Day 2 … Chocolate Banana Petit Four

My friend and I were talking about The Swiss Colony the other day. I wasn’t aware they were still around but she’d just received a catalog in the mail and we were discussing the nostalgia of the catalog, the items we’d pine over and never receive. I confessed that as a kid I used to go to their store in the mall and eat all their cheese and sausage samples. All of them. It’s where I discovered my love of hot pepper cheese and summer sausage and there was no turning back. But at Christmastime, there were two things in that catalog I obsessed over: The Towers of Treats and the petit fours. First off, of course I obsessed over a tower of boxes taller than me filled with delectable treats. Who wouldn’t? But those sweetly decorated little cake squares had my heart. I dreamt of elegant ladies at fancy tea parties delicately sipping from porcelain teacups and nibbling at teeny sweets. Deep down, I knew they were terrible; overly sweet and dry but damn I wanted them anyway.

So today for Day 2 of the 12 Days of Cookies, I’ve taken inspiration from those petit fours. And yes, this was a rather different cookie last week when I shot the whole collection but after my Swiss Colony discussion I had some ideas and baked a new batch this morning. With cookie dough in the fridge you can do these sort of last minute things. To the base dough, I’ve added a few bananas, some chocolate chips and a simple icing once they’d cooled. You can certainly leave them plainly iced or you can go fancy schmancy and dig out the special sprinkles or whip up a batch of royal icing and really decorate those little things. Then you can have that fancy tea party. Because when not do something fancy schmancy if not the holidays?

36 One Dough/Many Cookies from years past:

Fruity: Jam Thumbprints, Jam Streusel Tarts, Raspberry Linzer Squares, Lemon Poppyseed Buttons, Orange Sesame Crisps, Cranberry Pistachio Coins, Almond Raspberry Strips, Orange Sandwich Cookies, Apricot Rosemary Shortbread, Coconut Lime Sticks, Bourbon Glazed Fruitcake Buttons, Lemon Cornmeal Biscotti, Blueberry Lime Buttons, Date Swirls

Nutty: Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Pecan Tassies, Maple Black Walnut Cookies, PB&J Sandwich Cookies, Pecan Triangles, 

Spiced: Cinnamon Sugar Pinwheels, Candied Ginger Spice Buttons, Cardamom Rose Coins, Brown Sugar Wafers with Lemon Lavender Glaze

Chocolate: Mexican Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Cocoa Nib Wafers, Raspberry Chocolate Drops, Chocolate Hazelnut Buttons, Dark Mocha Sandwich Cookies, Espresso Crinkles, 

Bars: Rum Butter Bars, Peppermint Brownie Bars, Banana Walnut Bars

Holiday Classics: Cream Cheese Wreaths, Classic Molasses Cookies, Peppermint Candy Canes

2020 12 Days of Cookies line up to date:

Basic Chocolate Butter Cookie Dough

Day 1: Cranberry Cocoa Nib Wafers

DAY 2: CHOCOLATE BANANA PETIT FOUR

Start with the base chocolate dough – recipe here. For this one I used a natural cocoa powder but I think I’d prefer a dutched for the darker color.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line the desired pan with a criss-cross of aluminum foil or parchment paper. Spray lightly with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a standing mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, combine room temperature cookie dough, mashed banana, brown sugar and baking soda and mix on medium until well blended.
3. Add the chocolate chips and mix until just blended (at this point the dough can be frozen, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 months. Let come to room temperature before proceeding.)
4. Spread dough evenly into the prepared pan.
5. Bake 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with no wet batter.  It’s better to slightly underbake than to overbake.
6. Cool completely on a wire rack. 
7. For the chocolate icing: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the melted butter and cocoa powder on medium speed for 30 seconds just to combine. 
8. Add half the powdered sugar and half the milk and mix for 1 minute. 
9. Add the remaining powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract and mix for another minute or two until smooth. 
10. Use immediately or cover until ready to use.
11. When the bars have cooled, smooth the icing over the top. If you like, decorate with sprinkles while the icing is still wet or leave plain. Or leave at room temperature to set (the icing will crust over nicely) or refrigerate for 30 minutes.
12. Cut the bars into neat little squares. If you like, decorate the squares with royal icing.
13. For the royal icing: In a standing mixer or with a hand mixer, whip together the sugar, egg white and lemon juice until thick and creamy. This is a small quantity and a bit of a pain but stick with it and scrape the bowl regularly. It’ll get there. Color small amounts and use paper cornets for piping. 

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