I love banana recipes so when I had a few ripe bananas so I used them to make delicious banana bars with maple buttercream frosting!
Ever notice that there are so many flavors that go well with bananas? A banana split from DQ comes with strawberry, pineapple and chocolate on it. Then, of course, there are the banana and peanut butter sandwiches. Bananas taste great with coconut, Nutella, caramel and cinnamon. Recently, my sister told me about some delicious banana bars with maple frosting that she tried. I love maple glaze so I had to try making some Banana Bars with Maple Buttercream Frosting.
Beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat for 1-2 minutes. Mix in eggs and mashed bananas. Add flour, salt and baking soda. Mix until smooth. Spread into a greased jelly roll pan. My pan is 16 x 12 x 1″ but a 15 x 10″ pan works too.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
To make the maple buttercream frosting, beat together cream cheese and butter for 1 minute. Add maple flavoring and vanilla. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add powdered sugar slowly, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. (I put my splash guard on my Kitchen Aid mix and left it on low while slowly pouring in the powdered sugar. Then, turned it on high to beat it in, and then repeated the process.) Add heavy cream and beat well.
Frost the banana bars with the maple buttercream frosting, cut into squares and enjoy! My daughter brought these to a potluck and she said everyone liked them and there weren’t any leftovers.
Banana Bars with Maple Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
Banana Bars:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup mashed, ripe bananas
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Maple Buttercream Frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 stick butter, room temperature (softened, not melted)
- 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions
Banana Bars:
- Beat together cream cheese, butter and vanilla.
- Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat for 1-2 minutes.
- Mix in eggs and mashed bananas.
- Add flour, salt and baking soda. Mix until smooth.
- Spread into a greased jelly roll pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes.
Maple Buttercream Frosting:
- Beat together cream cheese and butter for 1 minute.
- Add maple flavoring and vanilla. Beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar slowly, 1 cup at a time, beating between each cup. (I put my splash guard on my Kitchen Aid mix and left it on low while slowly pouring in the powdered sugar. Then, turned it on high to beat it in, and then repeated the process.)
- Add heavy cream and beat well.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Liz says
These look great! If I make these a day before they will be eaten, do I need to refrigerate?
Tonia says
Yes, store the banana bars in the refrigerator. Enjoy! ~Tonia
Marti says
These sound amazing with Maple Butter cream frosting! I can’t wait to try this recipe! 🙂
Marti
Jocelyn@Brucrewlife says
Oh, the frosting on these sounds amazing! I’m loving all things banana this week!! 🙂
Cathy@LemonTreeDwelling says
This reminds me of my Grandma’s banana cake recipe….can’t wait to try the maple buttercream frosting on top! Delicious, Tonia!
Marie-Eve says
Sounds delicious and I just happened to have a few very ripped bananas.
Question, if I have real maple syrup (I live in Quebec, having it on hand at all time is a must 😉 ), how would you incorporate that in your recipe? I would want to add it in with the banana bars and I guess replace the maple flavouring in the buttercream…
I need help because I’m good at following recipes but not reinventing them. Thanks!
Tonia says
Hi Marie-Eve,
How lucky you are to have real maple syrup so readily available! I’m not sure how to incorporate it into the banana bars, but you could add it to the buttercream. I think that you would have to add more maple syrup than maple flavoring since the flavor isn’t as concentrated. Happy Baking!
~Tonia
Julie @ Julie's Eats & Treats says
WOW! I love how light and fluffy that frosting looks! And I love all things bananas because I am kind of bananas 🙂
sue/the view from great island says
I just pulled out two black bananas from the fruit bowl, now I know just what to do with them 🙂
Tonia says
Perfect! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
O em gee. That frosting!!!
And too funny, I have banana bars on my white board as a to-make. #greatminds
Zainab @ Blahnik Baker says
You are so right, bananas seriously taste great with everything!!! So freaking good. I love these bars and that maple frosting is just so tempting.
Liz says
Thank you for the nice recipe. Have a Great Weekend!
Lindsay @ Life, Love and Sugar says
I absolutely love anything banana! That DQ blizzard is my fave! These bars look super tasty Tonia! Pinned.