Frosted Banana Bars for a Party

The other afternoon I was prepping dinner and making a smoothie for The Nudge to take to work and I discovered too many very ripe bananas. Now, I could have froze them, or do what I did.
I made banana bars with a chocolate cream cheese frosting.
Yea, I know, Bad Girl. The Nudge jumped out of his chair to kiss me to go for seconds.

Good news is, I can have a 2"x2" piece and that is more than enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. I found a recipe over at allrecipes.com that looked easy enough and I made up the frosting recipe based on a dairy-free version. It just seemed to use less of everything the traditional ones used and it was way sweet enough for us.

I used a 9"x13" baking pan so I added 10 minutes to the baking time and they baked up perfect.
This is a perfect dessert for a Super Bowl party, a covered dish affair or an office celebration.

Frosted Banana Bars
makes 36 bars

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup sour cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup mashed ripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time,
then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter.
Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (30-35 for a 9x13 pan) in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting.



Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
makes enough for a 9"x13" cake

* 1/2 brick low fat cream cheese
* 1/4 cup softened butter
* 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
* 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine the cream cheese and butter in a mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and cocoa at low speed until blended.