Peanut Butter Cup Banana Cookie

Finally, the first time I have been in town for a weekend and can write about the one time I have baked in the past two weeks. But I’m not complaining, the lack of baking and blogging is because I have been going to the lake every weekend, though I am still better at baking than wakeboarding ;)

This tiny bout of baking came on because our friends at the lake said they had never had any of my baked goods. Thursday night, after a grocery trip to Berkeley Bowl where I picked up a bag of about 10 over-ripe bananas for $1, I got to work with two loaves of banana bread, one plain and one with walnuts and dark chocolate chips-It's so easy and always pleases.

That didn't cure my baking itch though, so once the bread was in the oven I got to work on my own recipe that I have been wanting to give a whirl. The idea came to mind after a lot of thinking about my failed attempt at this Banana Peanut Butter Cup cookie recipe. Look at the cookies in her blog, they're beautiful, and now check out what happened when I made them…

After random contemplations since then, I think this happened because I pureed the bananas rather than mashed them and it needed more flour. I was skeptical before trying this recipe anyway because it had no butter- I mean really a cookie with no butter?

So here’s my spin on it— less healthy but more delicious?

PB Cup Banana Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mashed over-ripe banana (about 1 banana) 
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter (2 oz)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (2.3oz)
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (I used turbinado brown sugar aka sugar in the raw) (2.5oz)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup peanut butter (12oz)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (2.5oz)
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp white flour (4.5oz)
• ~10 peanut butter cups chopped into quarters 
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces

Have all ingredients at room temperature and preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy (4-5 minutes.) Mix in the egg and vanilla. Mix for 2 minutes, then the peanut butter until combined, then the banana until combined. Once combined, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended, but don’t over-mix. Add in Reese's and walnut pieces.

Let the cookie dough sit in fridge over-night (or at least a couple of hours).

Remove from fridge, create golfball-size dough balls. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle a tiny pinch of coarse salt over the tops (you can sprinkle some sugar over too make it prettier). Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Success!

White Chocolate Banana Birthday Cake

I know, I know I’m about to describe a weekend with another banana recipe. But in my defense it was my friend, Jen’s birthday and when asked if she had any special requests for her cake, she said anything— and then listed banana, peanut butter and chocolate as her favorite flavors….

So, there I was in the kitchen (for the third time in a row) mashing ripe bananas for a banana birthday cake (with a fluffy peanut butter frosting filling and a white chocolate ganache)!

While the flavors don’t sound like a cake for adults, it was quickly devoured by the birthday-goers, and really I think this cake will please anyone. While banana bread is dense, and peanut butter is thick, this cake was nothing but light and fluffy and quite sophisticated.

(Going back to my Tips & Tricks to Mix By may be helpful). For this cake, make the white chocolate ganache and the cake the night before and assemble it the next day (The day you need it). The flavor of all cakes significantly improve by the next day too…

Banana Cake

2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp sour cream
1 1/2 cup mashed banana (3 large bananas)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and lightly flour two, 8-inch round cake pans.

In an electric mixer on low speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix the eggs in one at a time until fully incorporate. Mix in the vanilla.

Sift flour, soda, powder and salt together in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the batter, about 1/2 at a time, alternating with a 1/2 cup of the mashed bananas, mix after each addition and begin and end with the flour mixture.

Bake about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Tip: a light colored, metal cake pan, will keep the cake from browning too much. Glass or dark metal pans, will make your baked goods darken more in the oven.)

Let cool about 15 minutes, then gently remove from the pans and by flipping them onto wire cooling racks. Let cool completely before frosting (overnight).

White Chocolate Ganache

3 cups Guittard white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp light corn syrup (adds a bit of shine to the ganache)

Place chocolate into a large heat-safe mixing bowl. Heat cream on the stove until boiling. Pour cream into the chocolate and whisk vigorously until the chocolate has melted smooth. (if you have difficulty turning mixture smooth, place in the microwave for 30 seconds, then keep whisking.) Near the end of this process, add the corn syrup. Cover and place in fridge for 24 hours.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup butter
2 cups Skippy smooth Peanut Butter
2/3 cups heavy whipping cream
8 cups powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in ½ of the powdered sugar. Mix in ½ of the cream. Beat in the remaining powdered sugar. Add more cream as necessary until the frosting is a good spreading consistency and the color is light in color and smooth. Place in fridge for 30-45 minutes.

Putting it All Together

When ready to pour the ganache over the cake, reheat the ganache in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between each interval. Repeat this process until it is completely melted and smooth. It should be a thick but pourable consistency.

