37 | 52 Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread

I might have told you before: I LOVE peanut butter.

I don't think I even have to mention chocolate....

And yes, overripe banana time it was again!

And I had a feeling I needed some kind of banana bread that was a bit different to the usual one. And then I stumbled upon this.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Adapted from Broma Bakery

80 g (1/3 cup) peanut butter

150 g (3/4 cup) sugar

2-3 ripe bananas, mashed

120 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil

2 eggs

65 g (1/2 cup) cocoa, unsweetened

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

130 g (1 cup) flour

• Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F).
• Mix together peanut butter, sugar, mashed bananas, olive oil, and eggs. 
• Stir in cocoa, baking powder & soda, salt, and vanilla. Add flour last and mix until just combined.
• Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.

 

My modifications:

Since I only had crunchy peanut butter at home, that's what I used and it was very good.

I didn't put banana slices on top before baking. And I omitted the 'frosting'.

Otherwise - no changes to the original recipe.

The taste:

Good. But a bit on the dry side and a bit too dark chocolatey, for my taste.
So definitely a diffferent banana bread but not my favorite one.

What's your favorite banana bread? Would be cool if you shared the recipe!

12 | 52 Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars

Phew. I mean. Could this name be any longer???

But it all boils down to this:

Peanut butter - yes, please! 

Chocolate Chip Cookie - always!

Cheesecake - yum!

Any more questions?

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars

From A Pinch of Yum

114 g (1 stick) butter, room temperature

100 g (1/2 cup) white sugar

70 g (1/3 cup) packed brown sugar

130 g (1/2 cup) peanut butter

1 egg

140 g (1 cup) flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teapsoon salt

50 g (1/2 cup) rolled oats

230 g (2 cups) chocolate chips

230 g (8 oz) cream cheese

70 g (1/3 cup) sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
• For the cookie dough, beat together butter, sugars, and peanut putter until smooth. 
• Add egg and beat to incorporate. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt, and slowly add it to the butter mix. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
• For the cheesecake filling, cream together cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla.
• Put half (or a bit more) of the cookie dough in your pan (square 22 cm / 9 in) and press to the bottom. Pour the filling on top of it. Crumble remaining cookie dough over the filling.
• Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes.
• Serve warm or cold. Store leftovers in the fridge.

My modifications:

I had to change some things because I didn't have everything at home.

I used 60 g coconut oil (1/2 cup) instead of the butter. I reduced the white sugar to 75 g (1/3 cup) in the dough and 55 g (1/4 cup) in the cheesecake filling. I only used 200 g of chocolate chips (and even that is quite a lot!). 

The taste:

What can I say. It's as finger lickin' good as you would think it is. Definitely a keeper!

And my cookie bottom and top even tasted a bit more like cookie dough (unbaked), which I love. But that might just be because of my modifications. 

What's your favorite recipe with a long (or complicated) name?

3 | 52 Peanut Butter & Jam Bars

Peanut butter and jam. A match made in culinary heaven.

I don't even know what else to say. PB&J doesn't need many words, I think.

Make these PB&J bars at your own risk: the amount of peanut butter in these is insane.

Insane.

Peanut Butter & Jam Bars

From Ina Garden (via julie's eats and treats)

227 g (1 cup) butter, at room temperature

300 g (1 1/2 cups) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs, at room temperature

450 g (2 cups) creamy peanut butter

380 g (3 cups) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

325 g (1 1/2 cups) jam (of your choice)

85 g (2/3 cup) salted peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 33x22 cm / 13x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper. 
• Mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
• Add eggs, vanilla and peanut butter and mix until combined. 
• Add flour and baking powder and mix until all is well combined. 
• Spread 2/3 of the dough onto the bottom of the pan. Spread jam on top of it. Drop the remaining dough over the jam with a teaspoon. 
• Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the edges start to brown. Remove from oven and let cool. 

My modifications:

As I already said above, the amount of peanut butter in these is insane. I noticed this because one entire jar (at least the standard small size you can buy in Europe) was not enough... Thankfully, I had another big (American size) jar in the pantry. It was the crunchy kind but that was totally fine. In the end, I think I used 2/3 creamy PB and 1/3 crunchy PB.

I would definitely make it like this again to add a little texture/crunch without having to worry about chopping those optional peanuts...

And I used raspberry jam (my favorite with PB - next to apple jelly).

The taste:

Well. It's the full load of PB&J. Actually, more of PB. One bar easily replaces an entire meal. But that's okay. It's PB&J, after all.

