I’m making a few dishes for a graduation party on Saturday.  I tried out my dessert last night – fudgy mini-cupcakes with peanut butter cream cheese frosting and honey roasted peanuts

Fudgy Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting

I’ve been on a chocolate and peanut butter fad lately.  A confession:  These last few months (perhaps even longer), I’ve been fixating on a fantasy dessert combining rice krispie treats, peanut butter, chocolate and bananas.  I wanted to create a dessert based on those ingredients, first for the Steakhouse and now, because I’m obsessed.  It seems easy enough – they all “go” together, but the texture of the peanut butter needs to be “just so” – not thick like jarred peanut butter and not too sweet/fluffy like frosting.  The bananas were causing me consternation as well because of their texture and tendency to quickly brown.  Mon du! I can’t just slice slimy bananas and stick them under a layer of spackle-thick peanut butter. 

Last week, I think I hit upon the right combination.  Beginning with a rice krispie treat base covered with a thin layer of chocolate ganache (chocolate smoothed with cream), I’d layer on a mousse made from peanut butter, cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk whipped together.  The bananas could be made “a la minute”, caramelized in butter and brown sugar, cooled and arranged on top.  To garnish, peanut bacon brittle, (a treat I fell in love with while visiting Chicago – and not so bizarre considering I found 897,000 results on Google when I searched it). 

I can’t wait to try my new dessert out on friends.