going bananas for desserts

More banana desserts went down in my kitchen this week. I started out baking Banana Rum Coconut Cookies to find that the oven is broken. From what I can tell the heating element on the bottom has stopped working, so I had to turn the broiler on and watch my manual thermometer in an attempt to keep the oven at 350. Of course, it didn't work and some of the cookies got a little toasty on top.

You wouldn't believe it, but even with a slightly scorched top, it didn't effect the cookies taste at all. These cookies are very moist, cake-like and slightly chewy. And with raisins, coconut, walnuts and oats they remind me of trail mix but sweeter and spiked!

So now that the oven is out of commission you'd think it put the kibosh on sweets. Heh, no way. I decided to make Chocolate-Covered Bananas. I did a little experiment and made a few different kinds. First I decided to use an infant medical syringe and stuff the bananas (like an eclair) with President's Choice Banana Dulce De Leche Creme spread. I then covered them in Trader Joe's chocolate. One plain, one with chopped peanuts and one with butterscotch chips.

This is a great way to use up those bananas you just can't finish in time. I'll have to decide which combo is tastiest.

One more dessert I made was Easy Tiramisu. This recipe appears in the first Everyday Food book. I was prompted to make this when I saw ladyfingers at Casa Leone the other day. I made it this morning in the same time it took Nuno to make and eat his cereal. The only revision I made to this recipe was to half it and add some marsala wine (that's part of the flavour I enjoy in tiramisu). I have to admit that I'll probably continue to make this recipe from now on because the real version with mascarpone is expensive and a bit too decadent. This one uses light cream cheese, so you can't go wrong.