Monday night, my southern roots were in full form
as I hosted a Valentine's Day Cookie Exchange.
Each invitee brought 2 dozen homemade cookies
and by the time everyone had arrived and gotten cozy,
it looked like we had landed ourselves
inside some fantasy land of a seven year old.
We were up to our ears in cookies...
it was glorious!
I'm typically someone who would not try to do a practice run on a recipe.
My instinct is to just wing it
and, normally, things turn out okay.
But this weekend,
I decided-
what the heck,
I'm as big as a house
and am not in the mood to go anywhere...
Ugh.
They were so marginal and boring...
and while I'm really glad that I didn't offer them to my guests,
it left me in a bit of a panic on Monday afternoon
to find a replacement.
I needed something easy to make
that didn't require a proper mixer....
because my Kitchenaid doesn't live in London.
{It lives in a pile of dust in my parent's attic
along with all of my crystal, china & other pretty things.}
My blood tests the night before showed that my potassium levels were running high
and so I realized that this might be the perfect way to use up the bananas
that I was no longer allowed to eat.
Voila!
I now present to you a DELICIOUS recipe
that is soooo easy to make
and the ingredients are really cheap.
{I always hate shelling out £20 for ingredients for baked goods.
Doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of making them at home?}
I think these probably took about 5-7 minutes
from beginning to oven.
The frosting might have added another 5 minutes at the end.
Honestly, this recipe is a winner
and would be an easy thing to whip up tonight
to give to someone you love tomorrow.
{Besides, you most likely have 99% of these ingredients in your kitchen already.}
BARS:
1 cup sugar
2 mashed bananas
2 eggs
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 c flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
FROSTING:
1 regular pack of (light) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup of butter
2 cups powdered sugar
splash of vanilla
METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 350.
Mix the bananas, sugar, eggs & oil together in a bowl until it's a nice yellow, sloppy mix.
Stir in remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon & salt).
Pour into greased pan (9x13) and put into oven for 25-30 minutes...
or until a knife/toothpick comes out clean when inserted from the center.
Leave to cool for one hour.
Now is great time to toss the cream cheese & butter out on the counter to soften.
After you've run an errand, eaten some lunch or watched a little tv
while the banana bars cool,
come back to the kitchen and start on the frosting.
Mix all four ingredients in a bowl.
You can beat by hand or in a mixer... both will be yummy.
Spread on the cooled bars & cut into 6x4 rows.
Eat your heart out.
****
Mmm...
Wouldn't you feel loved if someone made you these?
Oh yeah.
*all images original to Aspiring Kennedy
*original recipe via here
