whole wheat banana peanut butter bread

Fact: I love bananas.  Put that sucker on a piece of toast, in a protein shake, in candy...I'm happy.  Make bread out of it?  Make carbohydrates even more appealing?  Send it this way, please.

I may very well secretly hope that my bananas go bad so that I can turn them into banana bread.  Or at least, I wish this upon everyone else's.  Mine never make it that long in my house.  So when I found four overly-ripe bananas in my sister's house this week, I had a mission.  

I've been coveting certain recipes for a long time, and this was one.  Flour has some amazing recipes, and even though I hardly followed this, I definitely used it as a guide.  Of course I added a million more spices.  And of course I only used whole wheat flour.  But I also threw in some peanut butter.

What?  Peanut butter?

Come on, don't tell me you don't throw some of this on your banana slices and eat it standing up in your kitchen.

I think I've said too much.

Whole Wheat Banana Peanut Butter Bread

adapted slightly from Chef Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery

1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup canola oil
4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt (I used Dannon Light & Fit)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for crumble:
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1. Set oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two loaf pans and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, spices, and salt. 
3. In a large bowl, beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Gently pour in oil and mix until well combined. 
4. In a small bowl, mix together peanut butter, mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla and stir well to incorporate. Add to sugar and egg mixture.
5. Fold in dry ingredients, stirring in swift strokes ensuring not to overmix. Pour batter evenly among two pans.
6. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, flour, and oats. Slowly pour in butter and stir until mixture has the consistency of wet sand. Sprinkle evenly over two loaves.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean from middle.

brown butter peanut butter cookies

Ever since this little experiment, I have a problem. No, not that I decided not to bake with chocolate chips anymore. Nor do I let the butter in my fridge talk me into anything anymore. I am obsessed with browning butter. Yes, you heard me. Browning butter. (I also get an odd amount of joy from creaming butter by hand, so it's really a win-win no matter which route I choose.)  But browning butter? It's wildly convenient. It's fun to do. Oh yeah, and it makes some uniquely delicious baked goods. 

Naturally, then, when a friend asks for peanut butter cookies, I invent a recipe that uses brown butter. Maybe I have too much pride, but I feel like anything can use brown butter (at least, it won't hurt to try it...well, maybe on second thought, it might hurt your waistline.) Regardless, I was pretty pleased with the outcome of this recipe.

The cookies came out moist, and with a great nutty flavor. What better combination than the nutty flavor from the browned butter and actual peanut butter? I read a few recipes/blogs that said that natural peanut butter (we all know the devil on my shoulder is Natural Jif) is bad to bake with, but I think Natural Jif is a safe choice. It's the only "natural" peanut butter that doesn't have the oil sediment on top of it, so the joke's on you, Jif. Although, I'm not complaining, because I personally find salty/oily peanut butter repulsive.


Okay, I'm getting off the topic here.  Cookies.  Right.  Make these.

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

from yours truly

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 ½ tsp baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ tsp salt

½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

½ teaspoon honey
¼ cup milk
1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

1. In a large bowl, mix brown sugar and granulated sugar. Brown the butter in a medium saucepan and add to the sugars. Set aside and allow mixture to cool for about ten minutes.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Once butter is cooled, add peanut butter and honey and beat on medium speed just until smooth. Beat in egg. Mix in milk.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix just until dough comes together.
5. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least two hours or up to overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
7. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Flatten by pressing down with a fork, while holding sides of cookie in order to maintain circular shape. Press fork into cookie again in a perpendicular angle to first indentation, forming a crosshatch pattern.
8. Bake until cookies begin to brown around edges, but centers still look somewhat doughy, about 9-10 minutes.
9. Immediately upon removing from oven, sprinkle sugar on tops of cookies and let cool on baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then transfer to a wire rack.

Makes about 40 cookies.

football sunday funday

If I promise to give you a fabulous recipe, will you promise not to report me to the blogging lords?  Because I'm about to backlog a recipe.  Give me a break here - my recipe index is looking pretty sad.  That pancake needs some friends in there.  

