Banana Boat Cupcakes.
Good. I’ll start.
How about the fact that my major in college was information technology yet I can’t even install a plugin on this blog? True story.
Or that I keep praying to little baby Jesus that my husband’s snoring… “situation”… will somehow change without me holding his breathe right strip-covered nose and placing my hand on top of his mouth every single night?
Oh! Like how I made us healthy “salads” last night for dinner following a pulled pork + cornbread fest on Sunday night, then used an entire log of goat cheese, candied pecans, really thick bacon, brown sugar chicken and crispy shallots? Funny haha.
Maybe, like… and I shouldn’t even tell you, but 10 days after returning home from a trip how my ziplock bagged toiletries are still sitting on the steps – the steps which I climb no less than 10 times a day – and I just drop whatever I’m doing with one contact in my eye or a face full of soap to run and get what I need?
And finally… the fact that I have seriously convinced myself that these cupcakes are the perfect snack – and even a somewhat healthy snack to boot – since they are made with pretzels and fruit and peanut butter? Like, tons of protein here.
I wish you could live inside my mind. I have leeetle feeling I could justify those $250 jeans you want to buy or the brownies you want to eat for dinner. We could have a lot of fun together.
Last week I briefly mentioned that my mom used to make us “banana boats” when we were kids: a slice of bread smeared with peanut butter, a banana placed on top, the sides of the bread folded up like a sandwich and the entire thing skewered together with salty pretzel sticks. So good. So comforting.
Seriously.
And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. I am a huge believer that most fruit + nut butter combinations solve all problems. Need energy? Apple and peanut butter to the rescue. Want a midnight snack? Strawberries dipped in melted chocolate macaroon almond butter. Need something filling yet light? Figs and pecan butter.
Just.do.it people.
So these cupcakes? They aren’t super sweet or super chocolaty. In fact… I’m sort of deciding right this minute that they are a banana muffin with a pretzel crust and a dollop of sugar on top. You could totally swap the dollop of sugar for some melted peanut butter and then they really ARE a snack. A real snack. You know, as opposed to a… fake snack.
Either way… you should eat some.
Pretzel Bottomed Banana Bread Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
makes 12-14 cupcakes
pretzel crust
1 1/4 cups crushed salted pretzels
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Combine crushed pretzels and butter in a bowl and stir until entire mixture is moistened. Line a muffin tin with lines and using a tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop pretzels into the bottom of each liner. Use the back of the spoon to flatten and press the pretzels together.
cake
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 large egg
3/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside. In a bowl, whisk egg and add brown sugar, mixing until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Add melted butter and mix. Stir in dry ingredients, then add mashed bananas and mix until batter comes together. Using a 1/4 cup measure, scoop batter on top of each pretzel crust.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown on the top and set. Let cool completely.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons milk, if needed
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and peanut butter until creamy. Add in vanilla extract then gradually add in sugar and cocoa with the mixer on low speed until entirely combined and smooth. If frosting it a bit too thick, add in milk 1 teaspoon at a time until it becomes a bit creamier. Frost cupcakes, then top with crushed pretzels if desired.
Your turn!
137 Comments on “Banana Boat Cupcakes.”
I’ve worked in Information Technology jobs for 3 years now and plugins thoroughly confuse me.
My husband had surgery to have his sinus passages scraped. painful & disgusting… yes. But it was well worth the sleep for both of us!!
I LOVE the way you apply the frosting! Gets me every time!!
complete joke: my brother and i watched 6 season of it’s always sunny in philadelphia in four days.
complete joke: said brother and i haven’t moved off the couch for a week and a half
complete joke: same brother and i watched seven movies in two days
complete joke: my spring break.
I could eat that frosting with a spoon.
Love these!!
Me too!! So creative!
I totally admire (and support) your idea of “healthy” and “salad”. And this cupcake.. I wish I had bitten the one in the last photo :D
I love sweet and salty- did you post this recipe just for me? LOL! These look faintsatc and so much fun for kids to eat with the cute colors and pretzels sticking out. Awesome
Cupcakes always qualify as a snack, my dear. Or breakfast. Whataver.
And when Meeker snores, I just kick him as hard as I can and he rolls over and stops. It’s effective and he never remembers it the next morning.
the crushed pretzels at the bottom of the cupcake. genius. and the frosting on top of your cupcakes always looks so pretty!
These sound so delicious, I love the addition of pretzels, yum!
I was a financial analyst and now an avid photographer and blogger — go figure.
Can I face-plant into those delicious cupcakes? Like for reals?
Salty and sweet desserts are my favorite!
Aw, I love how you turned a favorite childhood snack into a delicious little dessert!
That is so crazy that you posted these today! I made some banana cupcakes with a chocolate peanut butter frosting last week for my boyfriend’s birthday (that are insanely good) that I plan on sharing this week! Kr-azy!
