chips into the batter
Really delicious and moist! Hubby doesn't like cake but ate three pieces of this! Only changes I made were to half the icing sugar in the frosting and left out the butter in frosting. Everyone loved them.
I make this recipe several times a year. I find I can cut the sugar to 1.5 cups, and I like to add raisins and walnuts or pecans. They freeze well.
Love, love, love this recipe! Have made it many times. When my bananas get too ripe, I toss them in the freezer, then when I have enough, I make bars! Yum! An extra banana adds extra moist banana -y goodness!
Oh, my, this is good! Nice and moist, with well-balanced banana flavor. My kids said it rivaled carrot cake - which they love. The cream cheese frosting rounds out the flavor. Definitely a keeper recipe - and a great way to use up over-ripe bananas!
Absolutely Delicious!!!!
I have been making this recipe for 20+ years and anyone who has tried it just loves it. It's wonderful and a quick dessert. My daughter's old boyfriend use to bring over the stuff to make it and I would make a batch just for him.
I made these and they turned out WAY to sugary and not moist at all. Why two cups of sugar when you have the natural sweetness of the bananas. Really disappointed.
Made this recipe to the letter except added walnuts to the batter and frosting. Batter mixes up well and bakes quickly in the sheet cake pan. Frosting is tasty, but does not have as strong of a cream cheese flavor as recipes made without the added butter this one has. The cake is relatively moist and has a nice texture, but without any spices, it tastes a bit bland. I will make this again, but will add some cinnamon and/or nutmeg to give it a bit of a boost in flavor.