Pinned It, Made It: Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes

These delicious treats were our Easter dessert.

They are a tasty combination of a banana cupcake, chocolate peanut butter frosting, and a secret weapon: pretzel crust!

They are the perfect combinatin of salty and sweet. My mom said they are the best thing I've ever made. Too bad it's not my own recipe...find the original one here at How Sweet It Is.

Banana Cake Balls

The other day I found these recipes/ideas in my notebook:

Hmm...cream cheese, bananas, and chocolate in a tasty cake ball bite...sounds good to me!

I gathered up my ingredients, made the cake - which I have to say turned out fabulous - and frosting, then made some delicious cake balls.

I also learned a new trick for making the bottoms of the cake balls smooth and nice-looking, without all the drips around the edges.

While the chocolate is still wet, run a toothpick around the bottom edge. When it dries, pick up the cake ball and the chocolate around the edges will separate and you will have a nice clean edge!

Nice and Neat!

The One Where I Make Banana Pancakes

You know that Jack Johnson song about banana pancakes? 

Makin' banana panckes/Pretend like it's the weekend/Ain't no need to go outside

Well, since this is the view out my window today:

And it is still the weekend (thank you, Martin Luther King, Jr.), today seemed like the perfect day to make some.

I can't remember where I got this recipe, but I make it a lot and it's super easy and super tasty.

You will need:

• 3/4 c. whole wheat flour (I use whole wheat white flour from Trader Joe's)
• 1/4 c. white flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 Tbs. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 Tbs. melted butter
• 1 1/4 c. buttermilk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 mashed banana
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips (optional)
• 1 sliced banana for garnish (optional)

1. Combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and cinammon.

2. In a separate bowl (I usually use a big measuring cup so I don't have to wash another bowl), whisk the butter, egg, and buttermilk.

3. Mash the banana and add it, with the wet ingredients, to the dry mixture. Mix together until just combined. Add chocolate chips if you want.

4. To make the pancakes on the stove, either ladle out as much batter as you want for each pancake, or use this amazing invention (if you are lucky enough to have gotten one from your grandparents for Christmas):

This handy little guy lets you squirt out as much or as little pancake batter at a time as you want. All you do is fill it up, like so:

Then press the handle at the side to open up a little hole at the bottom and let the batter out, like this:

It also saves a lot of mess, since usually I scoop out the batter with a measuring cup and get batter all over the counter.

I wasn't sure if the chocolate chips would fit out the bottom or not, so I just sprinkled them on top after the pancakes started cooking:

The batter is pretty thick, so it kind of glopped out the bottom and made some rather misshapen pancakes, but they still turned out yummy! The recipe makes about 10-12 medium sized pancakes.

5. Add the sliced banana (I used up all my bananas in the pancakes). Syrup and butter are optional, especially since the chocolate chips make them so sweet already.

You still have time to make some today...maybe for dinner?