I didn’t intend to post two dessert recipes in a row. Normally, I try to keep things balanced and fairly nutritious around here (especially now that I’m in full-blown wedding planning mode and realllly starting to think about how that strapless dress is going to look). But, sometimes my recipe inspiration is for things like homemade spinach wraps… and sometimes it’s for Banoffee Eton Mess.

If “Banoffee Eton Mess” is meaningless to you, let me explain. This dessert mashes up two classic British desserts – banoffee pie and eton mess. We’ve been intermittently watching The Great British Bake-Off and it has substantially increased my desire to bake all sorts of British things. And to call them “bakes,” of course. I have also begun to fantasize about living in that magical baking tent filled with pleasant people and cakes, surround by green fields and flowers.

I digress. Banoffee Pie is a sticky sweet dessert that consists of dulce de leche, bananas, whipped cream, and a shortbread crust. It’s kind of childish and simple and a very fun thing to say out loud. Banoffee. I think the name may be the primary reason that Trevor requested it as his birthday dessert, given that he doesn’t like bananas. Not to worry, I didn’t leave it that simple anyways. First, I turned the “offee” into peanut butter dulce de leche. Yum. Next, I made these as layered parfaits, adding a layer of crumbled meringue to the party. Which meant I could also call it Eton Mess – a mixture of broken-up meringues, whipped cream, and fruit. Tah dah! Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess.

The beauty of this dessert is that you can make it all homemade or store-bought, depending on how ambitious or lazy you are feeling. Unsurprisingly, I made everything except the shortbread myself. I suppose I also did not grow the bananas. But if you’re in a hurry, everything – whipped cream, meringues, dulce de leche – can be bought at the store and simply assembled. But if you are making your components, a note on the meringues: meringues are both incredibly simple and a little bit tricky. I always seem to both under-whip and under-bake them. So a note to you – as well as to future Katie – whip your egg whites until they are really stiff! And really shiny! Then bake them for at least an hour and leave that oven door closed.

If you’re not into bananas or meringue or cream or British things, then I have one favor to ask. If you do nothing else, please make a jar of peanut butter dulce de leche and eat a spoonful every night when you get home from work. This will not be good for your wedding photos but it will be good for your soul. Dulce de Leche for the Soon-to-be-Bride’s Soul, or something like that. And with that, enjoy your weekend, friends!

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Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess

A mash-up of two classic British desserts – Eton Mess and Banoffee Pie – made a little bit American with the addition of peanut butter. Layers of sticky-sweet peanut butter dulche de leche, shortbread cookies, whipped cream, banana, and meringue make a delicious dessert.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dulce de leche, store bought or homemade
• 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
• 8 oz. of shortbread cookies, crumbled
• 4 cups of whipped cream
• 3 ripe bananas
• 24 small vanilla meringues, store bought or homemade

Instructions

1. Heat the dulce de leche in a microwave for 30 seconds in a microwave-safe bowl, just to warm it up. Repeat with the peanut butter. Both the peanut butter and dulce de leche should be warm enough that they mix easily – if not, heat for a little longer. Stir together until evenly combined.
2. Take out 6 glasses – stemless wine glasses work well. Place a layer of crumbled shortbread cookie in the bottom of each one. Top with a large spoonful of whipped cream and a layer of sliced bananas. Drizzle a tablespoon of peanut butter dulce de leche on top. Gently crush a few of the meringues and sprinkle the crumbled bits over the top. Top with more cream, more dulce de leche, and another layer of crumbled shortbread. Finish with a final layer of cream, a few pieces of sliced banana, one whole meringue, and more dulce de leche. This is more of an art than a science, so layer the way you want to!

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I’m writing this to you from way up over Canada, en route to Seattle for the 2013 International Food Blogger Conference, better known as IFBC. I’m pretty excited – four days of wining and dining, schmoozing with other bloggers and food professionals, and hopefully learning a ton from the speakers and break-out sessions. Not to mention, I’ll get to explore Seattle and hang out with my baby brother, who just moved here last month. It’s gonna be good.

