Frosted Banana Bars

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Frosted Banana Bars
Mike Nolan
My wife is after me to make this recipe, I'm just waiting for some bananas to get ripe enough. She had it at a party recently and everyone raved about it. Her biggest complaint was that the cream cheese icing on top was thicker than she thought it needed to be, though of course she ate every bit of it.
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http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/frosted-banana-bars
badge posted by: Mike Nolan on January 23, 2016 at 9:43 pm in Baking, desserts and sweets

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reply by: Mike Nolan on February 07, 2016 at 3:32 pm
Mike Nolan
These freeze very well, we've discovered.
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reply by: Mike Nolan on January 29, 2016 at 1:45 pm
Mike Nolan
My feeling on a cream cheese icing is there has to be enough of it to have sufficient mouth feel, but it's easy to have too much of it, at which point it can become overwhelmingly rich.
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reply by: PaddyL on January 28, 2016 at 11:11 pm
PaddyL
I would think a thinner icing, more like a glaze, would go better on a banana bar.
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reply by: frick on January 28, 2016 at 7:29 pm
frick
That's why I freeze them. It helps in the cleanup after working in the yard. All that banana squishes my nails completely clean!
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reply by: Livingwell on January 27, 2016 at 5:24 pm
Livingwell
Frick, I've heard about freezing bananas right in their skins, but here's why I don't do that. I don't want to get my hands all gooey when squeezing out the bananas!!! So far, I've had no trouble keeping track of containers in the freezer, but I don't have that much stuff in there.
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reply by: frick on January 27, 2016 at 4:32 pm
frick
Well, here's another element to keep you in a state of confusion. The bananas were frozen. That's what I do with overripe bananas . . . toss them in the freezer, peel and all. I agree with Mike that when I could, using at least one that wasn't as ripe, that takes a bit more effort of mash up, results in better banana flavor. All mine were very dark. There have been times when I mash the pulp and freeze it in containers which I promptly lose. Whole bananas are a lot easier to find in the freezer and don't dirty a container. 🙂
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reply by: Livingwell on January 27, 2016 at 1:38 pm
Livingwell
Mike, I agree about soft bananas not having much flavor. When bananas ripen, I mash them and put them in the freezer for another day. I've found that banana bread made with the thawed frozen bananas tastes much better than that made with overripe bananas used right away. Does that make sense? Looking at the Taste of Home site, the frosting recipe is identical to the one I use for carrot cake and apple cake, and I still use *half* the powdered sugar listed, so I can see how it easily overwhelmed the banana bars!
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reply by: swirth on January 27, 2016 at 11:36 am
swirth
Dr. OZ had a banana extinction segment on yesterday's program...I thought he said it was 1965 when the disease wiped out the better bananas than what we have today. Scientists are working to ready yet another disease resistant variety but he showed pics of the new ones and they didn't look very normal at all.
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Here is the segment from his show:
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reply by: Mike Nolan on January 27, 2016 at 11:28 am
Mike Nolan
I think bananas go through a stage of ripening when they're soft but not very flavorful. I tend to mix some firm banana with some really ripe banana when baking.
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I'm not old enough to remember the Gros Michel banana, but apparently there are still a few isolated trees left, and it is said to be much better than the Cavendish banana that dominates the world crop now.
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But that could all change in the next decade. The Gros Michel was essentially wiped out by a plant disease by the late 1950's and now a similar disease is threatening the Cavendish. So far the banana industry has not chosen a successor to the Cavendish.
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When we were in Hawaii some years ago, we had some 'apple bananas', that really did taste a bit like apple. They apparently don't transport well, though.
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reply by: frick on January 26, 2016 at 8:28 pm
frick
Mike, I made them and agreed with your wife. While the frosting is delicious, it overwhelms the cake. For some reason both of us felt they are a little lacking in banana flavor though I used the full 1 1/2 cups. Sometimes I wonder if bananas, when they are very ripe, lose a little of the characteristic flavor. Has this ever occurred to you.
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Since this is the identical frosting to what I use on my carrot cake, I kept expecting to run into a small chunk of pineapple. It is also the same quantity for the cake, which is much thicker than these bars. I think a frosting that is less "cream cheesy" and had a bit of rum or maple flavor might complement the banana better.
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reply by: frick on January 25, 2016 at 12:06 pm
frick
I have overripe bananas in the freezer. This looks better than banana bread. Can't argue with your sweetie, can we?

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