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“Easy recipe with regular ingredients and so delicious! Served these at a party and several people asked for the recipe. Thanks for sharing!” ~Cathleen
these banana blondies are literally irresistible…
And I have to say it took me a little bit by surprise — these banana blondies look so innocent! But the combination of the very dense banana cake and the very sweet caramel icing is intense. I tested the recipe on 2 consecutive days, and my self control failed miserably. I spent 48 hours in a banana blondie induced coma. Proceed with caution.
I ate these warm out of the oven…I ate them chilled from the fridge the next day…suffice it to say I’ve had them every which way and every way was amazing.
ingredients for banana blondies
If you’ve got a ripe banana or two, the rest of these easy bars come together from the pantry.
- ripe bananas
- brown sugar
- butter
- egg
- all purpose flour
- vanilla
- salt
- milk
- confectioner’s sugar
The frosting is a quick cooked caramel, but don’t let that scare you, that just means you melt some butter, brown sugar, and a touch of cream or milk together in a saucepan and heat it to a boil, then whisk in powdered sugar. It’s not fussy at all, but it does set up quickly, so plan to slather it on the cake right away. You can actually cut these and eat them warm, which is unusual for a frosted dessert.
do yourself a favor and make these 🙂
Self control issues aside, I’m so happy with this recipe, it’s reliable and easy to do. if you’re a banana lover, or just happen to know one, this is a must try. There is a ton of banana flavor packed into these slim bars, which also surprises me because I only used one banana. They are moist and dense, almost like a banana fudge, (if that thought doesn’t blow your mind.) They’re good.
banana blondie FAQs
You can freeze the bars before frosting. Just cool them completely, wrap in plastic then in foil, and freeze for up to 3 months.
They will last a couple of days at room temperature, just cover loosely with foil. You can also store them in the refrigerator for a different but equally lovely effect.
Yes, that will work.
Blondies are meant to have a dense chewy texture. Rising agents create more of a cakey texture and so blondies and brownies usually don’t include them.
You might try mini chocolate chips, chopped walnuts or pecans, or even some shredded coconut. Next time I bake them I may add some chopped toasted pecans to the frosting for a praline effect!
Yes, a high quality 1:1 gluten free baking mix should work.
we’re obsessed with bananas
- Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
- Double Chocolate Banana Bread
- Better than Starbucks Banana Walnut Bread
- One Banana Banana Bread!
- Banana Cake with Spiced Vanilla Buttercream
- Banana Cake with Nutella Buttercream
Banana Blondies
Equipment
- 9×9 inch baking pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup well mashed banana, about 1 to 1 1/2 bananas
caramel icing
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 Tbsp cream or milk
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar (possibly a little bit more)
Instructions
- Set the oven to 350F. Lightly spray and line a 9×9 baking pan with parchment paper, if desired, to enable you to lift out the blondies for neater cutting.
- Beat the butter and sugar together for several minutes until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Mix in the mashed banana, and then the flour and salt. Mix just until everything is well blended, don’t over mix.
- Spread into your prepared pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the center is set. I check with a toothpick.
- Let the cake cool most of the way before you make the frosting.
- To make the caramel frosting put the butter, brown sugar and milk or cream in a small saucepan and melt the butter, whisking all the time. Continue whisking until the mixture comes to a boil, then turn off the heat and add the sifted powdered sugar, whisking until completely smooth. You may need to add a little bit more powdered sugar if it seems very thin.
- Spread it immediately onto the cake, it will set up very quickly.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
We made these tonight – delicious! I used 2 very ripe, small bananas. I melted the butter before I saw that it said to “cream the butter and sugar” – turned out fine! I only had salted butter, so I halved the salt. I used an 11×7 inch pan. It is a little tricky to know when they are done because the batter is brown; the toothpick came out clean at 22 mins, but I could see that they were still gooey so I left them in for the full 25 mins. They were almost not quite cooked through once I sliced them. I’ll let them brown up a bit more next time. My frosting was much darker than yours, and very sweet. Delicious, but I might try add a dollop of cream cheese as others have suggested, or maybe a dash of salt. Also, I am at altitude and did not need to make any adjustments! Thanks for sharing this!
These Banana Blondies were so delicious,I had extra black frozen bananas that needed used so I tryed this receipe at my friends house everyone loved then and they were so easy to whip up…its a favorite.
Ok this may be a “blondie” question (no pun intended lol) How do I cream butter and sugar if the recipe calls for it to be melted. Is the top section supposed to say melted?
I changed the wording to read ‘beat’ the butter and sugar. You start with melted butter.
Thank you for this Delicious recipe, turned them into two-bite banana blondies by using my mini muffin tin. Served them plain and they were delicious.
Made 36 two-bites (baked for about 15 minutes)
Love that idea!
These bars are fantastic! Went together quickly. Will definitely be a go to recipe,
These are absolutely amazing!
Just made these exactly to recipe, and very yummy, though I love the idea of adding walnuts on top next time.
Also, my husband cannot eat bananas – do you think this would work with apples or applesauce? The caramel topping would still be great, but I’m not sure of any recipe conversion needs.
You might try apple butter, which is thicker and more like the texture of mashed bananas.
These were easy and absolutely delicious! One of the best! I will be making them again. Look out, it is hard not to eat them all!
Yay ~ I’m so glad you loved them 🙂
I added 4oz. Of cream cheese to the icing. Yum!!!
double yum!
These are excellent!!! The brownie is delicious! Next time I would cut back on the frosting, just personal taste for frosting.
Just made these, and they are AMAZING. We didn’t make the icing.
So quick, easy and delicious!