Gorilla Bread!

I really like Paula Deen.

She's funny, she's loud, she's southern, she's NOT a little petite thing taking an ant-sized bite of cake and saying "Oooh....Yummy!", and she's intensely passionate about whatever she does. Five good reasons to like her as far as I'm concerned. You see, it all started while I was at the gym. For some strange reason, the T.V's in front of the elliptical machines are always tuned to the Food Network. Sometimes it seems like Paula's show comes on at about 5 different times a day because it is on the T.V. almost every time I'm there! So for the hour I spend on the elliptical, I can watch Paula create the most mouthwatering recipes you have ever seen. Y'all.

Is this a conspiracy or what? Shouldn't the T.V. be tuned to the Fitness Channel?

In case you have been living on Mars and haven't heard her name before, Paula Deen is not about low calorie foods, bless her heart. Butter, whole milk, cheese, chocolate, sugar, Crisco, salt....you name it and she does it. At first I scoffed at her recipes. "Too fattening", I said as I blithely chomped on my high-fructose "low calorie" Fiber One bar (which I have nicknamed "Kaboom Bars" by the way....have you noticed the fiber content in just one of those babies? Wow. Back up). But the more I watched her, the more I was sucked in. She's good. She's very, very good. I know I'm in over my head because I just set my DVR to tape her shows. I also just bought her magazine last night and have already ear-marked several pages.........which brings me to my recipe today. Chocolate Banana Gorilla Bread. Dang, Paula.

This recipe is so easy a monkey could do it. Really.

You will need the following:

A Bundt pan, sprayed with Pam or something similiar
Two 12 ounce tubes of Crescent Rolls
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or pre-mixed cinnamon sugar)
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 bananas, sliced 1/4 inch thick
*peanut butter or chips
*2/3 cup white chocolate chips

Spray the bundt pan. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the stick of butter in a pan with the brown sugar and heat on low, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick or burn.

Open both tubes of the crescent rolls, carefully break them apart and lay them out. Brush each triangle with a little sweetened condensed milk.

Slice each banana about 1/4 inch thick

Place two slices of banana and about a teaspoon of the chocolate chips onto each triangle, and take a deep breath. Now here's where I strayed off the trail (I'm always doing that). As I was sprinkling the chocolate chips onto the triangle, one of my kitchen cabinet doors above me flew open and a bag of white chocolate chips and a jar of peanut butter magically fell out onto the counter. Can you believe it?? I thought it was divine intervention....an Easter miracle.................. so I quickly added them to my recipe. :)

Sprinkle half of the nuts into the bottom of the pan, roll the triangles into little packets and place eight of them in the pan on top of the nuts.

Sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture (I used the cinnamon sugar already mixed from Domino).

Pour half of the brown sugar and butter mixture on top of the packets then repeat the same process with the remaining eight packets.

I finished off the top with the remaining brown sugar and butter, the nuts and then I threw on another two or three or four tablespoons of chocolate chips for good measure. Why? Because I was always taught that it's a sin to waste chocolate, that's why. :) Okay, now pop the whole thing into the oven for 60 minutes.

Now, just a couple of suggestions......although the recipe calls for a Bundt pan, I don't know if I would use it again. The brown sugar/butter mixture leaked out of the bottom and found its way to the bottom of my oven where it smoked for the remainder of the baking time. The smell attracted every dog in the neighborhood. Also, once it was done, "The Gorilla" was really difficult to remove from the pan. I've used just a glass pie plate and also a nine-inch springform pan with much better results. I would still put a cookie sheet or a piece of foil in your oven below the pan though....just in case. Melted brown sugar is a @*&# to clean up. In fact, it's easier to just replace the stove.

This fabulous "Gorilla" is at it's best when it is served warm, but unless you and your guests are seated around the oven waiting, I would wrap the whole thing in tinfoil and re-heat it a little before it's served. The sections will just "pull apart" easily. It's great with a little dollop of Cool Whip and a drizzle of melted chocolate too!

My sister just asked me, "When are you supposed to serve this "Gorilla" anyway???" Is it for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert, Snack.......WHAT????? Who knows. Who cares. All I know is it positively melts in your mouth. Of course with my executive decision to add peanut butter and white chocolate chips, in my opinion it made the entire "Gorilla" "simplysweeter". Get it? (insert rolling of the eyes here)

This bread is so dang good it will make you beat on your chest and swing from a tree. But trust me, this special treat is not for wimps or chimps. If you eat too much of this "Gorilla", you will turn into a "chunky monkey" so consider yourself warned. So do what I do to burn off the calories.......take a piece of "Gorilla", lace up your sneakers and go for a run. A long one. Like.... come back in a couple of days. But please, don't fool yourself into believing they'll be anything left but the crumbs upon your return. Because when it comes to this "Gorilla".......

... it's a jungle out there.