Tag: peanut butter

Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

I subscribe to several food blogs, so every morning my inbox is full of new posts containing tons of recipes.  Some I delete automatically, like if I see the word “mushroom” in the title, and others I just know that I want to try immediately.  The following recipe was one of those “try immediately” ones, and I was glad I had an excuse to make it for our Bible Study instead of Steve and me having to eat them all.  After I read through the blog post containing this recipe, which you can find over at How Sweet It Is, I immediately texted our small group leader to request that I be the one to make dessert this week.

These chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter cups are SUPER rich, so make sure you have a glass of milk nearby while eating them.

Here’s what you’ll need:  (makes 24, but I doubled the recipe to make 48)

  • 2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Melt butter in a small sauce pan.  Now remember that I doubled the recipe, so if you’re only making one batch you’ll melt just one stick of butter.  I tried to take all the other pictures as if I was just making the one batch so you wouldn’t be confused, so just keep that in mind.

Scoop out 1/3 cup of tightly packed brown sugar.  You’ll be amazed at how much more sugar you can get in the measuring cup after you press it down a bit.

Add brown sugar to the melted butter.  Again, this shows my double batch.  You’ll only want to use one 1/3 cup of brown sugar to make a single batch.

Stir brown sugar and butter together until the brown sugar dissolves and bring it to a boil.  Let it boil for 1 – 2 minutes then remove from heat.

Add peanut butter to the hot brown sugar and butter mixture.

Stir in peanut butter until it’s completely blended.

Then stir in the vanilla and set aside to cool completely — about 15 – 20 minutes.

Get out your mini muffin tin and add paper liners.

Melt milk chocolate either in the microwave (in a microwave safe bowl) or using the double boiler method.  If you melt the chocolate in the microwave, make sure you only heat it in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each 30 second period.

Spoon about a teaspoon of chocolate into each paper liner and brush up the sides using a pastry brush.  This might be easiest if you take the liners out while you’re brushing the chocolate up the sides.

Once you have all the liners coated in chocolate, pop the entire tray into the freezer for about 15 – 20 minutes.

Your peanut butter mixture should be cool by now, so pour it into a mixing bowl and add the powdered sugar.

Add salt.

Add the flour and mix everything together.  You’ll want to start slow at first or you’ll end up with powdered sugar and flour all over yourself and your kitchen.

Add mini chocolate chips and gently stir or fold into the cookie dough.

The cookie dough will be a little too wet at this point, so stick it in the fridge for about 15 minutes so it has a chance to firm up.

Take your chilled, chocolate covered paper liners out of the freezer along with your chilled cookie dough.

Scoop cookie dough into the chocolate cups.  I used a small cookie dough scooper, but you can use a spoon or whatever you have on hand.  I found it best to not add too much cookie dough (just enough so it reaches the top of the cups) because you still have to cover them with chocolate.

Stick the filled cups back into the freezer for about 10 minutes, and in the mean time, melt some more milk chocolate.

Once the cups are chilled again, take them out of the freezer and spoon the melted chocolate over the top of each one so it’s as smooth as you can get it.  You might want to melt more chocolate than you think need because I ended up not having enough when I got to the last couple cups.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this step, so I apologize about that.  Pregnancy brain!

Chill cups one more time so that the chocolate firms up and then they’re ready to eat!

I think it’s best to store these in the fridge too keep them as firm as possible until you’re ready to eat them.  And don’t forget to have that glass of milk handy!  You’ll definitely need it!

I hope you enjoy!  I know I definitely did!

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Oh yes! The post you’ve all been waiting for!  Well, those of you who are my friends on facebook anyway.  Yesterday I posted an iPhone picture of the Peanut Butter Pie that I made for my husband’s birthday, and let me tell you, it was scrumptious!  I think I gained about 5 lbs just looking at it!  And from the noises our friends were making when they were eating it, I would say it was a hit.

I made this pie for the first time right after I read this post about another food blogger’s husband’s sudden passing.  It touched my heart, and that recipe looked too good not to make.  Plus, we were having some friends over that night, so I figured I would test the recipe on them.  Unfortunately I didn’t have all the ingredients I needed, such as semi-sweet chocolate chips (or so I thought….I later found a huge bag of them in my pantry), and I completely ruined the whipped cream by whipping it so much that it almost turned into butter, so I had to resort to whipped cream from a can.  Luckily, the second try turned out so much better, and here is the recipe and tutorial, so that you can also gain 5 lbs in one bite!

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 8 oz chocolate cookies (I used Oreos®)
  • 4 tbsp butter, melted (1/2 a stick)
  • 4 oz finely chopped chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup chopped peanuts (unsalted)
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
  • 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp lemon juice

Start by putting your cookies into a food processor.  I have a rather small food processor, so I had to do this in about 3-4 batches.  The bag of Oreos I got was 16oz, so I just used half of them to equal 8oz.  Of course if you want your crust a little thicker, you can add more accordingly.

Pulse until finely chopped with no big chunks left.  Then pour the crumbs into a medium bowl.