Pour the ganache over the layered cake. Place the finished cake in fridge to let the ganache harden. Take your masterpiece out of the fridge an hour before serving.




...Maybe I should just start a website dedicated to bananas?

Seriously Bananas...

Why is it that when my roommates, my boyfriend or I have over-ripe bananas I feel the strongest need to rescue them from their lives ending in the trash and an anxious feeling that I need to make something with them?


"Don't throw them out, I'll make banana bread!"

This happened again the other night, three over-ripe bananas at Paul's place and I was already re-arranging my schedule to make time to bake banana bread. This is starting to happen quite often, why can't I just throw the bananas away like the average person that has expired fruit?!

It's just so easy, so delicious, and makes everyone happy. So before bed on a Monday evening I find myself in the kitchen again, baking banana bread. For a little twist, I added dark chocolate discs to one loaf.

Now, I am just not ready to give away my mom's banana bread recipe secret, but I will list some of my favorite baked things with banana in them:

• Wheatgerm banana pancakes
• Banana bread (obviously), but try adding semi-sweet chocolate discs, a peanut butter swirl, or pecans
• Banana cake with white chocolate frosting

...And grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich
(You don't even have to know how to bake a thing with this one!)

Ingredients:

• Two slices of your favorite bread (day-old honey wheat or challah are great choices)
• Your favorite peanut butter
• Banana sliced into thin discs (you want a banana that is just starting to speckle for this, a "ripe" banana --> )
• Butter (or margarine)
• Cinnamon and sugar (or Splenda sweetener) mixture

Instructions:

• Assemble sandwich with as much peanut butter as you like and lay as many banana discs flat as you can fit over the peanut butter
• Close up the sandwich and lightly butter both pieces of bread on the outsides of the sandwich
• Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar over the buttered outside pieces of bread
• Grill in a pan on the stove like you would with a grilled cheese
• Eat it! I do this with a knife and fork ;)

All you ever wanted to know and more about bananas on the Natural Health Blog: Learn Ripe Banana Facts About Nutrition and Calories. (I did a bit of Googling and the information seems to check out for the most part- Bananas aka SUPERFRUIT!)

Irish Soda Bread

Irish soda bread is wonderful breakfast bread that is so easy you can make it in the morning and have it hot out of the oven and ready for breakfast time. It takes about 10 minutes to mix and 35-40 minutes in the oven. It tastes similar to scones, but is so much simpler to make and slightly healthier because there is no sugar and not a lot of fat.

(American) Irish soda bread

Irish soda bread is a quick bread, which means baking soda is used as the leavening agent instead of yeast.

Now, I was going to give a brief history of Irish soda bread but there seems to be a lot of conflicting beliefs about how and why Irish soda bread was made and apparently some of my ingredients (like baking powder and eggs) make this recipe unauthentic, sooooo...I'm just going to give you the recipe that my mom gave to me (which she says she got from the San Jose Mercury News) and that all my friends in the U.S. say tastes great and moist.

Recipe

1/4 cup rolled oats (for sprinkling on the baking sheet)
1 1/2 cups dried currents
*if the currents have dried out too much (if they're hard), rinse them with hot water to soften and drain or pat dry with paper towels
4 cups unbleached (organic) flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 buttermilk
3 tbs butter, melted
1 large (organic, cage free) egg

Preheat oven to 375. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet, or lightly coat with cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and currants.

In another bowl, combine buttermilk, melted butter and egg with a whisk.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir, just to moisten.
Or mix together with a plastic pastry scraper (can be bought at Sur La Table for about $4, see image below) folding the ingredients together, inside the bowl.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until the sticky dough comes together (about 3-5 times) Don't over mix or knead. Divide dough into 2 equal portions and shape into two round balls. Place well apart on the baking sheet, which should have the oats sprinkled on it. With a sharp knife, slash an X on the tops about 1/2 - 1 inch deep and extending almost to the edges. Bake in the middle of the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Serve hot or cool on a rack.

When I served this to my roommates this weekend, I insisted it tastes best when heated up with butter and/or jam, they then grabbed a cooled piece and ate it plain and said they liked it just the way it was.

plastic pastry scraper— the best baking tool for mixing/folding the dry and wet ingredients together for bread doughs in a mixing bowl.

I wish I could eat my computer screen

Posting more pictures of the home-made croissants I baked last weekend...

first fold

crescent (plain) croissant

cooling

More tasty pictures can be seen on my Picasa album.