Frosted Banana Bars and Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy birthday to our number one fan; our mom!  I did not make these bars for my mom's birthday (the dessert I am making for her birthday this weekend will be posted next week...get excited), but these sure are delicious!  I had some extra bananas on hand that I needed to use and I wanted a simple recipe; this recipe did the trick.  I do not own a 15x10-inch pan so I resorted to my 13x9-inch pan and increased the baking time to about 40 minutes.  They turned out great!  The bar itself has a kind of banana bready texture and the sweet icing makes for a great combination.  I think it would be a great dessert to serve at a brunch.

We wish we could all be there to celebrate your birthday with you, mom; but since we can't, we'll just wave hi for now!



Frosted Banana Bars
Source: Taste of Home
Yields 3 dozen

Ingredients 
For the bars:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt

For the frosting:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, bananas and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into creamed mixture just until blended.

Transfer to a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

For frosting, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla; beat until smooth. Frost bars.