Melt butter, and pour over crumbs.

Use a fork to combine the butter and crumbs so that it is thoroughly saturated.

Press into a 9 inch spring-form pan so that the bottom is completely covered and flat, and press up the sides about an inch.

Put chocolate chips into a heat proof bowl and microwave to melt.  You can also use the double boiler method, but microwaving was faster.

Spread melted chocolate onto the crust.  Mine came apart a little, but that’s ok.  It might help if you refrigerate your crust, or put it in the freezer while you’re melting your chocolate so it has some time to set.

Add peanuts to the food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Sprinkle a generous amount over the chocolate, and reserve some for the topping.  Refrigerate crust while you prepare the rest of the pie.

Add cream cheese and peanut butter to a stand mixer.

Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add confectioner’s sugar and stir on low at first until it’s combined, then you can increase the speed.  If you start out too fast, you’ll end up with sugar all over your kitchen.  Of course that’s never happened to me!

Next, add the sweetened condensed milk.

Vanilla Extract.

And lemon juice, and stir on medium speed until well combined.  You can use fresh squeezed lemon juice, but this is what I had on hand.

Pour heavy cream into a medium bowl.

Beat it with a hand mixer until it looks like this.  Do NOT keep going thinking it could be a little stiffer.  I made that mistake, and let me tell you, it was not pretty.  It started to curdle and separate and before I knew it, chunks of butter were starting to form.  It should be light and fluffy and not at all liquidy or chunky.

Add about 1/3 of the whipped cream to the peanut butter mixture and stir on low.

Gently fold in remaining whipped cream with a rubber spatula.  Do not mix it in with the mixer.  You want to keep it as light and airy as possible.

Here’s what it should look like when it’s all combined.

Pour peanut butter  filling onto the cold crust.

Smooth it out so it’s nice and pretty.

Drizzle some melted chocolate onto the top.  If you need the chocolate to be a little more runny, add a tablespoon of vegetable shortening, and melt in with the chocolate.  You can also add chopped peanuts to the outer edge of the pie to give it that fresh from the bakery look.  Steve said that it looked like a pie from Marie Callendars! 🙂

Refrigerate pie for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight for best results.

When ready to serve, lift the bottom out of the spring form pan.  Isn’t that gorgeous!?

Serve it up, and enjoy!!!!  You may want to eat this with a glass of milk nearby.  It’s super rich!

 

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Blondies

I love peanut butter!  I’m the type that could eat a whole spoonful (or 2) of peanut butter and say, “More please!”  It’s not a surprise that my favorite chocolate candy is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  So when I discovered these delectable treats on Bake at 350, I just knew I had to try them out.  I knew the girls at my Thursday night Bible study wouldn’t mind being my guinea pigs, and they were such a hit that I decided to make them again on Saturday night for our dinner at our friends Connie and Jason’s house.  The way I described these when someone asked what they were is, “They’re like a chocolate chip, peanut butter cookie in the shape of a brownie.”  Yum!

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (or you can certainly use smooth peanut butter if you don’t want whole peanuts in your blondies)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet)

Start by whisking flour, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

In another, larger bowl, add your peanut butter and softened butter.

Mix until thoroughly combined.  (Note: I accidentally put my butter in the microwave for too long and it was completely melted.  That’s why the butter and peanut butter mixture looks so runny.  It turned out fine, but next time I made sure to only soften my butter, not completely melt it.)

Next, add your sugars.

And mix thoroughly with your peanut butter mixture.

Add your eggs one at a time and mix until combined.  You’ll want to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure there are no stray ingredients that would rather stick to the bowl than combine with all the other ingredients.

Next, add the flour mixture.

And mix until combined.

Next comes the best part….the chocolate!!  Unfortunately I only had about a half a cup of chocolate chips in my freezer, so mine weren’t as chocolaty as they could have been.  But they were still good!  Fold in the chocolate chips with your spoon or spatula.

Grease an 8×8 baking dish and pour in your batter, spreading evenly.  You’ll definitely want to lick any extra batter off your spoon/beaters/bowl.  Then try not to finish off the unbaked batter in your baking dish.  I know you’ll want to, but a little restraint is good sometimes. 🙂

Bake at 350° for 30-32 min.  Let it cool completely before you cut into squares.  At the Bible study we cut into it when it was still pretty warm and it was VERY gooey!  Didn’t matter to us, though.  We ended up scooping it out and eating it with spoons since we couldn’t wait for it to cool completely.  And, this is why I don’t have any pictures of the finished product for you.  For one thing, I had to rush out the door right when the timer on the oven beeped so that I would make it on time to Bible study, and secondly, I didn’t have my camera with me when we cut into it.  So you’ll just have to settle for the beautiful picture that Bridget took for her Bake at 350 blog.  If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend popping on over there sometime and spending hours looking through all her amazing cookies and baked goods.  You can get to her site by clicking on either of the links at the top of this post, or you can find her in the “Blogs I’m Following” section on the right of my blog.

Enjoy!  I know you will!