The next time you have overripe bananas sitting on the counter, these Banana Blondies will come to the rescue. It will surely become one of your favorite sweet treats.
I’m a sucker for a good banana bread, and this banana blondie recipe tastes just like your favorite delicious dessert, just in bar form. The chewy texture
These banana blondies are next level good. You can really taste the banana flavor in each bite and the cream cheese frosting pairs perfectly with them.
Don’t think about the typical fudgy gooey brownies when making this recipe. These are not fudgy banana blondies, the texture is more soft and chewy- and that makes me love them even more!
Banana Blondies Ingredients
You’ll need these easy ingredients and some overripe bananas to whip up a batch of these delicious bars!
- Flour – Flour is what holds it all together. All purpose flour works just fine for this recipe.
- Baking powder – This is used as a leavening agents. When baked, it releases carbon dioxide that makes baked goods light and fluffy.
- Salt – I always like to use fine sea salt when baking.
- Butter – We use this in both the blondies and frosting. Using unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Light brown sugar – Instead of white sugar, I like to use light brown sugar for these banana blondies. It adds to the flavor and texture. When measuring brown sugar, make sure it’s packed.
- Banana – When baking with bananas, it’s always best to use very ripe bananas.
- Egg – Baking with eggs at room temperature helps them to blend into the batter a little easier. Also, whenever a recipe calls for eggs, always assume they are large eggs.
- Vanilla extract – Vanilla is a subtle yet necessary ingredient to help balance out the other flavors of the banana blondies. We use it in both the blondies and frosting.
- Cream cheese – This will be the base for our frosting. Make sure it’s completely softened before mixing into the frosting.
- Powdered sugar – When mixed with the cream cheese and vanilla, it makes the perfectly sweet frosting that really finishes these banana blondies off.
How to Make Banana Blondies
- Prepare oven and baking dish. Preheat the oven and also line your baking dish with parchment paper. The parchment paper allows the banana blondies
- Combine dry ingredients. In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
- Combine wet ingredients. Place the melted butter into a large bowl with the brown sugar, mashed banana, egg, and vanilla, whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined with no dry patches.
- Bake. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool. Place the baking dish on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the frosting. Cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until combined, scrape down the sides as needed.
- Frost. Lift the blondies out of the baking dish using the parchment paper to help. Frost them and cut into bars.
How to Age Bananas Fast
Only have nice, new bananas? Here is how to make them blondie worthy in a pinch!
- Microwave– The quickest way, but least likely to produce super sweet results. Nuke it for 30 seconds to one minute. Basically, you are cooking it and allowing the sugars to release a little before you put it into the recipe.
- Oven- the same concept as the microwave. Heat to 350 degrees and bake for 5-30 minutes.
- Brown Paper Bag – My mother used this technique, but it still takes about a day. Place your bananas in a brown paper bag and roll it closed. Ethylene will build up and speed up the ripening process.
- Tropical Environment – Everything ages faster in the heat. Place your bananas someplace warm, like in a sunny window. It will still take up to a day, depending on how ripe the banana was to begin with.
- Single them out – lastly, pull your bananas apart. They ripen much faster separated than they do still hooked together.
Variations
You could add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the mix as a great way to step up this banana blondies recipe.
Other yummy add-in options:
- Chopped walnuts
- Chopped pecans
- Peanut butter chips
- Chocolate chips
- Toffee bits
- Cinnamon bits
You could even add a dollop of almond butter or peanut butter to the batter to make them peanut butter banana blondies.
Other frosting options that would be good, vanilla buttercream, light and fluffy chocolate frosting, cinnamon buttercream, cinnamon cream cheese frosting, chocolate ganache, powdered sugar glaze, peanut butter frosting, brown butter frosting or brown sugar frosting. Also just a dusting of powdered sugar or plain they are still phenomenal.
They can even be made in a trifle form with the cookie base layered with frosting and fresh banana slices like banana pudding cups.
Storage and Freezing
The frosting is creamy and light, and does not harden. Since the frosting does not set up, I suggest not storing them stacked.
Storage: If you are making the cream cheese frosting, these will need to be refrigerated. If you are not adding cream cheese frosting, these can stay at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container, but they are best at room temperature so take them out before serving.
Freezing: Wrap individually or place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
More delicious bars:
Frosted Coconut Bar Recipe
Cherry Bar Recipe
Magic Bar Recipe
Pecan Pie Bar Recipe
Potato Chip Marshmallow Bar Recipe
Banana Blondie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar packed
- 3/4 cup mashed banana
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
- Place the melted butter into a large bowl with the brown sugar, mashed banana, egg, and vanilla, whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture and stir until combined with no dry patches.
- Spread the batter into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Place the baking dish on a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the blondies are cooling, make the frosting by placing the cream cheese and butter into a large bowl and whip it until smooth with an electric hand mixer. You can also do this with a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until combined, scrape down the sides as needed. Add the vanilla, turn the mixer on to medium speed and whip for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Lift the blondies out of the baking dish using the parchment paper to help. Frost them and cut into bars, serve immediately.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings.
Notes
Nutrition
These blondies got the most perfect texture! Also the cream cheese frosting looks to die for good!
Wow! Banana Blondies are a hit! Everyone loves them. Thanks for the great recipe.
Oooh bananas and cream cheese – my favorite combo! I cant wait to try this recipe!
These were super yummy! A great way to use up those ripe bananas that isn’t bread.
These banana blondies look and sound scrumptious. It’s nice to have a new and delicious recipe that uses my overripe bananas.