Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Bananas, and More Chocolate. This can't go wrong.

Hello, friends. My sincere apologies that I have been absentee lately. It's not that I haven't been baking. I've even been baking BabyCakes goodies. It's just that I haven't been baking anything new.

I made blondies (page 80) last week for my co-workers just because they are so delicious and I hadn't taken anything to the office for awhile. They were declared "the best thing [I've] ever made" by an officemate as he grabbed his fifth and sixth blondie of the afternoon.

I also forgot to post anything about the latest cookie sandwiches I made. This time I went with double chocolate cookies with mint frosting. They were good - very good - but, if I'm being honest, they weren't as good as the plain old chocolate chip and vanilla version.  Of course, I have no pictures. I'm sorry.

I also made scones again (page 42) - mini scones to be precise - for a bridal shower on Saturday. These I did get a picture of! As I've made very clear in the past, I love scones. And I love cute little things. So these were just... perfect. One batch of blueberry and one batch of chocolate chip. Rave reviews from the hubby (he stole a couple before the party got started) on the chocolate chip in lieu of fruit. He was a fan. I still preferred the fruit.

And, lastly, I have a little something different for you. A co-worker brought me an amazing dessert a few weeks ago - it was a layered torte of chocolate, peanut butter, and banana goodness. It was amazing but, tragically, not dairy-free. Knowing what I do about how desserts can be free of animal products while still being super yummy, I decided I would recreate this masterpiece. Only without cream or eggs. So this is how I spent my Sunday... and, since it's not from the book, I can give you recipes! If that's possible. I'm not really a recipe kind of baker and really just ripped off and modified several other (publicly available) recipes. But I'll try:

Layer One: Chocolate Cookie Crust
Okay, I lied. This one is a BabyCakes recipe. It's six unfrosted chocolate cupcakes (which I froze last time I made chocolate cupcakes knowing I would one day need this crumb base), salt, and agave nectar. However, there are a million ways to make a chocolate cookie crust. Pretty sure you can even buy ready made ones at the grocers. So, don't dismay. Just figure something out and let's carry on.

Layer Two: Peanut Butter Goo
Not sure this is the best name for it, but I can think of no better description so I'm going with it. For this layer, I made the Peanut Butter Swirl from this recipe. However, it was very soupy - probably because my coconut milk was less than stellar quality. I used better stuff for later layers and it made a big difference

But I digress. Like I said, it was soupy. So I threw together some frosting like substance similar - but not exactly like - the BabyCakes frosting. A quarter cup of soy milk powder, maybe three tablespoons of agave nectar, a heaping tablespoon of coconut flour, and about a half cup of coconut oil in hopes it would harden the mixture up when chilled. I added this to the peanut butter mixture and poured it on top of my cookie crust. Next time, I might try a more pudding-like approach including arrowroot powder. The taste was delish but the texture doesn't really hold up unless frozen.

Layer Three: Carmelized Bananas
Okay, I guess I did really oversell the publicly available part. This is BabyCakes too. Let's just say it's bananas, salt, and some agave nectar, baked until caramelly good. And then placed over the peanut butter layer.

Layer Four: Chocolate Pudding
Publicly available and not altered a bit: eat your heart out. I have to say, I had no idea how easy it was to make pudding from scratch. I'll never buy a mix again. This one needed about twice as much sugar as called for in the recipe, but by the time I layered it up with the other sweets it worked out just fine. In the future though, more sugar. Especially if eating by itself.

Layer Five: Whipped Topping
Another canned coconut milk creation.  And I might add a very good version. It's not very easy to make a dairy-free version of whipped cream so I commend this author for nailing it. This totally worked and was delicious!

There you have it. As usual, pictures did not occur to me until after half the dish had been consumed, so this is all I've got:

It needs to stay refrigerated, and maybe even almost frozen, and it's soooo good! I don't know who thought up this money combination, but it's genius. And now... dairy free!

New BabyCakes recipes coming up, I promise! The next planned adventure: Macaroons. Back soon...