Peanut Butter & Jelly Stuffed French Toast

John and I are big fans of breakfast for dinner. I don't do it often but every time I do I wonder why I don't do it more often. When I saw this recipe I immediately added it to our weekly menu. John is a huge fan of PB&J as well as french toast so I was sure it'd be a winner. When we were eating John took his first bite and goes, "This is different... Strange... Very good!!!" He clearly went through the gamete of emotions before deciding he liked it. By the end of the meal he was praising it and saying he was anxious to have it again. I must mention this is very filling. I only ate half of my plate, which worked out to be half a sandwich. I imagine this would be a huge hit with kids, how could it not be? Give this a shot- it's great for any meal of the day!

Source: Heavily adapted from Heat Oven to 350

Yields 2-3 servings

Ingredients:
6 slices cinnamon swirl bread
Peanut butter
Jelly
1 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk or cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1- Using the bread, peanut butter, and jelly, make 3 pb&j sandwiches. Slice the sandwiches in half, set aside.
2- Meanwhile beat the eggs, milk/cream, and cinnamon together in a shallow dish.
3- Melt the butter in a nonstick skillet. Once it melts dip the sandwiches in the egg mix, flipping to coat both sides, and cook until the bread is nicely golden. Serve with syrup.

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

This is one of those recipes where I don't feel it's necessary to give you a little story before the recipe. It's peanut butter pie. Do you REALLY care what this reminds me of, why I made it, or some long story about where it originated from? No. You want a fork. And you want some pie. And I totally get it.

However- if you do care, let me be honest- there is no long story. My mom asked me to bring a peanut butter dessert to Christmas and this was suggested to me. Boy oh boy am I glad it was suggested because it was delicious. It was also my first time making homemade whipped cream. Surprising, right? I'll never buy a can again, it's just SO good homemade. Even John liked it and he isn't a whipped cream kind of guy. So yeah- go get the ingredients and get to work. Then send me a piece.

Source: Stick a Fork In It

Ingredients:
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 pie crust (graham cracker, Nilla wafer, or even chocolate would be good!)
4-6 full sized peanut butter cups, chopped

Directions:
1- In a stand mixer whisk together the whipping cream and sugar until it reaches the consistency of whipped cream. Remove from the mixer and set aside.
2- Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add in the peanut butter and confectioners sugar, beating until well incorporated. Fold in half of the whipped topping.
3- Spoon the peanut butter mixture into the pie crust. Top with the remaining whipped cream. Garnish with the chopped peanut butter cups. Keep refrigerated until serving.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Cookies

Do you remember when I posted this recipe for cake batter cookies? Well, I posted it almost a year ago and it is the recipe that gets me the most hits on Google, Pinterest, and various other sources. I guess it's safe to say we love some cake batter cookies 'round here! With that said, right after I had the baby my mom came over with various groceries. One of the ingredients that found its way into my cabinet was a box of chocolate cake mix. Well, hello there cake mix, we'll be good friends...

I kept saying that as soon as I could "get it together" the first thing I was baking was chocolate cake batter cookies with peanut butter chips. The other day Landon was being a perfect little baby and I decided to tempt fate be brave and try to bake while the little bug napped. Luckily for me I basically finished making these just as he was waking up. The whole time I was feeding the baby I was staring at these cookies on the cooling racks, salivating, dying to try one. By the time he finished eating I basically ran to the counter to try them. They were so stinkin' delicious. They taste almost like brownies crossed with cookies. Can there be anything better? Nope.

Source: Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2-In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil, then mix until well blended. (It was a bit crumbly for me so I used my hands to really mix it well- it's not as smooth as typical dough.)
 3-Stir in peanut butter and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
4- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven.  Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies

I tend to brag about the area I live in to my family and friends who live near where I grew up. You see, I grew up in an area that had all of the basic restaurants, lots of pizza places, etc. But it lacked (and still does) diversity. I can go out for Indian, Middle Eastern, Thai, Japanese, Italian, or really anything you can imagine and be at a restaurant within 5-10 minutes of leaving my house. We also have tons of Italian delis/markets. I just love my area! (And yes... because of food... you shouldn't be surprised...)

