Good Eating Monday: Frosted Banana Bars!


Today's Good Eating recipe is one great for using up those bananas that got ripe too fast: Frosted Banana Bars!
I don't know about you, but I have stages for bananas: 
Stage 1: slightly green to just barely ripe and no spotting on peel: eat plain.
Stage 2: more ripe, but not squishy with only a slight amount of spotting on peel: slice on cereal or use in gelatin.
Stage 3: squishy ripe and heavily spotted peel: use in baking muffins, quick breads or something. 
Now Hubby will eat a Stage 2 banana plain. I won't.
But nobody in my house eats Stage 3!

This recipe calls for a jelly roll pan, which is either a 10 x 15 or 12 x 17 size baking pan with a 1" high side wall.  I have a couple I use for baking cookies on. They make good cookie sheets, too, so not a waste to have on hand.
This is a pass-along recipe given to me by my friend, Paula, who said these bars were popular whenever she took them to a pot-luck.

A good picture of what Banana Bars look like.
Frosted Banana Bars
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 stick margarine or butter (=1/2 cup)
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ripe bananas
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick margarine or butter (= 4 Tablespoons or 1/4 cup)
2 cups Confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1)  Prepare jelly roll pan by spraying with oil cooking spray. Pre-heat oven to 350.
2)  In a large bowl: Combine sugar with softened margarine/butter. Stir in mashed bananas, beaten eggs,  & vanilla. Combine flour, soda & salt in sifter and gradually add to wet ingredients, stirring in after each addition until well mixed. (Optional: add nutmeg and/or cinnamon or nuts!)  Pour mix into jelly roll pan & spread evenly.  Bake for 30 minutes. Remove when golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Directions:
Whip softened cream cheese & margarine/butter & vanilla together.
Then gradually stir in 2 cups of Confectioner's sugar, beating after each addition until well combined and fluffy.
Spread over cooled cake and cut into desired serving size squares.
Note: Because frosting is cream cheese, be sure & keep cake chilled until ready to serve and store leftovers in refrigerator.
*****
I find this recipe a little extra sweet, so reducing sugar in the cake to 1 1/4 cups might be useful and, instead of a bar cream cheese, buy a container of light whipped cream cheese and substitute 1/2 cup or so of that in the frosting recipe for a lighter frosting!
If I'm making a cream cheese frosting, I always prefer the light whipped cream cheese!

So how do you eat your bananas?
*****
Eat up, me hearties, yo-ho!

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