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
- 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.
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: chocolate chips of any kind, chopped walnuts or pecans, peanut butter chips, chopped up Oreos, or cinnamon chips. 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, chocolate buttercream, cinnamon buttercream, cinnamon cream cheese frosting, chocolate ganache, peanut butter frosting, brown butter frosting or brown sugar frosting. Also just a dusting of powdered sugar or plain they are still phenomenal.
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.
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.
These are best served at room temperature, and you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
More delicious bars:
- Bailey’s Brownies
- Peep Rice Krispie Treats
- Lemon Cheesecake Bars
- German Chocolate Brownies
- Strawberry Brownies
Banana Blondies
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.
Dionne
These blondies are outstanding! To be honest, I think I could eat a ton of them!
Heather
These look so good..and with that frosting? Who could resist eating this. Much better use of browned bananas if you ask me!
Anita
This is so delicious! And it’s a nice way to use up banana other than baking another banana bread. 🙂
Emily
I will be making these this weekend! Such a yummy dessert and easy to share 🙂
Diana Reis
Love the chew on these bars, and its a great way to use up those bananas. The frosting makes them extra special.