Peanut Butter, Banana, and Nutella Bars

Sorry, I missed my posting on Friday.  Did anyone even notice?  Good.  Anyhow, remember months ago when I made Homemade Nutella?  I had so much of it that I hardly knew what to do with it all so began to collect recipes to help use up my stash.

Can you guess who picked this particular recipe?  I'll give you a hint: peanut butter.  That'd be my husband.  Although, I have to admit that lately, I've been digging his signature flavor, too.  The banana made these bars ultra moist and the flavor combination of peanut butter, banana, and chocolate is classic.

One Year Ago: Apple Cider Butter and Shrimp with Green Apple Chipotle Salsa
Three Years Ago: Turkey Bean Pumpkin Chili

Peanut Butter, Banana, and Nutella Bars

Photo Credit: Emily H.

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup mashed bananas (about 1 banana)
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread (I used my homemade Nutella!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter an 8x8 pan and set aside.
2. Mix melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth.  Beat in egg and then vanilla.  Add salt and stir in flour.  Mix in bananas, peanut butter, and hazelnuts.  Pour into prepared pan.
3. Melt the Nutella in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds.  Drop by the spoonfuls over the batter and then swirl with a knife.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle.  Cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Source: The Spiffy Cookie

Banana Pumpkin Nutella Bread

Hi everyone! I'm back!

Well.  Not really.  But, back long enough to write my own recipe post anyway.  I won't be home for good until early October but at least now it's a short trip for pleasure rather than business.

Before I jump into today's recipe, how about those fantastic guest posters of mine these past few weeks?  Which blogger's recipe was your favorite?  Serious big kudos to each of the wonderful bloggers that shared yummy recipes here on my page:

• Angelina at Whisks & Ruffles with her Beef with Black Pepper Sauce (yah for written down Asian recipes!)
• Jenna at Jenna's Cooking Journey with her Oatmeal Caramelitas (mmm caramel...)
• Caroline at The Barbee Housewife with her Bacon Ranch Chicken Taquitos (hello game day!)
• Jennifer at Mother Thyme with her Cream Cheese Coffee Cake (so scrumptious looking and easy to see why this was the fan favorite!)
• Angie at Coffee and Cannolis with her Mini Frittatas (freezer friendly and fillings are 100% adaptable!)
• Desi at Steak N Potatoes Kinda Gurl with her Grilled Fillet with Bourbon Butter (omg drool!)

The weather really changed dramatically since I came back to The States.  Sure, the fact that I came from the tropical weather of the Equator makes it feel even cooler but there are definitive signs of Fall in the air.  The mornings are cool and require jacket...and sometimes even heat in the car.  The leaves on the trees are starting to display beautiful Fall colors.  And, I'm feeling like making warm, comforting foods again.

In my book, nothing says fall more than pumpkin.  Hence, I'm sharing this recipe with you today.  It was just one of many recipes that I made with my homemade Nutella.  The bananas and pumpkin made it super moist and the Nutella gave it a great look and just enough chocolate boost.  Lovely to welcome Fall!

One Year Ago: French Onion Soup
Three Years Ago: Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip

Banana Pumpkin Nutella Bread

Photo Credit: Emily H.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 bananas (preferably overly ripe), mashed
• 1 cup canned or freshly pureed pumpkin
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 4 Tbsp Nutella, divided

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a 9x5 loaf pan by spraying with cooking spray.
2. Add sugar and butter to a mixing bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla extract, mixing well until combined.  Then add the mashed bananas and pumpkin.  Again mixing until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, add flour, salt, and baking soda.  Whisk together to combine.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.  The batter will be thick.
4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and dollop Nutella on top.  Using a toothpick, swirl the Nutella through the batter.  Bake for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. 

Source: As seen on The World in my Kitchen and adapted by Mom's Crazy Cooking from Babble - The Family Kitchen

Five-Minute (Healthy) Chunky Monkey "Ice Cream"

Did you catch some key words in that title?  It's healthy.  And it only takes 5 minutes.  And, if you closed your eyes, you'd think you were eating the richest custard-style ice cream.  But it's NOT really ice cream!

