Banana Graham-a-zing

The inspiration? My Blog Day Peanut Butter Banana-Graham-a Parfait.See, when I was making that jar full of glory and grahams, I realized something I don’t know if I had forgotten…or if I never even knew: peanut butter + graham crackers = graham-azingness.So naturally, I needed to make Graham-azing Peanut Butter. Seemed easy enough (I’d practically made it when I made the original parfait). First, graham crackers.
[As peanut butter + honey is another of my favorite combinations, I went with the honey. I know some of y'all are partial to the peanut butter + cinnamon thang, so rock that if you want to.*]
*You know I will be soon…^
^Remember about 2 minutes ago when I said we’d never need to make another type of peanut butter? Ha! Did you REALLY believe me?
Take out one of the freshness-assuring packages, and stuff ‘em in your food processor. [I think it's about eight full-sized crackers.]
Pulse that until you have a graham flour of sorts.
If you end up with a few big chunks, either break them with your hands, or just eat them. It’s probably about time for a snack break anyway. At this point, I had totally planned on adding about 2 cups of peanuts and letting the whole thing smoke and hiss and rock and roll until I had something resembling peanut butter. But then I remembered I had not one, but TWO free jars of peanut butter in the pantry, and while I’m totally diggin’ the Once Again peanut butter (and the Dancing Queen, in case you were wondering), since I bought it on its sell-by date, I figured there was no need to be holding on to it forever.*
*Also, I would still have one unopened, in addition to all the other nut butter I’ve got stocked up in the pantry. If the world ends, and me and my pantry survive. Well, at least we’ll be chock full of monounsaturated fat.
So I scooped out a cup of peanut butter.
And then I just went ahead and emptied the whole jar. [I'd already eaten some of it...so it ended up being about 1 1/2 cups or so.]
Oh yes, please. I would like some of that.
Then, the fun REALLY began…

Churnin’ churnin’ churnin’, get that butter churnin’…

It didn’t take too long for it to start to mix ‘n mingle and get creamy.
It was really thick, though.
So I kept letting the processor run for about 45 seconds at a time until it started to smooth out and get a bit more incorporated and oily.
I mean, we have to be somewhat logical here, as we are just adding a flour of sorts to a very sticky substance. It’s basically like adding a thickener to something already quite thick. [Hence, I would NOT recommend using a superthick peanut butter to begin with.]
But eventually, you’ll have something smooth…
…and creamy.

Oh, and did I mention it’s THE BEST PEANUT BUTTER IN THE WORLD?
Seriously, this spoon? I’m not lying when I say it went directly into my mouth.Amid my sighs of delight and squeals of joy, my roommates interjected to ask what I was eating.Kelsey: What is that?
Me: The best peanut butter ever created!!!! OK, maybe not ever. But…well, maybe.
Kelsey: What kind is it?
Me: Graham Cracker Peanut Butter. It’s graham-azing.
Kelsey: Yeah. That probably is the best peanut butter ever made.

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1 sleeve of honey graham crackers (about 8 full sheets)
1 1/2 to 2 cups creamy peanut butter

1. Put graham crackers into food processor bowl. Pulse until crumbled into a cornmeal-like consistency.
2. Add peanut butter.
3. Process until smooth, or the consistency you desire. [Remember, it will be pretty darn thick!]

See, the thing about the parfait was….not only did it have delicious graham and peanut butter action happening…there was also a whole lot of Bananarama in there. [Perhaps singing "Venus"?] So that got me thinking….perhaps I should just go ahead and mix some banana with the Graham-azing Peanut Butter and see what results?

Out of the freezer came two bananas……and into the food processor they went (after thawing).In went some tablespoons of peanut butter.Very generous tablespoons.In the end I used about 8 tablespoons, but I really wanted a more pronounced peanut butter graham flavor.And apparently a claw-footed animal got into the goodness before I could?You can make it more banana-rific if you’d like. It will be lighter in color. [The one I ended up with is much darker. Silly camera. ]After clearing the processor, I went ahead and scoured the freezer for any more bananas who might be hiding, because it really was the best nut butter I’ve ever made. (Well, since I made the one you just read about.) So I made more, using up the rest of the Graham-azing Peanut Butter to do so.

It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

I may not be your Venus. And I may not be your fire.
But I can sure as heck promise you.This Banana Graham-a Peanut Butter is most definitely your desire.*
*Please tell me you got that “Venus” allusion. I mean, if you don’t remember the original song, at least you’ve heard the razor commercial, right?

2 medium ripe bananas
4-8 Tbsp. Graham-azing Peanut Butter [depends on how ripe your bananas are and how much you want the flavors to balance]

1. Combine ingredients in a food processor.
2. Process until smooth.
3. Store in the fridge…or freeze–if you’ve used enough bananas–and eat like fro yo? Maybe?