Banana Whoopie Pies w/ Dulce de Leche Filling

I made these this afternoon for Teacher Appreciation Day....which ended up being YESTERDAY!! UGH! Think I may take some advise and drop them off on Friday for nibbling on through the day.

I  made a few changes and not major ones. I also made the dulce de leche myself and it was super easy and the "non explosive" kind. I found it here at Our Best Bites. I did add 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla bean paste to the sweetened condensed milk before baking it.

Makes 24

INGREDIENTS
1 lb ripe bananas (I weighed them after the peels were off)
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp table salt
1 cup canola oil
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
Dulce de Leche Filling (recipe follows)

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine the bananas and lemon juice in a food processor, and process until pureed.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the oil, eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the banana puree and  mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl again. With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture for a total mixing time of 30 seconds. Carefully scrape down the bowl. Refrigerate the batter for thirty (30) minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
5. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (the hole should be about as large as the tipof your ring finger) (I USED a cookie dough scoop. 1tsp size for 2 bite whoopies, 1 1/2 tsp size for a bit larger). Pipe 2 inch diameter circles onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2 inches between them. Be careful to keep your pastry bag completely vertical to achieve nice circles. ( If you have to wait between batches of pies, keep the batter refrigerated).
6. Immediately put the baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes without rotating the baking sheet. The whoopie pies are done when they are golden in color and spring back when touched. Let the whoopie pies cool completely.
7. To fill the whoopies, turn half of them over so that they arew bottom face up. Using a pastry bag, pipe a small dollop of the dulce de leche filling onto each whoopie bottom. Top with the remaining whoopies.

DULCE DE LECHE FILLING
Makes 2 cups

INGREDIENTS
4 oz package cream cheese, at room temperature (I used 8oz)
5 Tblsp unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used 8 oz)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup dulce de leche (I added 1/4 cup in addition)
3 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more if needed

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachemnt, beat together the cream cheese & butter on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the vanilla, salt, and dulce de leche, and mix for 30 seconds on low speed.

With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the confectioner's sugar, and then beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl. If the filling is too soft to hold its shape, add more confectioners sugar until you reach the desired consistency.

Store in the refrigerator, in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface of the filling, for up to 5 days.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins on a Caffeine Buzz

So what do you get when you have 4-5 over ripe bananas, one last fresh farm egg that needs to be used, little time or energy after getting the kids a bath, dinner and ready for bed? You get these marvelous muffins! Dense, moist and packed full of flavor. You can taste every bit of the banana, chocolate, and yes, the hint of coffee/espresso. And even better, they were super easy to make!

I just received a highly recommended book in the mail yesterday, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito. I couldn't wait to give a try and was thinking maybe this weekend, but the bananas sent me searching for something quick and easy, but I didn't want just another banana bread. Although their Banana Pecan Piloncillo Ice Cream sounded just wonderful, sorry guys, I don't just have piloncillo sitting around...and what is piloncillo anyway?! Guess I'll have to find out!

OK, enough jabbering, here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS  (yield 12 muffins) ( I made 18)

1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4 medium) (I used 5)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp instant espresso powder (NOT ground) (I used 2 tsp of instant coffee)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli mini chips>

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg.





In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. 

Fill each cup about 3/4 full. (These barely rise) Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.

Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and let them finish cooling on the cooling rack.

Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Go ahead! Give them a shot. They're great and a wonderful change from the ordinary.

(Note: Bananas that are over ripe, but you are not ready to bake with yet, may be frozen, then thawed when ready for use. So go ahead, save that one or two in your freezer and you may accumulate enough so that when you are ready, you'll have plenty to use!)