JoAnna Banana Cake

*UPDATE!*  First and foremost, this cake has been aptly renamed JoAnna Banana Cake after my wonderful MIL who came up with the idea.  Secondly…OH. MY. GOSH. This cake was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S.  I brought it to a neighbor’s for a New Years Eve party and I am pretty sure I saw eyes rolling back into some people’s head in ecstasy.  I know, paints quite a picture, hmm?  When I posted this I had only tried some extra cake with some extra peanut butter frosting.  Putting it all together in the cake with the layers of peanut butter frosting and the chocolate on top made this one of the most remarkable cakes I have ever eaten in my life.  The cooking style of the banana cake made it incredibly moist and a terrific choice to mix with the peanut butter and chocolate tastes.  I can claim no credit for this because if it weren’t for JoAnna Banana it never would have happened!

Original post:

After a conversation with my mother-in-law the other day, my husband and I decided I just had to try to create this cake.  My MIL had whipped up a quick lunch for herself the other day – slices of banana bread with peanut butter on top.  She told my husband about it and they joked how if you stuck them together and dipped them in chocolate it would be the perfect meal.  So, well, WHY NOT???  The challenge was on.  I went searching for a few banana cake recipes but none of them were exactly what I wanted.  I found one that was close enough and put my own spin on it.  I added a few ingredients like chocolate chips and pudding mix and changed a few other things like sour cream instead of buttermilk.

To fill the cake I used a peanut butter buttercream recipe that I ADORE and my ever faithful chocolate ganache to top it off!!!  Peanut butter sandwich dipped in chocolate!  I only wish my MIL was here to taste it.  I am sure she would LOVE it.

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Sandwich Cake.  I know the name is a mouthful, but you should try the cake!  It really is a party in your mouth.  Very rich with the crazy combination of bold flavors, but I don’t feel like it is too much.  All three, the chocolate, banana, and peanut butter hold their own in this cake and combined make it EXPLOSIVE!  That, of course, makes it perfect to bring to the new years celebration we are attending tomorrow.

Thanks for the idea J!  It’s awesome!  (Pics to come later).

Tags: Bananas, cake, chocolate, Marissa, peanut butter

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Patties

It is holiday cooking baking time!!  These “patties” are easy to make, don’t actually require any baking, and little people can help out!  They lend themselves particularly well to cookie exchanges … easy, fun & fancy looking, and package well!! Just be sure that you label them as “containing peanut butter” for anyone that might have nut sensitivities/allergies.

Ingredients:

2 boxes Ritz crackers

l large jar Peanut butter, creamy or chunky

2 large packages Chocolate melts/bark

Decorations/sprinkles

Makes: A whole bunch!! (more than 100 sandwiches – but I lost count after making what I needed for the cookie exchange)

Directions:

Spread peanut butter on the inside of a cracker; put a top on it to make a little sandwich

Heat chocolate melts/bark in the microwave until smooth (check after 1 minute). If the chocolate is not thin enough for coating purposes, melt a bit of shortening and mix in well (do NOT use milk or water).

Using tongs, dip each sandwich in the melted chocolate mixture.  Let excess drip off and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper.

Decorate before chocolate has a chance to set (I usually add the decoration/sprinkles after dipping 4-6 sandwiches). Can set up quickly by placing cookie sheet in the refrigerator.

Store in an airtight container. 

Tags: chocolate, Christmas cookies, Cookie Exchange, Cookies, Debbie, peanut butter, Ritz crackers

30 Days and 30 Bites – DAY THIRTY!

This is it!  Today is the day!  30 Days and 30 Bites has come to an end!  I have made it through heaps of chocolate, fondant, fruits, FLOUR and more…and I am still standing and still married to my amazing husband :).  I cannot express to you how glad I am that it is over!  I am so happy I chose a THIRTY day challenge, and not a 365 day challenge.  I give major kudos to Julia for making it through that cookbook in a year!  I thoroughly loved this walk down the baking path, but I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again.  The last thing I want to look at for at least a week is SUGAR.  I don’t want to smell it, see it, eat it, feel it…I may even bring what I have left to my neighbors so it is out of the house!

When I started this challenge I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of the volumes of the various items that it took me to make it through the 30 days of baking.  This was a bit of a let down actually.  I definitely went through several bags of powdered sugar (all that icing!) and there is a good dent in my Sam’s Club size vanilla extract bottle.  Other than that though, the amounts of things were not that impressive.  I may have used 10 lbs of flour and five of sugar.  Definitely half a (big) bag of brown sugar.  I didn’t even use more than one or two cake boxes though.  What a let down!  I did, however, buy all sorts of things I never thought I would.  For instance, almond paste, which took forever to find and looks like a refrigerated sausage.  This just goes to show though, baking can certainly be done on a budget.  For the most part, if you do any baking at all, you are probably going to have most of the materials on hand.  And let me tell you, Chips Ahoy ain’t got nuthin on my chocolate chip cookies!  I would much rather bake fresh goods than buy them packaged, any day!

I would like to thank my husband, who not only encouraged this baking bonanza, but also gave his honest opinion.  Thank you sweetheart, for always eating the ugly cookies and cupcakes so I could save the pretty ones to give to our friends.  You are the best!

So, a few things I learned: there is no such thing as too much vanilla; washing the stuff it takes to bake every day is really annoying; chocolate is God’s gift to mankind; my husband really will eat anything; sometimes simpler is better; sometimes better requires A LOT of work; I have a long way to go before opening that bakery!

So what am I going to do now?  I thought about 30 Days of Diet, but to be honest I actually lost 4 pounds this month.  I certainly had my days where I pigged out on that daily concoction, but for the most part I was so good about only eating one of what I made.  Let me tell you, it was rough at first, but you already know how I feel about sugar now!  I really do know why bakers can be thin…you really get to the point where you just can’t eat anything made with flour and sugar anymore! 

Needless to say, I am taking a break from the kitchen.  I have a few things (like those mango muffins) that I have the supplies for, so I need to bake them!  I think I’ll enjoy it even more now without the pressure of having to write about it each night!  I only missed one day out of 30, and that was day 15.  I figure I deserved a break at the halfway point.

Of course, now on to the topic of tonight’s post…

I was trying to be so clever for my big finale.  First I thought I would do some enormous topsy turvy cake.  I decided I didn’t have it in me.  I’ve tried that once before and the results weren’t pretty.  Then I thought I would do something that required NO baking.  Alas, I did not feel like making cheesecake (I just ate a friend’s 2 days ago) or no bake Krispies cookies.  I finally just decided that I would delve into my allrecipes.com recipe box and find something I have been wanting to do for a while and haven’t.  The final decision: Magic Peanut Butter Middles.

These required a little bit of extra work.  As I have shown in the picture, you form the middles of a peanut butter mixture and then wrap them with a chocolate mixture.  Everyone’s comments on the site were about different ways to make this work.  You can try one or all of them, but in the end, it is all about what you feel comfortable doing.

The cookies received rave reviews after we brought them to a friend’s house this evening for game night.  I definitely think I prefer the peanut butter cup cakes I made on day two of 30D30B.  Those took a lot less work for something that tasted just as great, if not better.

Still, the best word to describe these: YUM!

I hope you have all enjoyed 30D30B.  I know I have!  Thanks to you for reading and thanks to my neighbors for allowing me to invade your houses with baked goods this month!

Tags: Baking, chocolate, Cookies, Marissa, peanut butter