I'd heard of using frozen bananas for a quick ice cream before but had never gotten around to try it.  The moment I saw this recipe show up on Pennies on a Platter's website I knew I had to make it.  And, judging by the number of times it was pinned on Pinterest, everyone else had the same idea!  Seriously.  Go take a peek at that photo and tell me you didn't immediately start drooling all over your keyboard.  Yeah, that's what I thought.

What gave me that last push to decide to make this tonight (and post the recipe in the SAME NIGHT...very rare!!) was my friend Linda's suggestion to do iced treats.  And, I needed something to cool me off after a hard, sweaty session of Jazzercise!  L.O.V.E.D this and will be making it more often!  I had to put down my spoon to avoid eating it all in a single sitting :P.

Go freeze some bananas so you can make this in an hour or two!  If you hurry, you can still make it tonight.  Or, if not then maybe for breakfast?  It is, after all, bananas ;).

Five-Minute (Healthy) Chunky Monkey "Ice Cream"

 
Ingredients

• 3 peeled and chopped, then frozen, bananas (I think this would work best if they are frozen in a single layer or somehow broken up manually first...I had trouble getting my blender to break up the big chunk!)
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• Handful of chocolate chunks
• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter or Nutella (optional)

Directions

1. Puree the bananas in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Personally I love using my Cuisinart Smart Stick with the Chopper Attachment.  Blend and eat out of the same bowl!  Add the walnuts and chocolate chunks and pulse until mixed in.  Stir in the peanut butter or Nutella, if desired.  Top with extra yummy stuff like walnuts, chocolate chunks, and peanut butter chips if desired.  Serve immediately or freeze for later consumption.  It will be like soft serve initially but left to frozen it will harden up like regular ice cream.

Source: As seen on and adapted by Pennies on a Platter from Kitchen Simplicity

Recipe Swap: Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Don't let the simple exterior fool you.  There's more than meets the eye in this updated chocolate chip cookie classic.  Simply stated, This. Cookie. Is. Awesome!

I was excited to get this cookie from the Recipe Swap hostess herself, Sarah from A Taste of Home Cooking.  I knew from the get-go that any dessert would make for a happy husband but once I saw this particular one was stuffed with peanut butter I knew it would be a winner.  What's also interesting is the fact that just days earlier, a former co-worker of mine had asked whether I'd ever made banana cookies before (yep, Tracy, that's you!).  It's interesting how things happen like that sometimes.

I loved that on the outside, it looked like your Plain Jane Chocolate Chip cookie but once you bite inside, it exploded with peanut butter and banana goodness.  So decadent!  I could totally see other variations like a peanut butter cookie dough with molten chocolate and banana center instead.  Yum!

This week I submitted the most popular recipe on my site, Chinese Bakery-Style Cake.  And, as usual, find the rest of the Recipe Swap Roundup posted on A Taste of Home Cooking's website.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Printer-Friendly Version

Yields: 15 large cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used chocolate peanut butter swirls because that's what I had on hand) 
• 1 banana, sliced
• 15 teaspoons peanut butter (give or take) (I used peanut butter chips because that's what I had on hand)

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes, up to one hour. This is a very important step, so don't skip it. The butter in the dough needs to firm up again or your cookies will spread in the oven. (Note: I actually did do this step and my cookies still spread.  I think because after handling the dough and my kitchen being very hot they got melty again.  An extra chill after the dough balls are fully formed may have been beneficial or expect flatter cookies like mine!)
3. Near the end of the chilling period, preheat oven to 350ºF.
4. After the dough has chilled, use a small cookie scoop to make mounds of dough on the cookie sheet. Using the back of the scoop, make a dent in the top for the banana slice. Place a slice of banana, then place about 1 teaspoon of peanut butter (or in my case, roughly 7-8 peanut butter chips) on top of the banana slice. Scoop another dough ball, flatten and mound on top. You should have a big dough ball now.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes approximately 15 giant cookies. 

Source: As submitted by A Taste of Home Cooking by way of modification by Cathy's Kitchen Journey from Clumsy Cookie