These Roasted Banana Bars with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting are a sweet treat recipe you’ll make over and over. Bananas are roasted whole, caramelizing their flavors before even being baked in to a soft and tender cake. Brown butter and cream cheese are whipped together in this undeniably delicious frosting.
Not quite ready to say goodbye to sweets?
SAME.
The holiday season was filled with plenty of good cheer, and I mean that by way of SUGAR. All the sugar. I don’t think one week went by without a bottle of Prosecco, countless cookies, cheesy dips, and all sorts of mindless carb munching. I’m feeling particularly sluggish, and ready for a reset. Sound familiar?
Let me illustrate another scenario that may ring a few bells for you:
“I really overdid it this weekend (insert week/month/year as needed). Starting tomorrow I’m drinking celery juice and eating unsalted saltines every day!”
What REALLY happens:
- 11 am hits and you’re ravenously scrounging for anything resembling chocolate.
Amiright?!
Here’s the deal. I’m not suggesting that you can’t and shouldn’t set healthy goals for yourself. Quite the opposite. However, there is something to be said about setting attainable goals, and giving ourselves a little grace. You with me?
That said, when the inevitable sweet tooth hits…perhaps we opt for something real, that won’t leave us feeling deprived or unsatisfied. And plus…this recipe has fruit in it. So….healthyish?
I’m sharing one of my top secrets when it comes to making banana bread. And after posting this article…I guess it won’t be much of a secret anymore. Just don’t tell anyone, ok?
ROAST. THOSE. BANANAS.
Yes. Roast ’em. In the oven. As you would a vegetable. Roast them in their peel WHOLE.
Wild, right?! Roasting bananas in their skin concentrates the caramelization, meaning the bananas you’re whipping in to a batch of homemade banana bread already are packing approximately 11.7 times the flavor than a slightly ripened one you grabbed from the counter.
It’s a fact.
And I’m sorry. I’d e remiss if I didn’t should LOUDLY AND IN ALL CAPS about this Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting.
Sure. I know what you’re thinking.
“Wasn’t he JUST talking about overdoing it with the sugar during the holidays and needing a reset?”
Why yes, yes I did. And I’m very grateful for your very thorough consumption of my writing!
But as I also mentioned, I’ve tried the whole “healthy sweets” when I’m coming off of a sugar frenzy, and it ain’t pretty. After eating copious amounts of garbage, a maple syrup sweetened paleo apple crisp just isn’t going to cut it. I need to wean off gradually, so I don’t just keep reverting back to said garbage I was eating. 
And that’s precisely why you’re making these Roasted Banana Bars with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting, thank you very much!
Roasted Banana Bars with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 4 bananas, preferably ripe
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the brown butter cream cheese frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
For the roasted bananas:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes until blackened, and remove from oven to cool. Reduce oven to 350 degrees.
For the bars:
- Cream sugar and butter together until thoroughly combined. Add eggs and greek yogurt, and vanilla, once again mixing until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Once bananas have slightly cooled, use a paring knife and slice down the length of each banana. Remove flesh, discarding the peels, and add roasted bananas to bowl and mix until just combined.
- Transfer batter to a 9 by 9 baking dish that has been sprayed with coconut oil and dusted with flour. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in to the center comes out clean. Allow bars to slightly cool as you prep the frosting.
For the brown butter cream cheese frosting:
- In a small saucepan, slowly melt butter over medium low heat, gently swirling the pan as the butter slowly browns. Once the butter turns golden, and there are small browned bits on the bottom of the pan, remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir browned butter, ensuring all browned bits on the bottom of the pan are loosened. Pour in to a small dish, allow to cool completely and until the butter slightly hardens. You'll want it to be the same consistency as regular rooms temperature butter.
- Using a stand or electric hand mixer, whip the butter and cream cheese until combined.
- Add powdered sugar in 1/2 cup increments. Once all the powdered sugar has been added, add vanilla and salt and mix to combine. Taste frosting, adjusting salt and powdered sugar if needed.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled bars and slice.