However, there's one store we're missing. Trader Joe's. I LOVE Trader Joe's, but the closest one is about 20-25 minutes away and I just rarely go. Every time I go I spend a ton of money and stock up on all types of stuff. I also tend to buy way too many impulse buys at Trader Joe's. My latest? A little tub of mini peanut butter cups. It was definitely one of those "I'm pregnant and you can't stop me! I can buy a tub of candy and not feel guilty!" moments. Well, the fact of the matter is even 8 months pregnant I don't NEED a tub of peanut butter cups so I decided to make something using them. Something John would eat. Something that would prevent me from housing a whole tub of candy. These blondies were perfect. They were really good too. We both liked them. Next time though I'd add more peanut butter. I like a bold peanut butter taste and didn't feel it came through enough, but that could be just me! A great base recipe though, especially since in a week we'll all have lots of Halloween candy hanging around.

Source: The Cooking Nurse

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup peanut butter, crunchy or smooth
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/4 cup chocolate chips
4 peanut butter cups, chopped, or 1/2-3/4 cup mini peanut butter cups

Directions:
1- Preheat over to 375. Spray a 9x9 square baking dish with spray.
2- In a large bowl combine flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Stir and set aside.
3- In a separate bowl combine the peanut butter, butter, milk, vanilla, and eggs. Stir well to combine
4- Pour the wet into the dry, mixing well until evenly incorporated. Don't over stir.
5- Add the chocolate chips, stir, and pour into the baking dish. Top with the peanut butter cups. Bake 19-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with slightly moist crumbs.
6- Cool in the pan on a wire rack, then cut and serve.

Monster Mix Cookies

I have a dirty little secret to share... I waste food. Too much. You see, I often get cravings (and believe me, this happened long before pregnancy) and I need the food NOW. For instance, Doritos. I'll NEED them. So I run out, buy a bag, eat a serving, and then I'm over it. The almost-full package will sit and sit until I find it in the back of the cabinet and throw it out. I've overcome this issue by paying more for smaller packages (which annoys me... but I digress) so that I don't throw as much out. I recently bought small packs of Monster Trail Mix from Target and ate all 6 packs (that were supposed to be for John... oops!) in a matter of days. So the next time I went to Target I bought a tub of this stuff. I kid you not, a tub. And what happened? I lost interest. Ugh. The curse. I'm not one of those people who can push through it and eat stuff that doesn't interest me, no, it just sits.

So with this tub I knew I needed to get crafty. I decided to bake them into some cookies, and ta-da! These little delicious loves were born. I was a big fan of this recipe. They were soft, peanut buttery, and loaded with goodness. I was hesitant to throw whole peanuts in but they worked out great! If you don't have the Monster Mix you can just do a combo of the ingredients, which are listed below.

Source: Adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 cup flour
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups Monster Mix (combo of peanuts, raisins, M&Ms, peanut butter chips, and chocolate chips)

Directions:
1- In a large bowl mix together the melted butter and peanut butter until the peanut butter melts in. Add the sugars and mix well.
2- Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well until well incorporated.
3- Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, flour, oats, and stir well. Once well incorporated stir in the Monster Mix.
4- Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
5- Preheat the oven to 375.
6- Scoop rounded tablespoons onto a coated baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool slightly than remove to a wire rack. Enjoy!

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies

John and I go through an unreal amount of peanut butter. Between his daily peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, my constant baking with peanut butter needs, and just random peanut butter treats, we eat so much peanut butter. However, if you ask John peanut butter comes in only one form: smooth and creamy. Chunky peanut butter is a non-concept to this man. So when I came home with a jar of Super Chunk peanut butter there was a look of fear in John's eyes... until he saw these cookies.

These cookies were excellent. My favorite cookie recipe ever came from this same website so when I saw this recipe for crunchy peanut butter I just needed them in my life. They were delicious, soft, and had a nice peanut crunch. I halved the recipe so we wouldn't have too many laying around and we both were mad that I did this- they are just that good!

