Alright, what is a peanut allergic person doing reviewing Averie Sunshine’s book Peanut Butter Comfort? First off I’m not so allergic, I can work with it (I can’t ingest it, I basically turn into a puffer fish and my tongue swells—super attractive). Good thing for me, because my family loves PB. So along with that and being friends with Averie—yes, I had to review this.
I made several recipes, all as is, then of course, I tweaked it by subsituting the peanut butter for almond butter. No surprise both versions were good—which is a testimony to how solid the recipes are.
The recipe you see here today was one I chose because banana bread is a favorite in my home. My family can’t seem to get enough of it. And I am always on the hunt for a new banana bread recipe. This one did not disappoint. The peanut butter version is something new to my family—they loved it. The little guy drizzled honey on his and his cousin—she couldn’t get enough it. She patiently sat and watched me shoot this, just so she could take home the left overs.
As for me, I had to make it without the peanut butter just to see what the pudding mix would do in a banana bread recipe. Sure, you can make it without the mix, but as she says in the book “. . .it makes the recipe”. And yes, I actually made this three times: one as is, second time around with no PB, and third time with no PB and pudding—I think it’s fair to say, this one will be working its way into the family recipe box.
With all that said, let’s do this book review:
By the numbers:
- Over 100 recipes
- Average prep time per recipe: 25 minutes
- Approximate book cost: $17.95
What I liked and you might too:
- Yes, I’m allergic to peanuts (not so much I can’t work with it), so I’ve adapted some of the recipes by omitting it completely or by substituting it with almond butter, Nutella or cookie butter and the recipes work fine.
- Easy recipes with lots of helpful hints and notes for ease of prepping and success. Along with that Averie has a whole primer chapter about key ingredients, methods, tips and tricks.
- As always, read the headnotes—it’s where you find out about the author, which is nice. Otherwise it’s just a book of recipes without any story—and that is just boring.
A few of my favorite recipes:
- Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas Peanut Butter Maple Syrup. Admittedly, I made mine with almond butter, but my little guy has always loved bananas and PB, so I first made these as they were intended and now it’s his favorite pancake breakfast.
- Rice Krispy and Peanut Butter Cup Brownies. Okay, I made this as is for some neighbors and they thought it was genius. Which of course, solidified the fact that this is the next recipe I will be making with a few change-ups—stay tuned.
- Molasses Ginger Bread Cookie. If you are a regular reader than you know my little guy loves cookies, but without chocolate and without my usual heavy-handed extras. This was his favorite, no surprise since he loves the flavor of the fall spices and the cookies are “awesomely chewy”. As for me, my version was with almond butter and yes, it’s “awesomely” chewy.
- Nutella and Oreo Chocolate Cookies. I can’t speak towards how they are, but my friends will tell you it’s one to repeat.
Banana Bread Pudding Cake
Yield: Makes one 9x9 pan
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup sour cream (or Greek style yogurt)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large or 3 small bananas mashed, (about 11/2 cups)
- One 3.5 oz. box of French Vanilla flavored instant pudding mix (not sugar free)
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
Vanilla Caramel Glaze
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoon cream or milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups of confectioner sugar, sifted
Directions:
To make banana bread pudding cake:
Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x9 pan with foil.
- Melt butter in a large microwave safe bowl, about 60-90 seconds on high power. Add peanut butter to the melted butter and heat for an additional 20 sends on high power to melt. Stir the mixture until combined and smooth.
- Add the sugars and whisk to combine. Add the egg, sour cream (or Greek style yogurt), and vanilla and whisk until smooth and free from streaks. Add bananas and stir to incorporate. Add the pudding mix and stir to incorporate (do not make pudding as instructed on the box). Add flour, baking soda, and salt and stir until just combined and free of streaks.
- Pour bater into prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes, or until top is golden, set in the middle and edges have slightly pulled away form the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cake to cook in pan for at least 20 minutes before removing, serving or glazing Vanilla Caramel Glaze.
To make vanilla caramel glaze
(this is a fast-moving recipe, so have everything in place)
- Place butter in a small pan over medium-heat to melt. Add the brown sugar to the melted butter and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Allow mixture to boil rapidly for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
- Remove pan from heat and add cream (the mixture will bubble wildly), whisk to combine and until bubbles subside. Add vanilla and whisk to combine. Add confectioner sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired glaze consistency is reached.
