Banana Bread Brownies with Brown Butter Frosting

Bananas are unfortunately on my list of least favorite foods.  It's not that I don't like the flavor, but rather it's the texture of the them that bothers me.  They're mushy.  Mushy and gooey.  They kind of remind me of clumpy baby food to think of it.  [insert slight gag reflex]

Oddly enough I love banana flavored foods though, particularly banana flavored desserts.  I've always been a fan of banana bread, so when I came across these banana bread brownies topped with a brown butter frosting I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take them up to a family gathering at Lake Burton.

I wasn't exactly sure what the expect though....would they be super sugary and dense like your typical brownies?  Or would they still have more of a standard bread-y texture?  I was fine with either, especially since the brown butter frosting was involved!  I had never made a brown butter frosting, but was surprised at how easy it was to make.  You just have to be careful to watch it, lest your brown butter frosting become burnt butter frosting.  Yikes!

These turned out to be slightly sweeter than your average loaf of banana bread without being too dense.  I was a little worried there wouldn't be enough frosting, so I did 1 1/2 times the amount listed in the original recipe.  I was so glad I did because it turned out to be just the perfect amount.  No one wants the tease of a too thin layer of frosting after all.

And since you don't have to wait for the brownies to cool to frost them this whole dessert comes together from start to finish in under an hour.  While it's no secret I love spending hours upon hours in the kitchen, you don't always have time to stand over an oven for an entire afternoon.  Another plus is that this frosting can be made all in one bowl, no stand mixer required.....less dishes are always a good thing!

Hopefully you'll go bananas for these banana bread brownies too :)  Enjoy!



Banana Bread Brownies with Brown Butter Frosting adapted from Life's Simple Measures
Printable Version
For the brownies:
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C sour cream
1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
3 1/2 - 4 ripe bananas, mashed (4 only if they're on the small side)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 C chopped walnuts

For the frosting:
3/4 C unsalted butter
6 C powdered sugar
2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
4 1/2 Tbsp milk, plus more if needed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease 11x17 inch pan and set aside.

For the bars:
Beat together sugar, sour cream, butter and eggs in large bowl until creamy.  Blend in bananas and vanilla.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined.  Fold in walnuts until evenly distributed.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.  *The original recipe calls for 20-25 minutes, but mine needed to be baked a little over 30 minutes before they had completely set in the middle.*

For the frosting:
When the bars only have about 15 minutes left, begin the frosting.  Place butter in large saucepan (pan needs to be big enough to hold all frosting ingredients), melt over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Allow butter to gently boil, scraping the bottom with a whisk every so often, until it turns a delicate brown color.  Remove from heat immediately.

*Keep an eye on the butter.  It will turn a light brown color after boiling for a few minutes, but will go from brown to burned fast if you're not careful.  

Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.  Whisk together.  If frosting is too thick add additional milk.

Spread frosting over warm bars.  Allow bars at least two hours to set before cutting and serving.

Recipe yields 2 dozen smaller bars....or one dozen if you cut them really big like I did :)

Moist and delicious.