Oh. My. Ganache.

It is possible that I have used this title before, but I'm not changing it. 
Years ago, years and years ago, I went to a wedding where they had food that changed my life. It was the wedding of my husband's brother and there was ganache.  I had never eaten anything with ganache, and I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but I ate it. I savored the smooth chocolatey decadence and I hoped to, one day, find it again.
((Fast forward 10 years or so.))
One of my dearest and oldest friends (old. she is so old.) requested that I make some cupcakes with a ganache filling.  All this time had passed.  I did not know if I could recreate the beauty, the art, the perfection that I had experienced all those years ago in Post, Texas. 

--aside-- the total request was as follows : banana cake filled with chocolate ganache and topped with peanut butter frosting.  I thought she was crazy, but I set out to complete the task before me.

As I lamented the sure difficulty of the ganache and toiled over how to prepare a perfect peanut butter frosting, I started to really over-think this whole thing. (shocking, I know).  "It can't be this hard," I thought.  ~and I was right. 

Here is my super-simple ganache recipe:
-what you need: sauce pan, spatula, medium sized bowl, wire whisk

1C heavy whipping cream
2C (one bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips

In your sauce pan, over medium-high heat, warm the whipping cream.  Be careful not to scorch it.  Stir it around a bit. Meanwhile, dump your chocolate chips in the bowl that you have set aside. When the cream is boiling (not a huge rolling boil, just some bubbles that tell you that its hot)  remove the sauce pan from the heat and pour the cream directly over the chocolate chips.  Stir with your whisk until all of the chips are melted and the chocolate is smooth. 

from this......to this

You can use the ganache just like this to dip fruit, cookies or spoons in. **ahem. don't burn your tongue off. Not that I would know anything about that.**  You can let it cool and pour it over a cake. You can let it cool and whip it in a mixer and make a fluffy icing. You can let it cool and fill up a pastry bag and pipe it in to some banana cupcakes and top it with peanut butter frosting, which is what I did today. ( I may also eat it with a spoon.)

Should you choose to create a fab cupcake like those mentioned above, you may want to do this as well:

Peanut Butter Frosting
-what you need a mixer (standing or hand-held)

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2C creamy peanut butter
2C powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk

Cream the butter and peanut butter together, add the powdered sugar gradually, add milk. (you may like your frosting a little creamier, this is pretty dry. Add a little more milk as desired)

I filled a pastry bag with this loveliness and piped it through a star tip. 

The banana cake, you ask?  Store bought. I trust it. It's easy. I prepare my cupcakes just as the box tells me to.

Dear April, I did think this was a crazy combo. I was wrong. I apologize.

These babies have become one of my personal favorites, and one of my most requested.  My thanks to my brother-in-law (for getting married and introducing me to gananche) and to my girl April (for coming to me for this brilliant creation of flavor combination).