This is just sinful. I was planning to put the frosting on cupcakes but truthfully I just don’t like cake. Trader Joe’s had a good chocolate truffle brownie mix, so we slathered them with peanutbutter cream cheese goodness.

The tiny bit of salt in the icing really brings out the peanut flavor. I used the Murray River – it’s my favorite for baking, because it is so light and flaky that it blends easily. A bit of salt makes sweet things so much better!

This combination is so decadent that the only thing it can be paired with is an equally intense stout. We were lucky enough to have a 2011 bottle of Night Stalker (the base for Bourbon County) from Goose Island and Left Hand nitro milk stout. Mmm…

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (do not use old-fashioned or freshly ground)
• ½ tsp salt

Sift powdered sugar into large bowl. Add salt. Add cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until smooth.

Yes, this is as good as it sounds. It’s actually orgasmic- there’s just no other word that does it justice.

Start by making a batch of Mark Bittman’s banana bread. Bittman is one of my original food gurus and if you’re only going to own one cookbook it should be How to Cook Everything. The secret ingredient in this bread is shredded coconut. For baking I use the Murray River salt, because it is so finely flaked.

To make dulce de leche, place a can of sweetened condensed milk in a stock pot and cover with water. Boil for 2.5-3 hours depending how thick the desired consistency is and voila! You can keep this in the fridge and slather it on anything. Also delicious stirred into coffee.

Take a slice of banana bread and toast it. Top with a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream, then drizzle with dulce de leche and sprinkle with salt. I used Himalayan Pink. Take a bite, close your eyes and enjoy.  And if that doesn’t get you off I don’t know what will.

Mark Bittman’s Banana Bread (from How to Cook Everything)

Ingredients

8 tablespoons butter, plus some for greasing the pan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 sugar

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork until smooth

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (this blogger omitted)

1/2 grated dried unsweetened coconut

Preheat the overn to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

Mix together the dry ingredients. Cream the butter and beat in the eggs and bananas (this blogger creamed in the sugar as well out of habit – it worked fine). Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients; do not mix more than necessary. Gently stir in the vanilla, nuts, and coconut.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until nicely browned. A toothpick inserted in the center of the bread will come out fairly clean, but banana bread is excessively moist compared to other breads. Do not overcook.

They’re not the little French hamburger-like cookies and not the stale Manischewitz macaroons your Jewish grandmother may have put out for Passover. Nothing but little clusters of coconut clouds with a crusty, buttery base. I’m not a big baker at all and these are my standby- they’re literally the easiest and fastest treat you can bake. And everyone loves them! These macaroons don’t have any butter except to grease the pan and while coconut certainly isn’t great for you, you can pretend this is healthier.

I have been wondering what on earth I would make with Chanterelle Vanilla salt and this is it! This is really one of the most incredible salt blends from Beyond the Shaker: Hawaiian Black Lava salt, chanterelle mushrooms, Madagascar vanilla beans, organic maple sugar, organic garlic, organic shallot and black truffle panko. Sprinkled on the golden macaroons, the black salt looked like pepper and tasted so delicious and complex. Everyone knows sweet and savory is the yummiest combination and when you’re using a salt like this its even better.
Macaroons
1 (14 ounce) package sweetened coconut (5 1/3 cups)
2/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract

Mix coconut, sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl. Stir in egg whites (not whipped) and almond extract until well blended. Drop by tablespoonful onto greased and floured cookie sheets. Bake 325F for 20 minutes or until edges of cookies are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to wire racks. Cool completely.