I know I’ve been on a bit of a Pumpkin-kick lately (even that’s an understatement), so last week I made it a point to bake something that had nothing to do with my favorite orange squash.  As I’ve been doing so often lately, I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread on Pinterest, and its “over-the-top”-ness is what made me pick it. Not only does this bread include regular peanut butter, but it’s also chock-full of an entire bag of mini Reese’s peanut butter cups. 

It’s funny because I’m very much like my Mom in a lot of ways, but definitely not when it comes to baking.  She likes very simple, classic flavors, while to me more is better.  One of the recipes that she always made when I was growing up was a really delicious, really moist banana bread, so when she came home from work and saw that I had made this, she didn’t really understand it.  In fact, when I made a second loaf to take to work, she went so far as to say “Why don’t you just use my recipe?”

She may not understand it, but to me it makes perfect sense.  Bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate is an unbeatable combination.  The smell when I was mixing it was heavenly and the taste of the completed version was even better. 

Plus, her aversion to this new version of an old classic didn’t stop her from trying a couple pieces!

Recipe

In a move that probably comes as a surprise to no one, I’ve fallen slightly behind on my blog.  I made these beauties last weekend, but never got around to posting about them.  However, these are COMPLETELY worth the wait! I have to be honest that, to date, I’ve played it a little safe in my baking.  Besides my masterpiece Pumpkin Cheesecake from last fall, I’ve mostly stuck to muffins, breads, and cookies— things that I knew I could pull off.  I wanted to step it up a notch and go slightly outside of my comfort zone, so stumbling upon this recipe for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls proved to be perfect timing.  Besides that, my sister took one look at these and BEGGED me to make them.  When someone asks me to make something, I usually oblige.

Luckily, I had zero slip-ups in putting these together.  While they were pretty time consuming, a lot of that time was spent waiting for the dough to rise, so I had plenty of time to use Sunday for its other purpose- watching football.  Also, the actual steps that I had to take were relatively straight forward and easy.  

To say these were a huge hit is an understatement! They were gone by the next day, which meant that I didn’t get to share the love with my co-workers.  That’s probably for the best, because these were at their best when fresh and warm from the oven.  I’m glad I took the advice of Lindsey from Gingerbread Bagels (where I got this recipe from) and went all out by making a cream cheese frosting to spread on top.  Without it, they would have really fallen short.  And who wants to be healthy when they’re eating a cinnamon roll anyways?

Recipe

Breakfast of champions! A French Toast and Bacon cupcake from The Cupcake Corner in Garden City, NY.  Tide (client) had an event there yesterday, and I reaped the benefits.

As promised, I present to you the sweet ending to my Saturday night dinner of home-made gnocchi.  As soon as I saw this recipe in this month’s issue of Bon Appetit, I knew I had to make it.  Not only did they look super simple (while still being over the top gorgeous), but Keenan is a huge fan of the peanut butter & grape jelly combo.  I’m glad I decided to go with my gut, because they were fantastic.  There’s nothing better than a dessert that tastes good, looks good, AND doesn’t take a lot of time to whip together.

These are kind of like a grown-up peanut butter cookie, but it’s obvious that kids would love them too.  Aren’t they pretty?

Recipe

I was lucky enough to have Monday through Wednesday off this week.  I say lucky like these days were given to me, but really I took them out of desperation for some time off! In addition to getting a lot of serious shopping time in, I also had plenty of opportunities to try out some new food projects.  Unfortunately I forgot to snap pictures of the Devilish Sesame Chicken with Scallion Rice that I made for dinner on Tuesday, but this recipe was great for satisfying my Chinese food craving without all of the calories (and the ensuing pain that ALWAYS follows).

However, the food highlight of my long weekend by far was the Cannoli Cupcakes that I made for my good friend Katie Miller’s 26th birthday! I really wanted to do something special for her, since she has been such an amazing friend to me in the past year.  While I originally thought of making pumpkin cupcakes (she’s a fellow fanatic), I randomly had a vision of the cannoli cupcakes I recently saw on Cupcake Wars and KNEW I had to make them. After two minutes of searching, I found the perfect recipe on the blog “What’s Cookin’ Chicago?” I say perfect because unlike other versions, these cupcakes were stuffed with cannoli cream- how could I say no!?

While these were pretty time intensive, they were honestly pretty easy to make.  Maybe that’s because of my beautiful new KitchenAid Stand Mixer though ;) Regardless, these beauties are worth it in both taste and looks.  I shared them with about 12 different co-workers and they were very impressed! Give these a try if you’re looking to do something sweet for someone special in your life.

Recipe