Going Bananas

SPRING IS FINALLY HERE, well at least according to the seasonal calendar it is! After this brutal winter all I want to do is wear pastels, floral and skirts, buy fresh flowers and fruit, and of course bake the winter blues away. Since it is still snowing in Chicago, skirt and fresh flowers were a little out of the question so baking it was!

As I mentioned in my pancake post, I absolutely love bananas. They’re the perfect on the go breakfast, great to mix in or with anything; peanut butter, chocolate, oatmeal, smoothies, yogurt etc. and best of all when they go brown they are great for baking. This week I had plenty of brown bananas so I decided to try out a banana cupcake recipe with an added twist…nutella and peanut butter!

First I gathered all my ingredients including these extremely brown bananas that were the perfect brown for baking. The browner they are the sweeter the taste and the more moist the cupcakes will turn out.

This recipe required multiple bowls and dishes, so in my little studio I had to get creative with counter space, in other words use my bar stools and coffee table haha.

Oh how I love the sight of the batter mixing in my Kitchen-Aid mixer! This thing has been a life saver since I received it for Christmas last year. I can’t believe I used to make homemade whipped cream using a whisk. Now I turn the button and go grab the next ingredients while this baby does all the magic.

Who wants to lick the beater, with all that banana goodness?

Here comes the fun part and it’s so much easier than you’d ever think. No fancy kitchen tools or experience required for this.
After the cupcakes have completely cooled, take a sharp knife and cut a cone shape into the cupcake. It doesn’t have to be perfect by any means, but make sure your cone doesn’t go all the way to the bottom of the paper or your filling will fall out of the bottom. If you’re like me and love chocolate then I suggest making the hole a little bigger 😉 Then using the tip of the knife or your fingers pull the middle out and feel free to eat it.

Ta-da, simple as that!

Here comes the nutella!
A simple way to do this is:
-place a ziploc bag in a glass cup with the edges folded over the top of the cup
-scoop your nutella into the bag
-take the bag out of the cup and push the nutella to one corner of the bag
-using scissors cut the tip of the bag on an angle to form a hole (shown below)

Hold the bag with the nutella over the hole and squeeze until the hole is filled to the top with nutella. I make the nutella level with the top of the cupcake so the buttercream will go on even without have nutella pouring over the sides.

Since I used to work in a wedding cake shop and now work in a cupcake shop, I’ve gathered quite a few baking tools over the years. However, don’t feel the need to buy a frosting bag and tip if you don’t already own one, you can use the simple ziploc bag trick again for the butter cream. Since I do own so many frosting tips I like to use them to give the butter cream a pretty swirl look.

My trick to frosting is start on the outside edge and make two circles ending in the middle.

It wouldn’t be a cupcake without sprinkles or a topping.

So much goodness in one cupcake!

Time for the recipe:

Banana and Nutella Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

(Assembling instructions above)

Banana Cupcakes

makes about 24 cupcakes

3 brown bananas (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup greek yogurt
4 oz applesauce (sweet or unsweetened)
1 cup milk (I used half skim half vanilla almond milk, any type will work)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. In a small bowl mash bananas with lemon juice and set aside for later. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla, yogurt, and applesauce until well combined. Mix in the flour mixture, alternating with the milk (I did this in three parts, 1/3 of the flour mixture, 1/3 cup milk, flour etc.) Lastly stir in banana mixture just until combined.

Pour into cupcake liners, about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before starting to cut the center out for the filling.

Peanut Butter Frosting (Betty Crocker Version)

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
4 cups powder sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Beat butter in medium bowl on medium speed until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Beat in peanut butter, 1/2 cup of the powder sugar, milk, and vanilla. Gradually add the remaining powder sugar while beating on medium speed until well combined. Then beat on high for about 2 minutes.