- Pour glaze on top, using a off-set spatula warmed with hot water and dried off spread glaze to an even finish. Place chocolate in a plastic bags and cut the corner off of one end. Drizzle top with melted chocolate. (Glaze will set and become slightly crystallized. To cut without putting cracks through the top, warm edge of knife with hot water and wipe dry then slice).
Thank for the low down of her book! I am total nut butter lover, so i might have to get this imported to Australia! I love the chocolate on the top of this snack cake, it almost looks like the Burberry print!
this is over the top mouth watering.
Looks delicious! Where can I find the recipe? I am not seeing it in the post.
these are so pretty and look SO decadent and delicious!
Oh. My. God. That looks amazing.
My missus does the best banana cake I have ever tasted. Just the other day she was saying she wanted to take it to the next level. I think we’ve found the next level. I think you’ve gone beyond the next level.
I love banana bread and that glaze looks like heaven!
Everything about these sounds amazing!
This looks heavenly!
this needs to be happening in my house.. seriously yum goodness here.
WOW!! Such a beautiful review & recipe 🙂 I’ll take any nut or seed butter I can get my hands on!
This looks seriously good! Love!!
The pictures are making me drool!
Great insight to Averie’s book, you’ve tried a lot of recipes! They all sound fantastic!
Looks like a delicious recipe but how much & what type of chocolate is used to drizzle on top of the glaze? Those amounts have been omitted from the recipe. Thanks!
Such a nice a review and what and amazing recipe! I love everything about this cake and that glaze? Wow!! Averie did an incredible job with her book. She amazes me!
This cake is positively lovely! Great recipe!
Looks gorgeous! I obviously need that cookbook 🙂
Naomi I am just blown away by the level of DETAIL in which you reviewed my book – thank you, thank you, thank you!
And the total irony is that you can’t even eat PB! It crazy too that you picked that cake to review (and make it THREE! times) b/c it’s one of my top 3 or so recipes in the whole book. I loooved that cake. I remember re-making it many times when I knew I didn’t have to, just to ‘test’ the recipe b/c I loved that cake so much 🙂
And that is crazy that your son loves molasses cookies THAT much! Even in the dead of summer. I am a huge molasses lover too, but normally kids don’t really go for the flavor as much. And the fact that you did them with almond butter, too; so pleased to hear that worked (I didn’t even try that!)
Gosh, Naomi, I am just thrilled about this whole post and of course, your photos are stunning and just make me so happy to see my little banana cake come to life with your gorgeous photography! xoxo
Gorgeous–the words banana bread + pudding cake have me salivating. Seriously.
So beautiful! Love the gorgeous glaze topping!
I love pudding in cakes and cookies! Averie is a peanut butter genius, isn’t she? This bread-cake looks beyond delicious!
This is pretty much the most fantastic banana bread I’ve seen. Love all those gorgeous flavors together!
This looks fantastic. Your photos are amazing. Do you think these would work as cupcakes?
Averie is THE BEST! She has the most amazing recipes. You are awesome to review her book even though you can’t have PB!
So beautiful and completely delicious!
Hello! My name’s Jessica, and every week on my food blog, Floptimism, I write a post called the Weekend Wrap-Up where I share some of my favorite web finds from the past week. I saw this post and loved the photos so much that I featured them on this week’s round up! I’ve included the link below in case you’re interested. Thank you for such stunning work, and enjoy your weekend!
http://floptimism.blogspot.com/2013/08/weekend-wrap-up-going-off-deep-end.html
Making these for sure!
I’m sure my family would love this too!
I made these last night and finally got to taste it in the morning. It. was. AMAZING. Such a genius recipe!
This is a gorgeous little cake, thanks for sharing the recipe. I used nutella and thought this was wonderful- as much as I love peanut butter, I think I would prefer this with nutella
Thanks 🙂
http://thesugarlump.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/banana-bread-cake-with-caramel-icing.html
I made this last night and it is AMAZING!! The cake is super moist, but not soggy, and the icing is so decadent! I used almond butter in lieu of the peanut butter since I also have a peanut allergy, but didn’t (and wouldn’t) change anything else. This is a welcome addition to my “Please make this again, Mom!” recipe book!