CAPTION: Â Frosted Banana Bars, yum. Â Aster is in a "sprinkle stage" now so, yes, the sprinkles are her touch, but they do make the cake look more festive.
By Kevin Williams
Yesterday Aster and I decided to do some baking and the frosted banana bars that I found in an Amish family cookbook beckoned.
CAPTION: Â The frosting is pretty thick, but once you get it all onto the cake, use the flat backside of a spatula to spread it and it'll go on nicely.
Aster is getting easier and more disciplined when it comes to baking. Â A year ago we'd try it and she'd lose her enthusiasm for it halfway through a recipe and she'd become distracted by something else. Â But more and more she is sticking with me through the whole processed and is much more engaged as she can do more and more. Â With this recipe when we got to the step about mashing bananas before I was barely done saying the word "mashing" had picked out the correct tool for doing just that. Â So Aster eagerly set out to mash (okay, pulverize) the bananas.
Baby Bea sits cotentedly (generally) watching everything that is going on. Â Anyway, this recipe is an absolute, unequivocal winner. Â Aster declared the frosting to be "the best frosting ever." Â Of course she's only three so she hasn't tasted that many frostings but it WAS good. Â The recipe is called "bars" but it comes out as a giant cake but, Aster, a stickler for detail then busied herself correcting me all day long when I referred to it as "banana cake" ("bars, dada.")
So want to try this winner of a recipe? Â I'm sure we'll be making this again sometime!
- 1 /2 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1 /2 cups ripe bananas, mashed (3 medium bananas)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 eggs
- FROSTING
- 1 /2 cup butter, softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.
- Beat in eggs, bananas, and vanilla.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Add to creamed mixture and mix well.
- Pour into greased 15 X 10 inch pan.
- Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until bars test done.
- Cool.
- For frosting: cream butter and cream cheese in a mixing bowl.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla.
- Beat well.
- Spread over bars.
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