Elvis Phyllo Cups

This recipe is really delicious and SO easy to make.  My brother found it in the newspaper a few Sundays ago and called me up to tell me about it.  He was SUPER excited that I immediately knew where he was going with this:

Me: do you want to make it together?
Josh: yes that would be so awesome!
Me: ok, I'll get the few things that we need, check your work schedule and let me know when you can come over.

You wanna know what I had to purchase?  A banana and some phyllo cups.  Oh, and I bought more peanut butter, mostly because I wasn't sure how much we had left and it was on sale when I was at the store. That's it.

At the store, I couldn't find the pre-made phyllo cups, but I was able to find phyllo dough which ended up being a better deal for me.  For probably the same price as what the cups would have cost, I was able to make them myself and now I have a ton of phyllo dough sheets left over.  I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but that's another story.  Actually, I'd love to try making baklava, but I think I'm the only person I know who eats it, so that's probably out.

I googled the crap out of it, but making the cups was super easy!  You have to work quickly but carefully to make sure the dough doesn't rip or get dried out, but it's pretty much impossible to ruin them.

As for preparing the "Elvis" part of these?  It was easy.  Easier for me, because I had Josh do it while I supervised.  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but we've been giving him cooking lessons so that when he doesn't have to survive on pizza delivery and McDonalds... or that if he does, it's by his own choice, not because he doesn't know what to do in the kitchen.  We've taught him fairly basic things so far: mashed potatoes, chop suey, shepherd's pie, cheeseburgers, pork chops, kielbasa.  He and I haven't gotten to do much baking, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to help him read a recipe and put it all together.  I did make the cups ahead of time, but that's because I was planning on it being a lot more complicated than it really was.

The banana makes the cups soggy if they hang out for too long, so put them together right before you plan to serve.

For real, though, these little cups have everything you'd want in one little bite-sized dessert: crunchy, salty, sweet.  No wonder Elvis loved this combination!

Elvis Phyllo Cups

15 phyllo cups, pre-baked and cooled*

1/3 c. peanut butter
2 Tbsp. confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 banana, sliced
3 slices of bacon, cooked and cooled

*I was unable to find frozen phyllo cups at the grocery store, but I was able to find sheets of phyllo dough.

To make the cups:
4-5 sheets of phyllo dough
2 Tbsp melted butter
sugar

Lightly grease a muffin tin and set aside.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cover your work surface with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Lay down one sheet of phyllo dough.  Lightly brush the sheet with a little bit of the melted butter.  Dust a little bit of sugar on top of the melted butter.  Top with a second sheet of phyllo dough.

Repeat until you have a stack of 4 or 5 sheets of phyllo dough.  Using a sharp knife (I used a paring knife), cut the sheets into squares that are slightly bigger than the muffin cavities.  Press each little stack of phyllo dough into the muffin tins.

Bake for 5-7 minutes, until lightly browned.  Babysit them, as they will cook quickly.

Remove from oven and let cool.

In a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter, sugar and vanilla.

Place 1 slice of banana into the bottom of each phyllo cup. Top the banana slice with 2 tsp. of the PB mixture and garnish with a chunk of bacon.

Serve immediately.