Best Banana Bars with Brown Butter Caramel Frosting

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Got Bananas? This ‘Winning’ Baked Banana Bars recipe comes out so moist, light and fluffy and is paired with a sinfully rich, outrageous Browned Butter & Caramel Frosting recipe!  Once you taste these amazing banana bars, they will have you ‘Wowww’-ing for days!  

More wow?  You’ll love these Perfect Banana Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies, these Chocolate Covered Pecan Pie Bars, these Easy Dutch Crumble Apple Pie Bars and this Best Pumpkin Pecan Coffee Cake!

These Best Banana Bars Are Winning!

Say goodbye to boring banana desserts and get ready to indulge in this delectable treat. These moist and flavorful bars will have your taste buds dancing with each bite. But wait, it gets even better – the rich and decadent, rich and nutty brown butter caramel frosting takes these bars to a whole new level.

There’s a definite huge ‘Wow’ factor in these super moist Banana Bars and that Browned Butter & Caramel Frosting?  Can I just say…’Amazing!’ ‘OMG!’ Speaking of brown butter, check out these Caramel Frosted Brown Butter Brownies too! I am SO crushin’ on these baked banana bars recipe big time.

You already know I’m a glutton for sweets!  But, what you may or may not know, is I could gobble this whole pan of southern charm up in one fatal swoop. Which means, these banana cake bars are dangerously addicting, delicious and I can’t. stop. thinking. about. them.

Ingredients You Need

‘Winning’ Best Banana Bars Recipe

• granulated sugar
• brown sugar
• sour cream
• eggs
• unsalted butter 
• mashed bananas 
• vanilla extract
• all purpose flour
• baking soda
• salt

Browned Butter & Caramel Frosting

• butter 
• caramel dip or caramel sauce
• powdered sugar
• vanilla extract
• milk of choice
•  salt

Toppings

• chopped walnuts, optional
• chopped mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, optional

How to Make the Best Banana Bars 

1. Heat oven to 375F. Spray with non-stick spray or cover pan with tin foil, (non-stick if you have it, otherwise spray it with non-stick spray) 15×10-inch jelly roll pan.

Make the Banana Bar Batter

1. In a large bowl, using mixer, beat together sugars, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.
2. Add in bananas and vanilla extract and blend.
3. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and continue to beat for 1 minute.
4. Spread batter evenly into pan.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
6. While bars are baking, you can make the frosting.

How to Make Browned Butter & Caramel Frosting

1. Heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling and let butter turn a delicate brown color, then remove from heat immediately.
2. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, caramel dip and milk.
3. Whisk together all the ingredients until smooth. Frosting should be thicker than glaze but thinner than frosting.
4. Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the banana bars while they are still warm. I added the frosting about 15 minutes after I took the baked banana bars out of the oven. It makes it easier to spread onto the cake. YUM!!!

Add Toppings 

• Add toppings if desired, like chopped nuts, chocolate chips, toffee chips, m&m’s and more!

Tips for Banana Bars

• Use bananas that are ripe.  Too ripe of bananas do not fare well when baking, as they don’t have the sweetness and flavor that ripe bananas can give to these bars to make them moist and flavorful! 
• The Browned Butter & Caramel Frosting is sinfully and outrageously delicious!  It’s what takes these bars over the top! I was hesitant to put it on banana bars because they are good all by themselves, but it’s too good not too.  Step out of the boundaries and explore! 
• Also excellent with a delish cream cheese frosting. You must try this recipe at least once.  Let me know if you think it is a perfect pairing?

Storing Best Banana Bars

• Once bars are made, cover them in plastic wrap or in a ziplock bag or airtight container for up to 3-4 days at room temperature or can be refrigerated.

These Banana Bars with caramel and brown butter frosting are so perfect to make for church functions, girls’ nights, parties, and so on! Plenty to go around, unless…someone eats them in one fatal swoop.  🙂  These are great for snacking and perfect with a cup of coffee too! 🙂

Want More Delicious Recipe Ideas?

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'Winning' Banana Bars {Browned Butter & Caramel Frosting}

Kim Lange

These Southern-Kissed 'Winning' Banana Bars are so moist, light and fluffy and are paired with a sinfully rich, outrageous Browned Butter & Caramel Frosting that will have you 'Wowww'-ing for days!

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Servings 36 Servings

Calories

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

'WINNING' BANANA BARS

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup unsalted butter softened
• 2 cups bananas 3-4 ripened and mashed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt

BROWNED BUTTER & CARAMEL FROSTING

• ½ cup butter unsalted
• ¼ cup caramel dip or caramel sauce
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-5 tablespoons Cashew milk or whatever milk you want to use
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Toppings

• ¼ - 1 cup cup chopped walnuts optional
• ¼ - 1 cup chopped mini semi-sweet chocolate chips optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

 

• Heat oven to 375F. Spray with non-stick spray or cover pan with tin foil, (non-stick if you have it, otherwise spray it with non-stick spray) 15x10-inch jelly roll pan. Half the recipe if you want to use a 9x13 pan.

'WINNING' BANANA BARS

• In a large bowl, using mixer, beat together sugars, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.
• Add in bananas and vanilla extract and blend.
• Add flour, baking soda, salt, and continue to beat for 1 minute.
• Spread batter evenly into pan.
• Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• While bars are baking, you can make the frosting.

BROWNED BUTTER & CARAMEL FROSTING

• Heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling and let butter turn a delicate brown color, then remove from heat immediately.
• Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, caramel dip and milk.
• Whisk together all the ingredients until smooth. Frosting should be thicker than glaze but thinner than frosting.
• Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the banana bars while they are still warm. I added the frosting about 15 minutes after I took the banana bars out of the oven. It makes it easier to spread onto the cake. YUM!!!

Notes

You could probably get by with making a 1/2 batch of the frosting recipe on these bars, if you want to still have the richness but not as many calories. I went all the way, my thighs will thank me later. 🙂

Keyword banana, bars, browned butter, caramel

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