Source: Southern Food

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to 400.
2- Cream together the sugars, salt, butter, and peanut butter in a stand mixer.
3- Beat the egg and vanilla into the sugar mixture.
4- Beat in the flour and baking soda.
5- Form dough into one inch balls. Bake 6-7 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden, on a lined cookie sheet. Cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today is the last day to enter my "favorite things" giveaway. The contest ends at MIDNIGHT. So what are you waiting for? Enter here. ( CONTEST ENDED- WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON MONDAY ON THE BLOG)

Food blogging is a funny little subsection of the world. You make "friends" and you form connections. Ironically, a couple years ago, a blogger I "knew" from blogging contacted me and said she just found out that she worked with my husband. It was so funny and such a small world. After that event Cathy and I would send goodies to one another through John. One of the goodies I received were these cookies. It must have been almost two years ago that I received these cookies but I have never stopped thinking about them. I don't know what took me so long to get around to making them but I'm so glad I did. They are goooooood. I love the added crunch from the oatmeal, and really peanut butter and chocolate are always a winning combination. I am so glad I finally made these because they were delicious and I will absolutely be making them again (and again... and again...)

Source: Cathy's Kitchen Journey

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter 
1/2 cup white sugar 
1/3 cup packed brown sugar 
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy will both work) 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 egg 
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup rolled oats 
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.(Flatten the cookies because these don’t spread.)
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Brownie Pie

Look. Let's get real for a minute. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and if you are even halfway alive you are aware that the world (and certainly the blogosphere) is exploding with pink, red, and hearts. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a hater of Valentine's Day, I'm not making an intentional boycott of all things heart shaped here on Stephanie Cooks, I'm just getting to the real meaning of the day: CHOCOLATE. John learned early on to save the flowers and go straight for the milky chocolate goodness.

I made this dessert for my mother's birthday and I am willing to bet it was my biggest hit yet. My family raved and raved about this, and I must say I understand why. The brownie layer was dense, fudgy, and chocolate rich. The peanut butter mousse was a light contrast to the dense brownie. Paired together it was like I died and went to heaven.

One bit of advice. Use a deep pie crust. I did, and I still couldn't fit all of the peanut butter mousse on top. Which means I have a nice container full of this stuff to use up... get ready, I'm sure I'll come up with a way. OH and if you're not sick of me, one MORE bit of advice- make this for your Valentine. Show someone you love them with this. Nothing says "I love you" like rich fattening desserts... believe me on this one.

Source: Slightly adapted from What's Cookin' Chicago?

Ingredients:
1 deep dish pie crust (I used a frozen one)
1 15.5 oz. brownie mix
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/3 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons water
1 egg
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 container (8 oz.) whipped topping

Directions:
1- Heat oven to 350.
2- In a large bowl combine the brownie mix, egg, oil, water, and peanut butter chips. Stir well to combine and until completely incorporated.
3- Pour into pie crust, bake for 35-40 minutes, until cooked through. (Cover pie crust with tin foil after 20 minutes if it starts to burn)
4- Cool for 20 minutes, then refrigerate for an hour.
5- In a stand mixer combine the cream cheese, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. Beat until completely incorporated.
6- Fold in the whipped topping, until completely combined.
7- Top the brownie with peanut butter mousse and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve cold.

Peanut Butter Blondies

These blondies are UNREAL. One bite and you're moaning, groaning, licking your lips, hunting for crumbs... you know, the usual.

I made these to add to my Christmas cookie platters and these were by far the biggest hit. I had several people come up to me and beg me to tell them the recipe. They're just that good. I will be making these again and again. Love love love. My favorite thing about them is the nice flaky outside with the soft center. I added peanut butter chips but you could use chocolate chips too if you want to achieve that amazing chocolate/peanut butter combo.

** On another note, my goal for 2011 is to improve my pictures on this blog. For Christmas I got a ton of kitchen stuff, but the BEST gift was photography lights and a book on food photography. I took some pictures with the lights and it's amazing what a difference they make. I can't wait to start posting the recipes using these new pictures- I have this post and one more to go and then hopefully you'll notice a change in the picture quality. I personally am thrilled. 

