Improv Challenge-Banana Nutmeg Squares

This ingredients for January Improv Challenge hosted by Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker are bananas and nutmeg.

It seems I always buy one or two bananas more than I can eat so they end up in the freezer waiting to be made into something.  This month I was aiming for a bar cookie, and the squares could be cut small and served that way; but the recipe really produced a cross between a cake and a coffeecake so serve it as you wish.

I used a stresuel topping, but stirred the batter to swirl it into the dough.  I thought some of the topping would stay on the top, but it all sank into the batter.  That left me needing to do something with the top so I used a little powdered sugar glaze to finish the recipe off.

Banana Nutmeg Squares
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 c. sour cream, low fat is OK
1 t. vanilla
1 c. mashed bananas, about 3 small
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 c. chopped, toasted walnuts
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted or put through a sieve
4 t. milk
sprinkle of nutmeg

Cream butter and sugar together until well blended.  Stir in eggs, sour cream, vanilla and bananas.  Stir with wire whisk until well blended.   Mix together flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.  Stir into banana mixture, mixing well.  Add walnuts.  Spread into greased and floured 9x13-inch baking pan.  Combine flour, brown sugar and nutmeg in a small bowl.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse corn meal.  Sprinkle mixture over batter in pan.  Swirl a knife back and forth from side to side and end to end to swirl topping into batter.  Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.  Remove from oven.  Combine sifted powdered sugar, milk and a sprinkle of nutmeg until well blended.  Drizzle and spread glaze over top of cake.  This can be done either when the cake is warm if serving as a coffeecake or when cool if served as a cake.  Makes 15 servings.

Next month's challenge is Hearts and Flours (pun intended).  This is a challenging and fun link party.  I encourage you to join us.  All the information can be found on Kristen's Improv Page.

Check out the links below to see what other bloggers have posted using bananas and nutmeg.