Mid-November Baking

Chocolate chip-banana bread pudding!

Ingredients:

3 slices lite bread; lightly toasted and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1 cup skim milk

2 tbsp. brown sugar; not packed

1/3 cup Egg Beaters, Original

2 tbsp. peanut butter

1 sliced banana

Chocolate syrup (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place toasted bread cubes in 4 ramekins coated with nonstick cooking spray; sprinkle with chocolate morsels. Combine milk, brown sugar, Egg Beaters, and peanut butter in a bowl. Pour mixture over bread cubes (make sure all bread is covered); let stand 5 minutes. Top with banana sliced. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until pudding is firm. Eat warm. Serves 4. City Bakery's semi-famous cookies and hot chocolate (with homemade marshmallow!). The thick hot chocolate had to be eaten with a spoon - very similar to the cioccolatta calda con panna that I was obsessed with in Italy!

Trader Joe's truffle brownies - yum! This recipe is easy to make - just add 2 eggs and a stick of melted butter to the mix.

Caramel Apple Butter Oat bars -

I brought these to the Slow Food NYC Annual Meeting & Potluck

Ingredients
2 cups flour (1/2 whole wheat if desired)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
Topping:
1 jar Stonewall Kitchen Caramel Apple Butter
1 1/2 cups apples, peeled, cored and chopped (approx. 1 1/2 apples)
1 cup chopped pecans or almonds
Directions
Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8" x 8" pan.
Using a food processor or a pastry blender, combine flour, powdered sugar and butter. Blend until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Press crust mixture into the bottom of a 8"x 8" or square baking pan, saving 1/3 of mixture for topping.
Sprinkle apple pieces over bottom crust.
Pour Caramel Apple Butter over apples; then top with pecans.
Crumble remainder of topping mixture over apple mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-50 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool and cut into squares.