Banana Bake-Off

Something has come over me in the last few days.  I feel like baking more than normal.  Maybe I am trying to get it out of my system before it is way too HOT to bake anything!  Oh, and when I have lots of ingredients to use up before they go bad, I also get the baking bug. 

The result is a Wednesday evening banana bake-off.  I was perusing some cookbooks on Wednesday afternoon and came across a most intriguing recipe called King Cupcakes.  They of course are inspired by the KING of rock'n'roll, Elvis' love of peanut butter banana sandwiches.  The back story on why this recipe jumped off the page is Drew (my most-of-the-time non-dessert-loving-husband)'s love of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup inspired by the same thing (he has a knack of finding a food/drink item that no one else likes, falling in love with it, and lamenting the all-to-soon disappearance of this item for YEARS after they are gone).  Thus, I thought he would at least try these cupcakes. 
Oh, and I also had some over-ripe bananas that needed to be used mos'scocious (I have no proof that Elvis used this phrase, but I imagine him saying it and smile).
So, I got started on the cupcakes and found them easy to make.  The original recipe is from Cooking Light, so I, of course, used all the real ingredients to make sure I got every bit of fat in each morsel.   I will not put the recipe  since you can find it here, but I will tell you that the frosting requires a little tweaking.  I added a hint of milk to make it spreadable.  Oh...these are really good.  Drew said he would prefer a little more banana flavor in there.  This could be accomplished by the inclusion of banana extract and the exclusion of vanilla extract...I think.

While I had almost all the ingredients at hand, I also whipped up some of my Granny's Banana Bread.  I did change the recipe for the first time.  The recipe calls for water and I substituted milk.  I did not find too much of a difference, so I guess you could do it either way.  I think I will take some over to my neighbor friend tomorrow.  As stated in a previous post, I love my Granny's Banana Bread and am thankful for her example in the kitchen...great memories.  It is amazing that though our loved ones pass on, their recipes remain with us as part of their legacy.