Peanut Buttery Brownie Torte

This is by no means a healthy dessert, but I’m taking the opportunity to add a little bit of goodness to it anyway (with the addition of banana and ground flaxseed).  The banana enables less oil to be used, keeps the brownie moist, and provides just a hint of banana.

You may notice from the recipe that I don’t use a lot of sugar in the frosting as I’m not a fan of super sweet frosting.  Add more sugar to suit your own taste. 

Peanut Buttery Brownie Torte

1 (18.3 oz) package brownie mix

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup oil

1 medium banana, thoroughly mashed (about 1/3 cup)

2 tbsp. ground flaxseed

4 oz. cream cheese (low fat or regular), room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

8 peanut butter cup candies (miniature size), chopped

Additional oil for prepping cake pans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Oil bottom and sides of three 6-inch cake pans.  Line bottom of pans with parchment paper.  Brush top of parchment with additional oil.

Combine brownie mix, water, oil, eggs, banana, and flaxseed.  Whisk until well blended, about 50 strokes.  Divide batter equally into the three cake pans.  Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.  Allow to cool.

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and peanut butter until smooth and creamy.  Remove brownies from pans and peel off parchment paper.  Stack cake layers, spreading frosting and sprinkling peanut butter cups on top of each layer.

Mini Pork Aracini, Asian Style

Aracini is an Italian fried rice ball often stuffed with cheese, with or without meat.  I have put my own little twist and created an Asian version, filled with pork meatballs and no cheese.   To keep it on the lighter side, they are baked, not fried.  

Aborio rice is commonly used to make aracini, but I find that regular white grain rice works well.  All it needs is a little bit of manipulation to bring out the starch to help with binding.  My technique is revealed in below.

I decided to make mini aracini mainly because it is easier for little children to handle and eat.  I have made 2" - 2.5" inch wide ones in the past that turned out really nice.  Just a word of caution, since there is no cheese to bind the rice layer, it might have a tendency to break apart when bitten into if the layer is too thick.  Don't go too thick on the rice.

We enjoy the aracinis as is, but if you must have sauce, a tasty ginger dipping sauce recipe is included below.   Since the ginger sauce might be a little on the exotic side for a lot of children, the sweeter duck sauce is a good alternative.  The little ones I feed prefer the aracini without  sauce.

Mini Pork Aracini, Asian Style

8 oz. ground pork

1/3 cup minced button mushrooms

1 tbsp. flaxseed meal

1/4 cup chopped scallion

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. minced ginger

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. salt 

2 tsp. soy sauce

1 cup uncooked rice

2 cups water

2 eggs

1cup panko crumbs

Boil water in a heavy bottom small saucepan.  Add rice and lower heat to medium low.  Give rice a stir for about 10 seconds.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and allow rice to sit for 5 minutes.  To bring out the starchiness, use a rubber spatula to stir rice and gently press  as you stir until it becomes sticky, should take about 1 minute.  Spread on a cookie sheet to cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Add panko crumbs and bake for 3-4 minutes until panko turns light brown.   Remove from oven and stir crumbs around using a spatula.  Set aside.

For the pork filling, place first nine ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add one egg, slightly beaten.  Thoroughly combine all ingredients. 

Slightly beat the second egg and add to cooled rice.  Thoroughly blend.  Scoop about a rounded tablespoon of rice into your palm and form a ball.  Hollow out the ball using a finger to create a well.  To prevent sticking, wet hands with water before handling rice.  Fill well with about 1 teaspoon of the pork filling.  Pack the rice around the pork filling.  Set aside.  Repeat steps for the remainder rice balls.

Roll each aracini in panko crumbs.  Place on a greased cookie sheet.  Coat aracinis with a generous layer of cooking spray.  Bake in a preheated 375 degrees oven for 25 minutes or until pork is  no longer pink when cut into. Makes about 24, approx. 1.5” to 1.75” arancinis.

Ginger Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

2 tsp. grated ginger

1 tsp. sesame oil

2 tbsp. finely chopped scallion, greens only

1 tbsp. super fine sugar

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and stir well until sugar is well incorporated.  Allow to rest 15 – 20 minutes before serving.