Banana Bread Truffles

Sometimes I buy too many bananas. And sometimes I forget about them and then realize they're all brown and spotty and have to bake up something tasty. My mom told me the other day that I should move beyond the dark chocolate and try some new ideas...I may or may not have a slight dark-chocolate-addiction at the moment. And sometimes I also have very limited self-control

So bite-size truffles seemed like the perfect dessert! I can eat a few and, hopefully, share most of them! And you're gonna love the banana filling--it's pretty much an extremely moist banana bread combined with a brown butter (anyone else going weak at the knees?) glaze and smothered in dark chocolate and topped with toasted walnuts. Seriously delicious.

Banana Bread Truffles [click to print]
Makes about 5 dozen

• 1 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 3-4 bananas, mashed (about 1 c.)
• 1/3 c. water
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-2/3 c. flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder

For brown butter glaze

• 1/4 c. browned butter
• 1-1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 3 T. milk or water

For dipping

• 2 pkgs. (12 oz) dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped and toasted

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper or coat generously with nonstick -cooking spray; set aside. 

2) In bowl of stand mixer, cream sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time, incorporating well between each addition. Stir in bananas, water and vanilla. 

3) In separate bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, soda, salt and powder. With mixer on low speed, gradually add to banana mixture in about 3 additions. Pour batter in prepared dish and bake 30-40 minutes or until top springs back. Allow to cool completely in pan. 

4) For glaze, heat butter in small saucepan over medium heat until it turns a golden brown color. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir butter and milk/water into powdered sugar until well combined and no lumps of powdered sugar remain. 

5) When bread is completely cool, crumble with a fork or your fingers into pea size crumbs. Pour glaze over crumbs and stir until evenly moistened. Using a cookie scoop or spoon, scoop 2 or 3 teaspoons of truffle filling at a time onto lined cookie sheet. 

6) In deep bowl, melt chocolate at 30 second intervals in the microwave, stirring well between each nuke. Using a fork, dip each filling in melted chocolate, gently tapping fork on edge of bowl to get off excess chocolate. Place on cookie sheet, top with a sprinkle of chopped nuts and allow to set. Note: If your filling doesn't hold together very well while dipping, chill in freezer about 15 minutes before dipping. 

Source: Inspired by Vanilla Kitchen

Choco-nana Crunch Bread

I'll be honest. I was a little skeptical about the success-ability of another version of the old banana bread. But with spotty bananas, a new bag of granola and a hankering for chocolate, what else was I supposed to do? I obviously had no choice.

With dark chocolate morsels and clusters of crunchy granola packed into every bite, this stuff is like a dream. The banana flavor isn't really strong, so don't worry about being overwhelmed by fruitiness. And even more good news, even after a couple days this bread is still awesomely moist.

Choco-Nana Crunch Bread [click to print]
Makes one loaf

• 1/2 c. applesauce
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2-1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. plus 2 T. cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 medium bananas, mashed (about 1 c.)
• 1 c. whole milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. granola (I used some Open Nature Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Heaven)
• 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Generously coat 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. 

2) In bowl of stand mixer, beat applesauce, sugar and eggs until smooth. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, powder, soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together bananas, milk and vanilla. Beat in half of flour mixture, then all of banana mixture, then remaining flour mixture, stirring until well combined. Stir in granola and chocolate chips.

3) Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 60-75 minutes or until top springs back lightly when touched. Cool about 10 minutes in pan before removing to wire rack to cool completely. 

Dark Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Chip Cookie Butter Filling

Ever have one of those days (or weeks) where you just need to curl up on your bed with a fluffy pillow and a big fat spoonful of cookie dough and watch a couple episodes of The Biggest Loser or The Next Food Network Star? Yeah, I totally understand. Life's been a little rough around here, lately.

But good things have been happening, yes. Jars of cookie butter. Mountains of whoopie pies. Discovering the existence of white chocolate cocoa powder (what!). Getting a new position at work. All very good and exciting!

But other life issues have been stressing me out, so it was a lucky thing that I got these whoopie pies out of the house before I finished them off on my own! It was very tempting. And to you skinny minnies who eat two cookies and moan about overdoing it, you have no idea who you're dealing with.

The whoopie shells are nice and soft and moist and not overly sweet, striking a perfect balance with the thick layer of cookie butter stuffed between them. Yummers!

Dark Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Chip Cookie Butter Filling [click to print]
Makes about 24 pies

• 1-2/3 c. flour
• 1/2 c. cocoa powder
• 2 T. plus 1-1/2 tsp. black onyx cocoa powder*
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 c. sour cream
• 1-1/2 c. Chocolate Chip Cookie Butter

*I realize normal people don't have black onyx in their pantry (or bookshelf shoved back behind their dining room table, in my case), so you can use 2/3 c. total cocoa powder instead of the combination of cocoa and black onyx, they just won't be as dark.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or coat generously with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

Whisk together flour, cocoas, soda and salt; set aside. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, beating until completely incorporated. Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream in about 3 additions, beginning and ending with flour. Continue mixing until just combined.

Scoop tablespoons of batter onto prepared sheet, spacing each batter blob two inches apart. Bake about 10 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly pressed.

Allow cakes to cool about five minutes on baking sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Spread flat side of half of cakes with cookie butter and sandwich with remaining cakes.

Source: Adapted from The Novice Chef