They Go Together Like... [fill in the blank]

Peanut butter, banana, chocolate & coffee. Four regular residents in my kitchen. Sometimes they like to be on their own, but they always love getting together when they can and seem to truly enjoy each other's company. They're good friends. They bring out the best in each other by being supportive, encouraging, and complimentary. With so many different and delicious ways to combine them, where does one start?

Start here... How To Make Homemade Peanut Butter (Joy The Baker) and make your own peanut butter from honey roasted peanuts... that's right, honey roasted peanut butter. Pure genius. How could I not try it? The honey roasted peanuts were cheaper than the plain ones after all, and I'm all about saving money. It is, incidentally, by the way, and in fact, fantastically tasty. Is making peanut butter from scratch cost effective? Not sure. Math was not one of my strongest subjects, especially when trying to compare weights and volumes, but if you can find peanuts that are at a really good price... go for it. At least you'll know what is and (maybe more importantly) what isn't in your peanut butter. O.k.? Now, go work through the following two lists of recipes...

Blended, Fizzed & Spiked:

• A basic Banana-Peanut Butter Smoothie at Serious Eats
• Combine peanut butter and coffee into these 3 Blended Drinks also from Serious Eats.*
• Frozen Banana-Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Milkshake is healthy enough for breakfast and decadent enough for dessert.
• Mix things up with a Coffee Smoothie Every Which Way from Joy The Baker
• Too chilly out for a smoothie? Raid the liquor cabinet and make this "very special" concoction... VS Mocha Café from TheKitchn

Swirled, Tarted & Baked:

• A basic Banana Bread from Skinny LaMinx that looks to be just as tasty as it is easy to make (from the DesignSponge "In The Kitchen With" series).
• Banana Tarte Tatin from Jamie Oliver that just looks delish
• This Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart from Martha Stewart (MSL Feb. 2001) is like a peanut butter cup gone up-town.**
• Banana Bourbon Bread Pudding from Joy The Baker.  
• A yummy twist on an an old favorite... Banana Cinnamon Bread at Serious Eats
• Pretty much all the peanut butter and chocolate recipes you could ever desire all in one place... the delightful Joy The Baker

* The list of ingredients is all run together, but it's pretty easy to figure out. worth a try anyway!

** I actually made this Chocolate Peanut butter Tart about 7 years ago. I even bought the cool skinny rectangular tart pan especially. The tart was delicious, but I lost the bottom part of the cool skinny pan during a move. Haven't been able to justify buying another one. But I will... one day.