What a great mom you had making that snack for you, no wonder you wanted to turn it into an amazing treat.
1) i took a trip in february and my suitcase is STILL sitting half unpacked in our bedroom. drives my fiance batty!
2) post that “healthy” salad recipe! it sounds divine!!
Wow – these look so good!
These look yummy! So glad to hear I’m not the only one who struggles with plugins. :(
Gosh I could dive right into one of these!! It has everything I love.
If it makes you feel better, I got back from a trip on February 20 (yes, FEBRUARY) and still have not fully unpacked my toiletry bag from that trip. It just sits at the top of the stairs, and I pull things from it as needed. And really, what’s left in there will probably sit until my next trip (in July) because the rest of it are small travel-size things that I don’t use when I’m home. If you ever feel bad about yourself, e-mail me and I will top you with my ridiculousness.
I hate unpacking too. I used to unpack right away to get it over with and over the last few years, I’ve been so lazy about it. I blame my husband.
These cupcakes/healthy snack muffins are pretty tubular!! I’ll definitely take mine with a huge dollop of that frosting on top.
I’d have to say the pretzel crust is genious!!!! Great recipe!
Is that an ice cream scoop of frosting on top of these lovely looking treats?
Ha ha I’m the same with my room! Love these x
I’m right there with you in the fruit and nut realm. Banana and peanut butter is my go-to snack and the apple/almond butter combo is a close second. Your banana boats look over-the-top wonderful. The bottom looks great and I like the textural differences you have in there. :)
i. want. that. frosting.
Now you have me craving bananas with peanut butter and pretzels!
That mound of frosting makes these look ah.mazing! This combo is perfect.
Omg, I’m gonna have to break out my bigger jeans. These are the ultimate woman food-sweet and salty in a cupcake! I die…
Wow. Just wow!
I make “banana boats” for my kids…. but it’s not as fun as your moms. I cut a wedge out of the top and fill it with PB. The boys have at least 1 a day.
Nut butters + fruit do solve all problems.
I intend to make these and live in the same fantasy world you do… Thank you for sharing..
I bet they will be fantastic…
Your photos are wonderful.!!!!
I did it.. I made them and they are so yummy. I did use whole wheat flour. You know so they are GUILT FREE.. They are still yummy!!
Thanks…..
I sort of want to marry one of your frosting globs. I love those things so much.
Also, I think these might be my new favorite cupcakes everrrr.
Your cupcakes look amazing and how cute is your Mom’s idea for banana boats?? Perfect kid food.
Wow! Look at that icing!! Pretzel crust – must try. These cupcakes look wonderful :) Need to get bananas. They go *poof* as soon as I buy them. I bought 10 two days ago!!
I’m pretty sure these cupcakes are the perfect combination of sweet and savory! Perhaps I’ll see if my baker bff can make them for me. :)
OMG, that looks so good. Must make right away :)
ok….i can’t touch raw meat. i MUST have huge boxes of latex gloves in my house at all times or we won’t eat meat. it skeeves me out. makes my skin crawl. makes me gag…really. and i become crazy OCD and will wash my hands 1000 times if i happen to run out of gloves. i’ve been known to put baggies over my hands if i run out. i don’t have issues (clearly)….nope not me. and i want a bowl of that frosting. and a spoon. plz.
OMG! Me too!!! I don’t eat most meat – only chicken – but I feel the same way. It totally skeeves me. So slimey and gross………I always put my hands in bags. The gloves are a great solution (why have I never considered them before?? since bags over the hands are so practical I guess??). =)
Those cupcakes look A-MA-ZING!
I just want to say that I love you, your blog makes me laugh out loud.
These look awesome! Serious comfort food for sure. :-)
OH this looks SOOOOOOO good!!
I love that the frosting height competes with the height of the cake. I like your style.
Amazing recipe! I just made these, and they came out perfectly! Cannot wait to share them at work tomorrow. Thanks for all the great recipes. And your awesome photography tempts me to make them even more!
I like to think that the “stuff on the step” issue is pretty common. All four of the people in my house have to ability to not see things laying there over the multiple trips they make. These cupcakes looks beyond, BEYOND, amazing! And I’m loving the cupcake to frosting ratio on them too; I want to dive in!
Oh yes! Peanut butter, banana, and chocolate? The trifecta! Love these!
Making these this weekend! Do you think it would work well with mini-cupcakes, too?
Ugh.
I just ate two of these in a row and now I’m way over calories for the day.
I don’t know how you constantly bake/cook delicious things and maintain a healthy weight!
Anways, thanks again for sharing this it really is delicious and my family seems to love them too :-)
Waiting for them to cool before icing was probably the hardest part of my day!
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I just made a batch of these for an pre-Easter brunch! Luckily I had to taste one to make sure they were okay to bring. So delicious!!!!
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Are you kidding me with these?? I am DYING right now because I want one so freaking bad. PMS.