Bar #26: Banana Bread Brownies

One of my very best friends in this whole wide world Lori gave me her recipe for Banana Bread Brownies because she knew it was something I would love. Since all of my 100 bars use a cake mix, I decided a yellow cake mix was the perfect for this bar.

My favorite part about these bars?  The brown butter frosting that goes on top.  When I gave them to my taste-testers, I laughed because Erika actually said that she needed to slow down because she loved them so much that she was inhaling it too quickly.  That’s the sign of a successful bar :).

Shopping List
1 box of yellow cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup of sour cream
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (I used two large bananas)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 splashes of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease (I use Pam) a 9×13 baking dish, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your yellow cake mix, vegetable oil, eggs and sour cream with an electric mixer.  Beat in mashed bananas and cinnamon.  Stir in walnuts.

Spread batter into your greased pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (these are bars…don’t over bake them).

Right when your bars are about to come out of the oven, start to make your brown butter frosting (because you want to pour it over warm bars).

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt your butter.  Bring the butter to a boil and stir constantly until it turns slightly brown (don’t burn it…just lightly brown it).  Remove from heat and stir in your powdered sugar and vanilla.  Add a splash of milk and keep stirring until it reaches your desired consistency.  It should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than a butter cream-like frosting.  Add more powdered sugar if it’s too thin and more milk if it’s too thick.  Pour the frosting over your warm brownies and spread it out to cover.

Serve brownies warm or allow to cool in the fridge.

My people ate these bars up.  Delicious!  Thank you so much Lori for the inspiration (and being my life-long sister!).

And just for grins, I looked back to see what Bundt Cake #26 was…and it was one of my favorites!  My Orange Poppy Seed Bundt Cake still stands out to me as one of my best.  If you haven’t tried it yet…you totally should.

26 is a great number for bunt cakes and bars…you should try them both!

Happy Sunday!