What's up Wednesday--Banana bars

Bananas are something everyone in my family loves.  On Thursdays at my grocery store I can get them for $.19 a pound, so I load up.  We usually don't end up eating them all before they start to go brown, darn it, so that means we get to bake with them or freeze them for smoothies.  Yum!  Some of our favorite banana recipes are my great grandma's banana bread, baked banana oatmeal, and banana chocolate chip mini muffins--which I will share that recipe next week.  But I was looking for something different to make with our ripe bananas this last week, and I found something divine!  I think what makes these so divine is the frosting--browned butter frosting.  Have you ever made that before?  Oh. my.  it is to.die.for.

When Ben tasted them he said, "Wow, what is that frosting it is really good!"  and my kids didn't have to say much, the pan which was gone in less than an hour spoke for itself.  It used to be that I could make a batch of cookies or brownies or bars like these, and we would have left-overs to freeze and use for lunches.  That is not quite the case anymore.   More often than not the cookies and bars are gone before I can get them into the freezer.  Maybe I just need to start doubling everything I make--one to eat now, and one to freeze.

I found these somewhere on the web--do you do that, find things and then can't remember where you found them?  I print off recipes all the time, but sometimes the site doesn't print off, so I apologize to whoever came up with these first that I can't give you credit, but thank you because they are so good!

Banana Bars

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

3-4 ripe bananas mashed

2 tes vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tes baking soda

3/4 tes salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional--we aren't nut people, so I never put them in)

Browned Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tes vanilla

 3 Tbl milk

Heat oven to 375.  Grease a 10x15 jelly roll pan.  Beat first four ingredients until creamy.  Blend in bananas and vanilla and beat for 1 minute.  Add dry ingredients and blend for one minute.  Stir in nuts if using and then spread in pan.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Cool slightly until warm but not hot and frost with browned butter frosting.

For frosting--heat butter in saucepan over medium heat until it is boiling and a delicate brown color--this takes a while--keep an eye on it.  Remove from heat and immediately add the remaining ingredients.  This should be thicker than glaze and thinner than frosting.  Use a spatula to smooth over the banana bars immediately.  It is easier to spread on the warm banana bars.  Enjoy!