Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

So, I haven’t shared this with anyone yet as I didn’t want to jinx my training through hardcore bragging, but this weekend my husband and I are running a half marathon!  I cannot wait for it to be over so I can get back to my love of cooking, eating, and lying around on my couch.  Training takes up a lot of time!  And since my husband is much MUCH faster than me, it hasn’t been one of those training programs where we are running together side-by-side on the beach, chatting away.  It’s him getting his 10 mile run done in about an hour and 15 minutes and me trecking in from the same run an hour after him, then passing out for 3 hours due to exhaustion.  Phew.  I’m tired just thinking about it. 

Anyway, due to an over-abundance of bananas in our house {for making protein shakes}, I decided to go ahead and use them to make some banana cupcakes.  And what goes better with banana cupcakes than cream cheese frosting?  Duh.  These little moist cakes really made my day today.  I needed that treat to get me out the door for my last run before the race on Saturday!  Boom!  Cupcakes to the face.  Ok people, wish us luck -- can’t wait to have more time to dedicate to this blog, which is a huge source of happiness for me!  Enjoy the cakes!

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

from Two Peas and Their Pod

For the banana cupcakes:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
2 ripe medium bananas, roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioner's sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and continue to beat, adding one egg at a time until thoroughly combined. Add the sour cream and bananas and mix until combined.

Dulce de Leche Banana Tart

Warning!  This is hands down, the best dessert I have ever made.  Thank the good Lord I only made enough of these tarts to supply my guests or I could have inhaled half a dozen of these puppies.  Not only was this dessert spectacular, it literally took 20 minutes to make.  It really doesn’t get any better than this!!

The best trick of this recipe is utilizing puff pastry as the base.  I used a biscuit cutter to shape the pastry rounds into handheld desserts, perfect for an individual serving.  Be sure to follow the directions on preparing the puff pastry -- it’s important to top the cutouts with parchment and to place another cookie sheet on top.  This prevents the pastry to stay flat instead of puffing up all over the place.  Also, the recipe called for slivered almonds but I used pecans since I had them on hand -- I believe any nut would be an ok substitute!  

If you’re planning these for a dinner party, bake the pastries ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container to lighten the load a bit!  Enjoy!!

Dulce de Leche Banana Tart

2 sheets frozen puff pastry

1/2 c. chopped pecans, slivered almonds, or chopped walnuts

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp honey

1 1/2 molasses

1 1/2 tsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 c. store bought dulce de leche 

4 bananas, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Unfold puff pastry and cut out six 4 1/2 inch rounds {{or sized to your preference}}.  Prick pastry all over with fork.  Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Cover with parchment paper and set another baking sheet on top.  Bake about 15 minutes {{less time if you made smaller cutouts!}}  Transfer to cooling racks.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, toast nuts about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, honey, molasses, butter, cinnamon and cloves.  Move back to heat and cook on medium until thick, about 5 minutes.
3. Spread Dulce de Leche over pastry rounds.  Arrange banana slices and spoon caramelized nuts over bananas. 

Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread

One of my favorite food blogs is Spoon Fork Bacon.  Man can these girls cook!! {{Not to mention, their food photography is heavenly}}  I find myself saving almost every recipe they post and cooking their stuff as much as I can.  Their recipes come out perfect every time.  They’ve been doing something that I love on their blog lately: taking a recipe and turning it into something else -- for example, they made this banana bread into french toast and then turned it into mini churro bites.  I love the idea of taking what you make and taking a creative spin with it.  Definitely check out their blog if you make this bread -- their alternatives look divine.  

On to todays’ recipe -- My husband is a big banana fan, so when we stumbled upon 19 cent a pound bananas at Trader Joe’s, we stocked up!  Fortunately, a few of those bananas got wonderfully mushy so I decided to whip up some banana bread.  This recipe was a perfect fit because the toasted coconut really brought it to the next level.  The coconut kept the bread moist and tender and gave it that nutty flavor that we are so accustomed to in a banana bread.  

Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread

Makes 1 (9”) loaf

From Spoon Fork Bacon

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 medium over-ripe bananas

2 1/2 tbsp milk

1/2 c. (1 stick) plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 c. plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 c. chocolate chips

2/3 c. shredded coconut, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 325.  Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together into a mixing bowl and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mash bananas with milk.  Set aside.
3. In another mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down sides of bowl and add eggs, one at a time.
4. Stir in the vanilla, followed by the banana mixture, until just combined.
5. Stir in flour mixture until just combined and fold in chocolate chips and coconut.
6. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan and add batter.
7. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of bread.  
8. Allow bread to cook in pan for 20 minutes before removing and allowing bread to cool completely.  Slice and serve.