Banana, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chunk, and Reeses Bars

Let me start by saying these were gone in 24 hours.  I do live in a dorm with tons of hungry teenagers, but still, they disappeared in the blink of an eye. 

It was hard to come up with a title for these.  Technically they were made in a 9x13 pan and should be called bars.  But they were moist and had a more fluffy texture so it was more like bread than a bar.  I guess it falls somewhere it between.  

There is a plethora of wonderful ingredients in here but some of them include: oats, overripe bananas, chopped Reeses, and chocolate chips.  Can't get much better than that can it? 

After it was done baking, I melted some chocolate chips with a few tablespoons of heavy whipping cream and drizzled it over the top.  A must do.  

I am on "Fall Break" right now, which is just a few days off of school and it is quite nice to have a mental break.  I'm at Willamette University right now visiting my boy, and it's his 20th birthday next week! Because I can't be here with him on his special day we are going to make a cake together and have a pre-birthday celebration.

Back to the recipe... I made this in between classes one day and it was really simple so if you are in a crunch it's a good one to do!  I had 2 seriously overripe bananas that I'd bought and was trying to figure out what to do with them (I hate wasting food).  Breakfast muffins?  Chocolate chip muffins?  Banana bread? Smoothie?

I finally arrived at this!

This recipe was inspired (but changed a bit) by the Bon Appetit cookbook.

This was the sad last piece left!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup oats

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 very ripe bananas

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2-1 cup chocolate chips

4-6 Reeses cups, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. 

Take two bananas that look like this:

And turn them into this: 

Mush up thoroughly with a fork until you reach a smooth consistency. 

Blend the dry ingredients in a separate medium sized bowl: flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. 

In a large mixing bowl combine the butter and sugar with an electric mixer.

Then, add both eggs, one at a time.

Beat in the banana mush mixture, followed by the vanilla.

Stir the flour mixture slowly into the wet ingredients.

Stir in the chocolate chips and Reeses cups (determine the amount yourself based on how much chocolate you want).  

Pour the mixture into a pre-greased 9x13 baking pan.  

Bake until the top is golden brown at 350 for about 35-45 minutes. 

Once they have been removed from the oven allow to cool completely.

I took some chocolate chips (about 1/4 cup) and a few tablespoons of whipping cream to reach a thin consistency and drizzled it over the top for some added oomph. 

If you like bananas and chocolate I can guarantee you will LOVE these.   

Sidenote:

I am from San Francisco and am a huge Giants fan.  The NLDS can be summed up in one word: torture.  Not only are we the first National League team to come back and win the series from an 0-2 deficit.  The Cincinnati Reds had not been swept 3 games in a row at home all season.  Let's go Giants and let's continue to kick some butt in the NLCS. 

Happy Friday and Happy Baking!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes

College Cooking Episode #2!  Reeses are by far my favorite candy in the world.  Chocolate and peanut butter, independently, are way up there on my favorite foods list and when combined... oh don't even get me started.

This was my first time making cheesecake so I am definitely a rookie and made a few minor mistakes but we have to make mistakes to learn, right? 

I would eat cheesecake every day if I could but my conscience won't let me.  I guess its for the best. 

This particular cheesecake has an Oreo crust, a peanut butter cheesecake, a chocolate ganache topping, and chopped up Reese's to put on top.  The recipe makes about 12 mini's or one whole cheesecake.  I had to use my cupcake pan because its all I had, but I would recommend using something made specifically for cheesecakes if you have it.  

Last week, when I somehow ended up doing the most baking I've done since I have been here, I had so much going on.  I had my chemistry and biology midterms as well as my boyfriend running the Portland marathon on Sunday.  He had a fabulous time of about 3 hours and 23 minutes, which is around a 7:45/mile pace.  I am so proud of him and just wanted to make sure I acknowledged it here. 

This recipe is inspired by the blog, Gimme Some Oven.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes about 12 mini cheesecakes. 

For the oreo crust:

1 cup finely chopped Oreo's

2 tbsp. melted butter

For the peanut butter cheesecakes:

16 oz. softened cream cheese

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp. vanilla

For the chocolate ganache:

1 cup chocolate chips

3 tbsp. heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp. powdered sugar

*Also: chopped up Reese's candy for garnish.

Directions:

For the oreo crust:

Finely chop up 1 cup of Oreo's. 

Melt butter in a microwave safe bowl and add in the chopped oreos. Mix well.  

Evenly distribute the crust among 12 pre-greased cupcake slots. 

Push down to the bottom and flatten with a spoon so it it just the base. 

Bake the crust at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. 

For the peanut butter cheesecake: 

Tips: 

1) Bake in a water bath.

2) Do not open the oven while they are baking.

3) The center should still be a little jiggly when they are done cooking. 

4) Do not over mix/beat the batter.

With an electric mixer combine peanut butter and softened cream cheese until thoroughly mixed. 

Add sugar and continue mixing until combined.  Then, add in eggs one at a time, followed by the cream and vanilla, mixing until it is just combined. 

Transfer the batter to the baking pan with a spoon or ice cream scoop, filling each container as much as possible.  Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes or until they are starting to turn brown and the majority of the surface has firmed up.  

When they are done baking, open the oven a crack and let cool for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and let them cool completely before attempting to separate them from the pan.  This is necessary as cheesecakes are very sensitive to sudden changes in temperature. 

Refrigerate for several hours before topping with ganache and Reeses. 

For the chocolate ganache: 

Melt the chocolate chips and cream in a microwave safe bowl in 15 second intervals until it has reached the consistency you want.  

Add 1 or more tbsp. of powdered sugar to thicken.  Feel free to increase the recipe size by about 50% as I found that it would have been better if it was spilling off the sides.  

After the cheesecakes are done chilling, transfer the ganache to the top of the cheesecakes.  I did this by spooning it on and spreading with a knife but choose whatever method you prefer. 

Last but surely not least: top with Reeses!

I already miss these things- they were so yummy and I will definitely be making them again at some point with my lessons learned on what to do the next time around.  

My hall mates were not disappointed.  Cute look Jordan... 

As always feel free to contact me with any questions and I hope you give these a shot.  You honestly cannot go wrong with this combination of ingredients. 

Happy October and Happy baking!