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Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

After moving in to our apartment style dorm Monday night and living in the space for a few days, Mary and I now feel like we are settled in. We are really enjoying our new space, especially the "state-of-the-art" kitchen complete with trendy avocado colored laminate countertops who needs granite! Mostly, we are so glad that we came equipped with all the kitchen supplies we could possibly need (and some extras!), as we have already begun making some delicious meals and trying some of our favorite recipes. It is so exciting to think of how many wonderful meals we will have cooked in our tiny kitchen by the end of the school year!

With our sophomore year classes starting up on Monday, I wanted to make a homemade treat to include in our lunches. Not being on the college meal plan this year means packing lunches to eat between classes, so I love sprucing up packed lunches with a homemade treat. I wanted to try a new recipe using simple ingredients we had on hand, and was intrigued by this recipe for Peanut Butter Banana cookies how could you go wrong with the peanut butter banana combination! 


These cookies were so easy to whip up, and don't call for much sweetener as most of the sweetness comes from the bananas. They have a very interesting and tasty flavor combination almost like combining the flavor of banana bread with a peanut butter cookie! While I love my classic chocolate chip cookies, I also really enjoy trying new cookie varieties and this is a new favorite to add to my list. The sweet and salty combination is definitely a winner, and the recipe is fairly healthy and can easily be made healthier with some simple ingredient swaps (like wheat flour in place of white flour and honey instead of sugar!). 


We are so excited for the "college chapter" of Two Spoonfuls and will definitely miss our readers at home while we are here at school! In the meantime, if you're looking for a new cookie recipe, try this one! It won't disappoint. 

Here's a picture of our "beautiful" dorm kitchen, just for kicks! (Notice the spice jars

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies

Recipe by Gimme Some Oven
Ingredients
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium banana)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Cooking Directions
  1. Heat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, salt, baking soda and cinnamon until combined. Set aside.
  3. In the (separate) bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add peanut butter, egg, banana, and vanilla, and continue mixing on medium speed until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl once if needed. Fold in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
  4. Measure out a rounded tablespoon-full of dough, roll it into a ball, then place on the baking sheet. Use a fork to press down the top of the ball and make a criss-cross pattern. Sprinkle with a pinch of cane sugar, if desired. Repeat with remaining dough.
  5. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden around the edges. Cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  6. Serve immediately or store in a sealed container for up to 1 week.
Enjoy!

Showing off your Spices! (a DIY post)

Aside from being 16 hours away from home, one of the things Mary and I missed most during our freshman year of college was not having access to a kitchen. Instead of weekly baking and homemade family meals, being stuck with a college dining hall meal plan was a change we both had trouble adjusting to. We are both beyond excited that this year we will be living in a four person apartment-style dorm outfitted with a kitchen! 

We were also surprisingly thrilled to find out that the kitchen comes with no supplies. Instead of using old pots and pans shared by students even before we were born and covered in who-knows-what, having an unstocked kitchen meant taking on some fun projects to make the kitchen our own! While some may call us crazy bringing everything from our baking tips, cupcake liners, knife block and ice blue hand mixer and food processor, we are excited to continue our blogging adventures while at school. One of our latest kitchen projects we just had to share is our DIY (do-it-yourself) glass spice jars with chalkboard labels. 


If you have some occasional OCD design tendencies like I do, you might be unsatisfied with the wide assortment of spice jars of all shapes and sizes shoved inside your spice cabinet at home (at least, thats how the spices are "organized" at our house). Though our dad is a fabulous cook and loves his spices, his spice cabinet is a hodge podge of countless mismatched jars and shakers.

While this system may work for him, Mary and I wanted a more organized and cute solution to storing our herbs and spices. After some searches on Pinterest and trips to some of our favorite kitchen stores, we found the perfect solution!


After we decided on a kitchen color- a pretty robin's egg blue, we were so excited to find glass spice jars from World Market that perfectly matched our kitchen decor. For less than a dollar apiece, we grabbed a couple dozen jars to have enough for all our favorite spices. 


After some Pinterest searching, we found the cutest free hand painted printable chalkboard spice jar labels that come in a variety of shapes and colors (via WorldLabel and painted by Emily McDowell). We chose the black circle design, and printed the template on full sheet label paper so we could cut the labels perfectly to size. 

We are so happy with how the spice jars turned out and can't wait to show them off in our new kitchen! Instead of shoving our spices in a cabinet, we plan on storing them in a cute wire spice rack we found, also from World Market! 


While glass spice jars may not be for everyone especially for those like our dad who have their own organized chaos of a kitchen, making these spice jars was a great way to show off our spices and in turn save a bit of cabinet space! 