Source: Slightly adapted from Joy The Baker

Ingredients:
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 5 cubes
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1.5 cups peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a 9×13-inch pan.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and sugar together until the butter is just melted.  Remove from the burner and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then add the peanut butter.  Stir until incorporated.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes more, then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.  You want the sugar, butter and peanut butter mixture to be cool enough that the eggs won’t begin to cook when they’re added in.  

Whisk together salt, flour and baking powder.  Add dry ingredients all at once to the wet ingredients.  Stir until just incorporated.  Add the peanut butter chips, fold in. Pour the thick batter into the prepared pan and smooth out.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the blondies comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

My Favorite Cookie, Ever.

This is a reposted recipe from when I first started my blog. The post got buried and is now deep down in the archives of my blog. It was also back in the day when my photography was horrible, so I don't think these cookies have gotten the recognition they deserve.

These cookies are peanut butter chocolate chip and are the absolute perfect cookie. They are soft and tender with a flaky, crumbly texture. When you take a bite it literally melts in your mouth- not kidding. They are sweet and rich and just the best cookies in the world. Anytime I make them people rave and rave about them. They are by far, without hesitation, my favorite cookie. And John's favorite cookie. And just go make them now, please, I beg of you.

Original Post, from February 3, 2009, with my original picture here

Source: Southern Food About.com

Reposted recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup chunky or smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.
Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light. Add the egg and mix until fluffy.

Blend the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together well. Add these dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add the chocolate chips.

Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°.

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookie Bars

Confession: I am a hoarder.

Not in the traditional sense... I actually don't keep much of anything and LOVE throwing stuff out, but I hoard recipes. I have thousands of recipes stored away for rainy days. If I never starred another recipe I'd probably never get through all of them, but that won't stop me from adding to my addiction.

Every now and then a recipe will come around and I will bump it to the top of my "to make" list. This recipe is an example of that. When I saw these cookie bars I bought the ingredients that day and make them a couple days later for John to take to work. I was dying to try them so I figured make them, taste them, and send them off with John.

Consensus? AH-Maaaaazing! I loved these things. I thought the baked in pretzels lost a bit of their crispness, but other than that these are the perfect cookie bar. Salty, sweet, delicious. They are nice and soft on the inside, firm (but not hard) on the outer pieces. I really love this recipe and highly suggest it if you are looking for something new.

Source: Slightly adapted from Loves To Eat

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12-ounce bag semisweet chocolate chips
1½ cups mini pretzel twists, coarsely chopped
¼ cup chocolate chips, for drizzling
¼ cup peanut butter chips
¼ cup pretzels, crumbled, for topping

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Using a mixer, beat the butter and both sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces.

Spread the batter evenly in the pan and press it down evenly with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely.

In a sandwich size bag, melt the chocolate chips. Cut off a small corner on the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the top of the bars. Sprinkle the peanut butter chips and extra crushed pretzels on top. Let set and then cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

I love peanut butter and chocolate together. But this isn't exactly news to you now is it? I'd think not.I suppose my love of cookies isn't new news either, huh? Put it all together and I am like putty in your hands. When I decided to make desserts for my sisters graduation party I knew I wanted to make something that met all of the basic dessert food groups: peanut butter, chocolate, and cookies.

These were a hit. They were gone so fast I had to hide one to take a picture of it. They were truly delicious. I loved how the peanut butter cup was in every bite. The smooth creamy peanut butter center was definitely a bonus. If you are looking for an easy cookie try these- they are so good.

Source: Peanut butter dough adapted from All Recipes, recipe inspired by a coworker

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for rolling dough
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, removed from their wrappers

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Beat together sugar, brown sugar, shortening and peanut butter. until blended. Add eggs, milk and vanilla. Beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to peanut butter mixture. Beat well.
Grease a mini muffin tin. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and push firmly into muffin tins.
Bake 6-8 minutes, or until cooked through.
While still hot, push a mini Reese's into the cookie. Place back in the oven for 1 minute.
Allow to cool in the pan 15-20 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

Reese's Brownie Bites

I don't understand people who don't like the peanut butter/chocolate combo. I won't go so far as to say I don't trust these people... but yea, it's pretty close to that. I mean come on, is there a tastier combo? I don't think so! John's office has a bake sale for heart health (yea, digest the irony on that one for a minute...) and I always contribute. I am probably a bad food blogger for admitting this but I just DIDN'T feel like baking anything. Enter the easiest dessert ever!