Which flavor combination do you find unbeatable? 

Which combo do you despise and why?

44*52 Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

Chocolate and peanut butter. I mean, seriously. 

Brownies with peanut butter chips. Hell yeah.

No need to say more this week, right?

Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

Adapted from somewhere but I honestly don't know where anymore. It's a brownie recipe that I wrote down on a piece of paper a long time ago but never made until now, I just added the peanut butter chips.

114 g (1 stick) butter

227 g (8oz) dark chocolate

200 g (1 cup) sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

110 g (3/4 cup) flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

180 g (1 cup) peanut butter chips

• Melt butter and chocolate in a bain-marie.
• In a bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs. Add vanilla. Add melted butter-chocolate.
• Fold in flour and salt until just combined. Then fold in the peanut butter chips.
• Pour into prepared brownie pan. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30-35 minutes.

My modifications:

Just added the peanut butter chips.

Next time I would probably reduce the sugar by half because it is pretty sweet.

The taste:

Heavenly. Addictive. Need I say more?

What is your favorite sweet combination?

23*52 Banana-Peanut Butter-Bacon Bread (or: A tribute to Elvis)

Brace yourselves. This post will reveal how my mind works sometimes.

From overripe bananas to Elvis.

I hope you can handle it.

"Could turn those overripe bananas into a banana bread. Haven't made one in a while.

Ooh, and add some of those yummy peanut butter chips.

Wait - bananas and peanut butter. Elvis. Let's add bacon.

Let's google banana peanut butter bacon bread."

And this is what I found:

Banana-Peanut Butter-Bacon Bread

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

10 slices bacon, chopped

360 g (2 1/2 cups) flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg

120 g (2/3 cup) loosely packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

113 g (1/2 cup) butter, melted

85 g (1/3 cup) peanut butter

4 tablespoons bacon 'oil' from cooking the bacon

4 ripe bananas, mashed

80 ml (1/3 cup) milk

45 g (1/4 cup) peanut butter chips

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
• Cook bacon in a skillet. When crispy, remove from skillet and let drain on paper towel. Leave the bacon 'oil' in the skillet for later.
• In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
• Whisk together egg and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla extract, butter, peanut butter, and bacon 'oil'. Then add banana mash and milk and mix until combined. Add dry ingredients. Fold in bacon and peanut butter chips.
• Pour batter into a prepared loaf pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

My modifications:

I added the peanut butter chips. And I had to use regular bacon (not thick cut) because you just don't get thick cut in Switzerland or Germany. And I used peanut puree which is just peanuts with no sugar or anything else added.

The taste:

You can't taste the bacon as much as I hoped you would. Maybe I would use a bit more next time (but not too much more). And I think I would try using just 2 cups of flour to make it bit more moist. It's not really dry but could still use a little less flour, I think. But it sure is very yummy!

Have you ever baked or cooked anything that is associated with a celebrity?

18*52 Raspberry-Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Cookies

There's some real talk in order this week. It's about cookies. Ugly cookies.

How do you handle them? I'm serious - you will need to think about this before baking these cookies. Because they are ugly. But only from the outside.

After the first bite you will be completely hooked, despite their ugliness. They're irresistible.

So - without wanting to sound philosophical here - treat them well.
It's not their fault that they're ugly. Only judge what's inside. You get the idea...

Raspberry-Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Cookies

Adapted from Rumbly In My Tumbly

114 g (1 stick) butter, room temperature

65 g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

60 g (1/4 cup) sour cream

390 g (2 1/2 cups) flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

50 g (1/3 cup) chocolate chips

50 g (1/3 cup) peanut butter chips 

100 g (1 1/2 cups) raspberries

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). 
• Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Add sour cream and combine well. 
• Fold in dry ingredients until just combined. Add chocolate and peanut butter chips. 
• Carefully add raspberries - don't mix them in too much because you will do that with your hands when forming the cookies anyway.
• Using your hands, form balls (about the size of a golf ball), put them on your prepared cookie sheet and flatten a bit (they won't 'run' but stay the size and height you made).
• Bake for 10-15 minutes.

 no, they're not pretty to make either...

My modifications:

I replaced white chocolate chips with peanut butter chips.

I used fresh raspberries instead of raspberry jam.

The taste:

Oh. My. As I said - ugly but divine. And definitely best on the day you bake them. Very dangerous if you're by yourself. And you haven't told anyone that you're making these. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Is there any food that does not look good but tastes heavenly? Let us know which one comes to your mind.