I’ll be tweeting and instagramming from all the events (take that as an invitation or a warning, whichever you prefer), and when I get back I’ll be sure to write a few posts to share what we learned (and ate) at the conference. In the meantime, I want to direct your attention over to Cake Journal, where I’m sharing these sinful chocolate-toffee cookies with caramel centers. They’re a riff on my favorite double-chocolate cookie, amped up with toffee bits and homemade caramel. They’ll pretty much satisfy any chocolate craving. I may be contributing more original dessert recipes to Cake Journal in the future, so keep your eyes peeled!

Oh, and if any of you will be attending IFBC, shoot me a note! I’d love to say hi. Also, I’ll have some time to explore (and eat!) on my own – any recommendations for Seattle favorites would be welcome. And if you’re not going to be in Seattle, I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Talk to you soon!

Click here for the cookie recipe.

Note: In order to received the discounted active blogger rate at IFBC, all participating bloggers were required to write three posts about their experience at the conference.

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Sunday afternoon I had a sudden urge to bake. I didn’t have anything planned, and didn’t even have a particularly strong desire to eat baked goods, I just wanted to do the actual baking. The whole whisking, stirring, creaming, folding shebang. Maybe, more than anything, I was just craving ritual. We’re starting to look for an apartment for next year and although I know that there’s no reason to be stressed out about it so early in the process, it can be hard to control that sort of thing. Actually, to tell the truth, I feel stressed out about a lot of things – finding an apartment, finishing planning our upcoming trip, blogging frequently enough, planning my birthday party, getting everything done that I need to at work this week, finding time to exercise, making sure things are going in to the garden on time, and so on. All small things on their own, many of them really fun things on their own, but all together… it feels like a lot. I’m sure everyone has their own list like this and doesn’t need to hear about mine, but it makes me feel better just to write it down. Basically, I need to take a giant chill pill and just relax.

Baking is one version of a chill pill, at least for me. So I turned to my favorite baking cookbook, In The Sweet Kitchen, by Regan Daley – that woman always has something to fit the bill, and her recipes are pretty much foolproof. For whatever reason, I wanted to make something unnecessarily sweet – something with sugary, caramelly flavors in it. As I flipped through the book, I landed on the Pecan Toffee Coffee Cake, and I was sold, even though I knew it meant that I had to run to the store just for toffee bits and sour cream and more nutmeg. (Actually, I took a chance on the tiny Indian corner store down the block and was shocked to find all three things hidden in the shelves. That man’s store is like Mary Poppins’ handbag – I have never gone in there looking for something and left without it. Even obscure things, like power strips and sink strainers.) The flavors in the filling – espresso, cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans, and chocolate-covered toffee bits – are intense and  dark and rich. By the spoonful it would be overpowering, but folded into the center of soft, gently spiced cake, it’s amazing. I’m so glad I gave this a try. Now, the only trick will be to keep myself from stress eating the entire thing.

Pecan Toffee Coffee Cake

Adapted very slightly from In The Sweet Kitchen. Serves 12 to 15.

The only two (tiny) changes I made were to double the amount of espresso powder and use salted butter but omit the salt. I also found that I could only use up about half the filling without having the layers touch each other, so I used the extra filling to sprinkle on top of the warm slices. My advice: make the filling recipe as written below, but don’t fret if it seems like you’ll have too much, and don’t try to overfill the layers.

For the filling:

• 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
• 2 TBS granulated sugar
• 2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1 1/2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 c. chopped pecans, toasted until fragrant
• 3/4 c. (half of a 225 gram package) English toffee bits such as Skor or Heath (chocolate-covered toffee bits are even better!)

