We celebrated a birthday this weekend - Bodie's! If you are just joining us, Bodie is our Australian Shepherd puppy. He turned 1 this weekend. Can I technically call him a puppy anymore? Sigh. Sad day. And I had to make him a special treat for his birthday.
We adopted Bodie in January of this year after our sweet Shylowe (Blue Heeler/Border Collie mix) passed away from a brain and liver tumor. Shylowe was my dog-ter and I loved her so much. Watching her suffer and then pass was the most difficult thing I've ever gone through. And I've been through some hard things in my life. Shylowe was a rescue dog from the Humane Society in Utah - she was beaten as a puppy. So we kind of have a soft spot in our hearts for rescue dogs. So when we had the opportunity to adopt another rescue dog we jumped at the opportunity.
Bodie was just 8 weeks old when we picked him up. He, is 3 brothers, and his mom were all up for adoption through Adopt A Rescue Pet and Australian Shepherd Rescue. They were rescued from a shelter in California where they were going to be put down. We could not resist his fluffy self and his gorgeous blue eyes. He belonged to us. And one year later, he is still my baby boy and the best little brother my girls could ask for.
His favorite food is bananas. So when thinking about making him a special treat for his birthday, I knew it had to be bananas. And since we're big cupcake fans over here, the only appropriate thing to make was pupcakes. But I also wanted them to be small enough to be a yummy treat that I could reward him with on occasion. So mini cupcakes was the size, banana was the flavor, and what goes great with bananas? Peanut butter! A dog's delight. (I must confess that I tried one. They are actually pretty good! Lucky pup!)
Banana Pupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/8 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/8 cups flour
1/4+1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. peanut butter
Ingredients:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a mini-muffin pan with small cupcake liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Add bananas, yogurt, egg, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat on medium speed until dry ingredients are incorporated.
3. Spoon batter into cupcake liners until 2/3 full. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
5. Once cooled, make frosting. In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese, peanut butter, and honey. Whip on high speed until light. Pipe onto cupcakes. Keep refrigerated or place in a ziploc freezer bag and freeze until ready to use.
Makes 30 mini cupcakes