In my humble opinion, these are pretty nice friends to have.  These fudgy, creamy, fun little calorie bombs will always be there when you need some comfort and companionship.  And believe me, they'll stay with you for a long time - they're loyal little suckers.  To your waistline.  

I call them peanut butter brownie cups.  I made them one week ago (so I'm really not too guilty of backlogging) for the Giants/Colts game that I watched at Morgan and Jon's.   I knew that they both love peanut butter, and I've been aching to use my giant muffin pan that I got from Home Goods over two months ago.  So when I saw Baked Perfection's version, I knew this would be a good choice.  Oh, also...please don't tell my brother in law that I made these.  I had every intention of sending him some, since he loves peanut butter/chocolate anything more than anyone I know, but sadly, I knew these would become a huge sticky mess if handled by the USPS, and that would be a tragedy.  So I have every intention of bringing him some next time I go home...but again, don't tell him, okay?  Thanks.

mmm...Reece's Pieces.  These just ooze fall goodness.  And peanut butter.

Okay, back to the the brownies - they're my adaptation of Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownie.  This is probably the best brownie I've ever had (although I still have yet to try the iconic Baked brownie - that's my next one.)  It's super fudgy, rich, and moist.  It is not kind to your diet.  But my logic is, if you're going to eat a brownie, you better do it right.  And these do not disappoint.  (Warning: it may be too rich for some of you. Even Kevan was overwhelmed by them when I made them last Superbowl, and that guy can eat sweets like I've never before known possible. But Morgan and Jon seemed to be big fans!)

When you bake the brownies, do me a favor: take out your hand beater and beat the batter for about 30 seconds.  I had to scrap my entire first pan because the flour did not mix into the batter well enough and I had disgusting clumps of flour punctuating the chocolate deliciousness.  Also, the great thing about these are that when you test them for doneness with a fork, you don't have to worry about the centers falling and looking all sad and ugly, because you're just going to fill that crater with a huge heaping mound of peanut butter.  And then more chocolate.  mmm.  Oh, and wait until the brownies are completely cooled before adding the decorations - I didn't and mine eventually melted into the peanut butter and sank to the bottom.  I guess this still left a nice surprise for my tasters, though. :)

Yeah...don't try decorating them with sprinkles like I did - this was a dumb idea. Not as cute as chocolate chips, and definitely not as fitting and festive as Reece's.

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

Brownie recipe adapted from Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Makes 18 large brownie cups

Triple Goodness Brownies:

3 sticks unsalted butter 

1 bag (11.5 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips [I use Gihardelli] 

6 ounces bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate [I use Gihardelli 60% cacao] 

5 eggs 

3 tablespoons fresh dark roasted coffee 

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract 

2 1/4 cups sugar 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

11.5 ounces milk chocolate chips (optional, if you can handle it!)

Peanut Butter filling:

2 cups natural peanut butter (I like Jif)

Reece's Pieces, Peanut Butter M&Ms, or leftover milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Melt together the butter and chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. 
3. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.
4. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. If you want to add the chocolate chips, toss them in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter.  Mix batter well - use hand mixer if necessary.
5. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter into each muffin tin.  Bake for 10 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 10 more minutes, until a fork or toothpick comes out clean. 
6. Once removed from the oven, take a fork and make a quarter-sized hole in the center of each brownie cup (this should be simple, as the middle easily collapses when baking.)   Fill each center with peanut butter - about two tablespoons each.  Once completely cooled, decorate with Reese's Pieces, Peanut Butter M&Ms, or chocolate chips.

Wine Pairing: Eating these on a crisp fall day doesn't really render a sweet white compatible, so I'd suggest a lighter, juicier red in order to balance out the richness of these little suckers.  I brought a bottle of Blue Fin Petite Syrah to Morgan's, which I think is mellow and compliments these pretty well (and for only $3.99 at Trader Joe's, why argue?)  But if you insist on a dessert wine, one of my favorite Moscatos is by Bartenura.  Who am I to judge if you can handle even more sweetness?  I applaud you.