For the cake:

•  3 c. flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 c. (1-1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 c. full-fat sour cream
• 3/4 c. (the other half of a 225 gram package) English toffee bits

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. To make the filling: In a food processor, pulse together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and espresso powder until finely ground. Transfer to a medium bowl and whisk in cocoa powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in chopped pecans and toffee bits. Set aside.
3. To make the cake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg until evenly combined. Set aside. In a separate large bowl, beat together softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
4. Add the flour mixture to the batter in three additions, alternating with the sour cream in two additions. Mix just to blend in between additions – don’t over-mix the batter at this stage or the cake will be tough. After the last flour addition is stirred in, gently fold in the toffee bits.
5. Spoon 1/3 of the cake batter into the bottom of the prepared pan and spread out with a spatula so it fills the pan evenly. Use a spoon to carve out a shallow “moat” all around the center – you want to leave 1/2 an inch between the edge of the moat and the side of the pan. Generously spoon the filling into the center of the moat, making sure that none of the filling touches the sides. Aim to use about half the filling, but don’t overfill the moat. Spoon another 1/3 of the cake batter on top of the filling and spread all around to cover the filling and reach to the sides. Repeat the moat/filling process to make a second layer of filling. Spoon the last 1/3 of the batter on top of the second layer and smooth with a spatula so the top is even and fills the pan to the edge. Tap the pan once or twice on the counter to remove air bubbles.
6. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 50-65 minutes, until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake part comes out clean (if you insert it into toffee, it will be hard to tell, so don’t be afraid to poke around a little bit). Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack. Wait until it is completely cool before slicing. Serve with any leftover filling sprinkled on top.

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I was thinking a lot about my girlfriends on Friday night, and how nice it is to have people out there who love you, and who tell you they love you, besides your mom and your grandma and your boyfriend. (And your dad and your brothers and your all your crazy aunts… I don’t want anyone to feel left out).  Trevor’s been away for a week and I won’t see him until the end of the next one, so I was missing him a little and remembering the feeling I had for so much of sophomore year – part loneliness, part boredom – and being so glad I’d moved past that phase, when Steph called, just to see how I was doing.  And we chatted for a little bit, and then we both had to go, and so we said our goodbyes, followed by quick “I love you”s.  And it’s really nice, hearing that, in a sincere way, from someone who is far away but still cares.  Later, I talked to Becca, and the same thing happened.  And then I was less lonely, and happier.

I also got some not-so-great news about another girlfriend on Friday night, someone who I love very much.  It’s the sort of thing where there’s not much you can do other than wait and be supportive and try your best to understand.  And let them know they’re loved.  So this weekend, I’ve been thinking about her and sending love her way.  And to all my other girlfriends, past and present.  Even though that might be the hippy-dippy-est sentence I’ve ever written, that’s what I’m doing.

Point being, go remind someone that you love them.

In other news, I’m headed to Spain for work until Wednesday.  It might be unlikely, but I’m hoping to get a few touristy hours in – any suggestions for the best thing to do in Madrid with 3 hours?  And I’m bringing a few of these cookies with me, which might just be the best cookies I’ve ever made.  Coconut, toffee, AND chocolate chips?  Yes, please!

Toffee-Coconut Crack Cookies

Recipe adapted slightly from Two Peas and Their Pod.  Makes 15 large cookies.

These might be the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten.  They’re super sweet, with a chewy-crunchy goodness from the melty toffee and toasted coconut.  The dough is a little bit dry when you put them on the pan, but they hold together really nicely, forming some of the prettiest cookies I’ve seen.  These are a must-try.

• 1 c. shredded sweetened coconut (use unsweetened if you don’t love super-sweet cookies)
• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 4 TBS (1/2 stick) salted butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c. Heath toffee bits
• 3/4 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Place coconut on a baking sheet in a single layer, and toast in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, until some pieces are golden brown.  Stir together and set aside in a bowl.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.  Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla, and beat until smooth.  Mix in dry ingredients, then mix in toasted coconut, toffee bits, and chocolate chips.  Form into disks with your hands and place on baking sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown on the edges and beginning to crack on the top.

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