banana + peanut butter cups = lurve

 It has been a long weekend (I love spending more than eight hours in a chair taking exams!) and a relatively busy week with my new foray into the world of education. I have learned that my fashion sense is equivalent to that of a third grader thanks to myriad compliments I received on my cupcake hat at recess. I have repeatedly been told that because of my sartorial choices I will grow up to be either a crazy cat lady or an art teacher so let's hope for the latter.  Anyway, due to the running around, we ate little or ate out and apparently the groceries suffered. I hate wasting food and enjoy picking an ingredient and forming a recipe around it, hence the bananas.

OK, the subject title may be harsh. I do enjoy banana bread and have a couple of great recipes but let's take those overripe bananas and put them to creative use, shall we? After perusing the internets, I found banana bread pudding (a recipe I have in my fave cookbook that I will try SOMEDAY), Elvis-style with peanut butter and bacon (I already have a future plan for that mixture) and Bananas Foster reincarnated into bar cookies. The Bananas Foster in regular or newfangled form will be attempted, too, but I didn't feel like having the people at the liquor store question my need to buy multiple nips of rum. They always look at me like I have two heads and I should be buying large quantities of alcohol. SORRY, I prefer my rum in baked goods. I apologize for the digression. I decided to go with something portable because I want to get this stuff out there! I tweaked a great banana bread recipe and added Reese's Miniature Peanut Butter Cups. You cannot go wrong with the banana, peanut butter, chocolate combo. I will say that I wanted to use the new dark chocolate cups but I can only find them at Tar-jay (wonderful add-ins in their candy aisle!) and I was trying to be efficient for once and shop in one place.

On to the comfort food!  The lighting isn't so hot but I think you get the gist.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread Bites

Yield: 40 bites

INGREDIENTS
1/4 C unsalted butter (melted)
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 small bananas (around 300g)
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 6oz container of vanilla or banana light yogurt

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini cupcake pan. Unwrap candies. Combine melted butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well. Take half of the bananas and mash and add them to the mixture. Slice the other half and set aside. Combine flour and baking soda and add to the mix. Fold in yogurt and sliced bananas. Distribute batter (about a heaping tablespoon per section) evenly into the pan. Push a peanut butter cup firmly into each section, top up. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow bites to cool to room temp. until removal.  *After some testing, I think these are best when eaten frozen or heated up a little.*

Nutrition: 99 cal, 4g fat, 65mg sodium, 16g carb, 11g sugar, 2g protein