Enjoy,

Restaurant Review: Buttermilk

It's hard to believe that summer is nearly over! Since Mary and I will be heading back to Boston this Sunday, we have tried to make the most of our remaining summer days and enjoy the time saying our "see you later's" to friends and family. Of course our favorite gatherings involve both good friends and great food, so we have also had the chance to visit some of our favorite restaurants and even try some new places! One of the restaurants we have recently heard friends rave about is Buttermilk, a breakfast and lunch spot in Geneva, so yesterday I (Hannah) took our two "little sisters" out for a fun back-to-school breakfast celebration.

Cutest coffee counter inside Buttermilk  
The decor and atmosphere inside Buttermilk is what I would call "modern farmhouse," as the classic white walls and farm inspired fixtures are complemented by modern accents, giving the place an inviting and cozy feel. We waited about ten minutes before being seated, and enjoyed taking fun pictures while we waited.

Love the fun fixtures!
Buttermilk has a large menu with something for everyone! If you enjoy a sweet breakfast, they have a wide selection of pancakes, waffles, french toast, and crepesincluding lemon blueberry pancakes, banana nutella crepes, and tres leches french toast, just to name a few! If you're more of the eggs and bacon type, they also have many different types of omelets, skillets, benedicts, and breakfast sandwiches. 
Scrambled eggs, beautifully seasoned potatoes, and delicious chicken sausage!
One thing I quickly realized is how generous the portion sizes are! An order of two eggs comes with a large helping of delicious breakfast potatoes and a choice between toast, an english muffin, or a stack of two large buttermilk pancakes! For a little extra, you can even opt for one of their specialty pancakes, and I couldn't resist trying the lemon blueberry pancakes topped with a fresh blueberry 
compote. Though they were quite delicious, you also can't go wrong with their classic buttermilk cakes. Their signature buttermilk pancakes are fluffy, light, and just perfectly sweet. 

Anna, one of my "little sisters," tried the "Penelope omelet" with spinach, tomatoes, feta, and onions. From the few remains left on her plate, I could tell she really enjoyed itshe even said it was the best omelet she's ever had!  

Anna enjoying her spinach, feta, tomato omelet! 
Thanks to my other "little sis" Emme for taking most of these pictures! We've got a budding photographer on our hands! (she's only 8 years old!)

Emme and I 
 If you're looking for a great breakfast spot in the Chicago suburbs, Buttermilk is a definite place to check out! You can't beat the great food, darling decor, and prime location right near the Fox River downtown Geneva! 

Enjoy, 

Southern Peach Crisp

Greetings from the South! Mary and I have been away from the blog for a while since we are spending the week in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where our family visits every year. Relaxing on the beach with family, biking through the trails lined with sprawling live oak trees, and of course enjoying a taste of southern flavors what could be better!

You can't visit the south in the summer without sampling some of the juicy peaches that reach their peak ripeness in the summer months. Farmers markets, grocery stores, and local fruit vendors are overflowing with cartons of these sunset colored fruits. Each year we stop at our favorite fruit stand on the way into the island from the Savannah airport. We make sure to pick up a basket (or two!) of the juiciest peaches we can find. 


If you've been following our blog, you may know we love incorporating seasonal ingredients in our savory dishes and desserts. Of course, this means a lot of fruit pies, galettes, and crisps featuring our favorite summer fruits and berries! While we have experimented with some new fruit desserts this summer (like our delicious raspberry buckle a few posts back!) for this post we decided to make a classic peach crisp. We made sure to pack some staple ingredients (sugars, flours, etc.) in our suitcases so we had the perfect amount for our peach dessert. 


This recipe uses very simple, on-hand ingredients and couldn't be easier to whip up for a family gathering, or just because! While the juicy peaches are really the star of the show, the buttery oat crumble makes for the perfect topping– some of our dinner guests remarked how they could eat the topping by itself! 


We are really looking forward to spending the week soaking up the sun and enjoying time with family before we head back to school in a few short weeks! Stay tuned for restaurant reviews of some of our favorite island eats! 

Peach Crisp:  
(Recipe adapted from Anne Burrell Food Network)

For the filling:
  • 5 large, ripe peaches, cut into chunks
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup tightly packed brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • pinch of salt
For the crisp topping:
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/4 sticks cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional, I did not have on hand but would have been a nice touch!)
  • 1-2 Tbsp. cold water
Cooking Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Toss the peaches in a large bowl with the zest and lemon juice. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Pour the filling into a buttered 9x13" pan.
  3. Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor except the water. Pulse until combined, this will take about 30 seconds. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time until mixture is clumpy but crumbly.
  4. Sprinkle the topping over the peaches. Be sure to loosely sprinkle the topping and not pack it down. The idea is to look very crumbly.
  5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the filling is hot and bubbly and the topping, golden brown and crispy.