Chocolate Banana Pie with Burnt Chockolate Chip Cookie Crust

I have been on a roll today. (Written a few weeks ago ) Like I said in my last blog, I dirtied as many dishes tonight as I washed when I got home...again, here is proof. Again, ugh to the dishes. Sadly, these don't even include the ones I dirtied making this dessert. For some reason I have been on a blogging mission the last 24 hours and I am on cloud 9 right now. I actually had to sit down now with a beer in hopes of calming down a bit from the cooking high, lol. No kidding.



Let's face it. We have all burnt a batch of cookies at least once. Whether you forgot to set the timer or just flat out got busy and didn't hear it, it has happened to us all. Well, the other day one of my sister's friends was making cookies for my Mom to take to a meeting and she accidentally burnt a batch and I mean they were hard as a rock, or so I hear. My mother, being the creative and resourceful one, did not want to throw a double hard as a rock cookies away so she improvised and used them in another way that was equally delicious.

So, I set off on a mission tonight to purposefully crispy-critter my chocolate chip cookies. I mean that. I put them in the oven and went and took a shower, read some recipes, and did some other stuff until I knew that they were going to be hard as a rock, lol. I really wanted to try her idea of using them as a pie crust. I didn't even make cookies the normal way since we were just given a batch of chocolate chip cookies last week by a friend...which Adam gobbled up like the cookie monster. When my mom did this she just make the crust and put chocolate pudding inside. It was a huge hit at a gathering she went to and she came back without a piece Monday. I tweaked it a little by adding bananas because I know that Adam like the combination. :) He got home right as I was putting the crust together and he grabbed pieces of it and ate it all burnt and crushed...like I said...COOKIE MONSTER!. So here you go.

Obviously Burnt :)

*Burn (either intentionally or by accident, each are equally full of love) about 12 chocolate chip cookies

*Let cookies cool and then crunch up into pieces with a rolling pin

*Add about 2 tablespoons of melted butter and mix together.

*Flatten into a pie pan and up the walls to make a crust.

*Line crust with banana slices (or don't like my Mom)

*Cover and refrigerate until pudding has set up.

*Slice and serve with cool whip (or without)

Sadly I don't have an image of a slice, trust me it was yummy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe on popularcookierecipes.com. I just made them tonight and they are really nice and moist! Not much else to say with this post, simple and good.

Ingredients:
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs,beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:
Mix sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and softened butter. Add in baking soda, salt, and flour, mix well. Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool completely and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

My friend Rachel gave me this recipe and told me that they were to die for, healthy muffins. She was right! They have a very good flavor to them and were super yummy! I made them last week right after she e-mailed me the recipe and I will definitely be making them again, once this batch has been gone for a while. I usually end up sharing stuff like this with my lab-mates because it's a lot for one person!

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

4 very ripe bananas
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar splenda (or 1 c. reg. sugar)
4 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2 handfuls of Dark chocolate chips (Ghirardelli are the best)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º. Smash bananas to a pulp. In a small dish whisk egg. Add all ingredients together, except for the chocolate. Mix together with a big spoon. Add chocolate, and mix. Place in muffin tins (makes around 16) Cook for about 20 min. Be careful not to overcook them. They are a little hard to tell when done due to the bananas and chocolate chips. Cook and enjoy!