It’s 10:00 pm on Sunday night. Tomorrow is a workday. All your co-workers are chocoholics. You promised you’ll help them start the work week by bringing in a chocolate cake. Not store bought, but homemade. Don’t you think it’s time to go to the kitchen? Yes, go there, that’s the place in the house where cakes get made. Gather up all your ingredients and get started.
That’s the conversation I had with myself before making this dessert. Which was supposed to be a chocolate cake ... Until I discovered that I had no cocoa powder in the house! Catastrophe? You bet. Major. I ruled out a quick trip to the grocery store. Why? Because I roll with the punches. I move on to Plan B. I have a drawerful of Plan B. I collect Plan B: Plan B says to substitute Nutella for the cocoa powder. And to get on with it, because it’s getting late. Clean up the kitchen, too. What are those brown bananas doing there, still sitting on the counter?
That’s the conversation I had with myself before making this dessert. Which was supposed to be a chocolate cake ... Until I discovered that I had no cocoa powder in the house! Catastrophe? You bet. Major. I ruled out a quick trip to the grocery store. Why? Because I roll with the punches. I move on to Plan B. I have a drawerful of Plan B. I collect Plan B: Plan B says to substitute Nutella for the cocoa powder. And to get on with it, because it’s getting late. Clean up the kitchen, too. What are those brown bananas doing there, still sitting on the counter?
I couldn't make chocolate cake, so I improvised and came up with banana-peanut butter-chocolate bars! They were incredibly moist, filled with the delicious flavour of ripe bananas and they had peanut butter and Nutella mixed into the batter. Oh, they even had Reeses peanut butter chocolate cups decorating the top (why did I buy those? I can't remember). I say Plan B worked out well. The bars stayed moist for the next few days, and they were enjoyed by one and all!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons Nutella chocolate spread
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces miniature peanut butter cups, crumbled
Directions:
- Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Preheat the oven to 350ยบ F.
- Into a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of a mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the peanut butter, cinnamon and Nutella. Mix well.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Stir in the bananas.
- Slowly add the flour mixture and combine.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula.
- Spread the peanut butter cups over the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the batter comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool.
- When the dessert has cooled cut it into bars, small ones or larger ones, depending on preference.
- What we couldn't eat we just froze. We took pieces out of the freezer as needed. The bars thawed in no time and were just as moist as when they were first baked.
