the chocolate peanut butter gallery

We are nearing the end of a month spent in Austin, TX. I have loved it, though working in someone else’s kitchen has definitely been an experiment. My kitchen at home is almost as small as you can get- but it is fully stocked with just about every kitchen gadget as well as a pretty full pantry. I both feared and looked forward to leaving it behind.

When we arrived in our temporary apartment (acquired on airbnb.com), we quickly headed over to inspect the kitchen. There were about 4 spices: curry powder, red pepper flake, cumin and cinnamon (some of my faves) and some pretty sad looking pans. There was a collection of wooden spoons and a spatula, but no whisk and no hand mixer.

No need to panic – I’ll just have bitchin’ forearms from all the manual mixing by the end of this trip, right? Perhaps I’ll realize my new career as an arm-wrestling champ. Yes!

Or maybe I’ll just eat some real tasty pancakes… that’d be swell too.

Aside from the oven smoking the first time we used it (clearly it’s not a frequently used device), we’ve done pretty well. There’s no toaster oven or microwave but there is a blessed dishwasher – something I don’t have at home. The only things we cracked and purchased were a coffee grinder, a milk frother (hey, I love my latte’s), a good chef’s knife and a knife sharpener. We’ve cooked anywhere between 1 and 3 meals a day, making everything from casseroles to soups to cookies to potatoes au gratin. It was interesting to learn what I could and couldn’t live without. It was also interesting to learn that one of said sad looking pans cooks pancakes *perfectly*- something that I always have trouble with using my nice shiny new pans at home. Is it the electric burners they have here providing a more even heat? The heavy weight of the pan? Whatever the case, I was happy.

Another plus to cooking in Austin is that it’s the home of the world’s first Whole Foods, which means of course that the one here is a food nerd’s dream. At the start of the month we stocked up with lots of organic supplies – something I don’t always treat myself to. To my surprise, we went through the flour really slowly. I quickly made up for it by making a few batches of pancakes.

The first time I served these oatmeal pancakes, I topped them with stewed apples because the pancakes are thick, filling and beg for a fun topping. Wanting to switch it up the second time around, I made a peanut butter maple sauce and chocolate butter, and topped them with chopped bananas.

This trip has also been a lesson in how to make a variety of stuff with a limited pantry, which translates to: how many different ways can I use the same peanut butter and chocolate hazelnut sauce I brought with me? The answer: many! And all of them delicious.

But now that the trip is almost over, the real question is: can this much peanut butter sustain us for 2 1/2 days?

Eep.

Recipe after the break!

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Austin, TX is *full* of fun food trucks and food trailer parks. Did you know that? I didn’t. They are everywhere and it’s awesome.

We had plenty of reasons to spend the month of January away from the northeastern chill of NYC, soaking up the warmth of Austin, but soon found out that the food there was an extra bonus. Quite a few trucks were on my “Must Eat” list and Holy Cacao was one of them. They sell cake pops. Cake pops seem to be everywhere these days and yet I had never really tried one.

We picked up three at Holy Cacao – Brass Cake Balls (chocolate peanut butter), Wedding Cake (vanilla) and Velvet.

These cake pops are the mullet of dessert. Why?

They’re business on the top…

and a party on the bottom.

They’re much tastier than a mullet, though. At least I imagine, since I’ve never actually tasted mullet. Ew.

Hey look, a cross-section shot. Neat.

I loved them all. The chocolate coating was firm but thin enough that it cracked easily as you bite into it. The vanilla cake was very sweet and the sprinkles on the bottom added just enough texture to balance the soft filling nicely. The red velvet was well-balanced all around. It didn’t taste too strongly of cream cheese or food coloring – it was just perfectly sweet, cocoa-flavored, moist and tasty. Our favorite of course, was the chocolate peanut butter, which was made with good peanut butter and also perfectly sweetened.

I thought that this was the perfect truck food – easily transportable, kitschy, fun and delicious. If you find yourself in Austin, stop by Holy Cacao.

The Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread Gallery was just too long a name, but make no mistake – we love banana bread. I make it a lot but as delicious as it is, even I get a little tired with the same old presentation: brick of bread on a plate.

Lately I’ve been making fancier breakfasts than usual, so brick on a plate doesn’t quite hold up to my standards. Unless you have enough bricks to build some kind of fort. That’d be cool.

What? I didn’t say I had mature standards.

Without enough bricks to build a fort (drat), I did the next best thing and covered the bread I had left in peanut butter frosting and chocolate hazelnut frosting.

These are easy to make, they look fancy and you can eat em with your hands. They are great for kids to assemble and eat as well, especially if you cover em in rainbow sprinkles. It is the weekend after all, so have a little fun with your food. Go bananas!

Exhibit A: Peanut Butter Banana Bread Petit Four

And Exhibit B: Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Bread Petit Four

Recipe after the break.

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One of my lovely readers recently reached out to write a guest post for the CPB gallery. If you are a fan of peanut butter cups (and if you’re reading this site… you’d better be!) you’ll surely love her recipe for Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Balls. Take it away, Ellen!

This is an easy recipe with an amazing yummy taste. You can easily gift them to someone or simply refrigerate them for your family. What really makes them special is the creamy peanut butter filling inside the dark chocolate coating.

Remember before buying the ingredients that you have to choose a top quality chocolate to get that perfect taste for your peanut butter balls. The better the chocolate, the better their taste will be.

Making peanut butter balls is a little bit of a time consuming process, however very simple. You can take a look at the recipe after the break.

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One of my favorite things about going to cafés is seeing what interesting and unusual latte flavors they offer, as well as the goofy names baristas like to give them. But since I now work from home and no longer pass a dozen coffee shops on my commute, I started making them myself.

This latte contains some of my favorite things: chocolate hazelnut spread, peanut butter, honey and soymilk. I call it the Honey Bear. Maybe because I love it so much, it deserved a pet name? Or maybe because chocolate and peanut butter are brown like bears? …who eat honey? I don’t know what I’m saying anymore, but there’s lots of greatness to this drink:

• It packs some protein from soymilk, peanut butter and hazelnuts.
• It’s sweetened naturally with honey, a great match for pb.
• It’s not too heavy, satisfying your sweet tooth without weighing you down.
• It will keep you going with extra espresso and filling protein.

I have been trying to perfect fancy latte drinks for a little while now. My favorite drink changes regularly, but this is the flavor of the week. Recipe after the break. Enjoy!

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