These are semi-homemade, I am making Sandra Lee proud with these things. It's just boxed brownie mix and mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. That's it. However I promise you that the taste is so good you won't be judged on the simplicity of this recipe. Give them a shot if you need a quick and fun dessert.

Source: No idea, I've seen them around but I didn't follow a recipe

Ingredients:
1 Family Sized box of brownie mix (and the ingredients on the box)
1 bag of mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:
1- Preheat the oven to the temperature on the box.
2- Create brownies according to boxed directions.
3- Spray two mini muffin tins with baking spray. Fill each hole until 3/4 full.
4- Bake for 10 minutes, or until they are basically done. You don't want them completely done of you can't stick the PB cup in.
5- Pull out and quickly press a PB cup in each brownie tin. Place back in the oven for about 1 minute.
6- Allow them to cool in the pan for about 15-20 minutes, then remove to a wire rack.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut butter blossoms are one of the most highly recognized cookies. Next to chocolate chip and perhaps sugar cookies peanut butter blossoms are the cookies most of my family members know and love. My sister in particular has a strong love for these cookies. In reality, what's not to long? I always love foods with the peanut butter and chocolate combination. I made these cookies as the last cookie for my cookie platters for Christmas. They were the most popular cookie I made and the first to go everywhere I brought them. The key to these cookies is not making the ball of dough too big. If you do they will spread out too far and it won't be the right proportion of peanut butter to chocolate. If you have never had peanut butter blossoms you must try them soon! There's a reason they are a classic!

Source: Hershey's

Ingredients:

48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
1/2 cup shortening (I use butter)
3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

Magic in the Middle Cookies

Growing up my mom had many catch phrases. One of her favorite was "What do I look like? A short order chef?" This comment always came after my sister and I would whine about not liking dinner and wanting her to make us something different. I never understood the saying... but now I do. And low and behold, I am becoming a short order chef. But not for children... for grown ups. John's coworkers eat almost as much of my food as John and I do. Anything you see here on this blog that is baked is sent to work with John. Slowly his coworkers started making requests, ranging from simple to crazy complex. One of these requests was "anything peanut butter and chocolate. But sugary peanut butter." Hmmm... easy enough. Especially since I love that combo myself.

I whipped these up the other night and they came out great. John said they were one of the biggest hits at work. The cookies were so soft. My only recommendation would be to make sure you flatten them out well with the glass because I forgot this step (it was 10 at night, cut me some slack!) and my peanut butter didn't spread throughout the cookie. That's ok- they were still awesome- but would be even better if the peanut butter was an even layer throughout the cookie. I will say these are much more time consuming then typical drop cookies but are very good and worth the effort.


Source: King Arthur Flour

Chocolate Dough
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar (plus extra for dredging)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Peanut butter filling
3/4 cup peanut butter, crunchy or smooth, your choice
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

2. To make the dough: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

3. In another medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the sugars, butter, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the egg, beating to combine, then

4. stir in the dry ingredients, blending well.

5. To make the filling: In a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter and confectioners’ sugar until smooth.

6. With floured hands or a teaspoon scoop, roll the filling into 26 one-inch balls.

7. To shape the cookies: Scoop 1 tablespoon of the dough (a lump about the size of a walnut), make an indentation in the center with your finger and place one of the peanut butter balls into the indentation.

8. Bring the cookie dough up and over the filling, pressing the edges together cover the center;

9. roll the cookie in the palms of your hand to smooth it out. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

10. Roll each rounded cookie in granulated sugar, and place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies.

11. Grease the bottom of a drinking glass, and use it to flatten each cookie to about 1/2-inch thick.

12. Bake the cookies for 7 to 9 minutes, or until they're set and you can smell chocolate. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.

No Bake Cookies

I made these this week for John to take to work. Now that I am not working (well... barely working, summer school is only 3 hours a day) I have plenty of time for baking. As I have mentioned before John's coworkers happily eat my stuff so I just make and send. These went over well. I didn't try them but John said his friends loved them. And they couldn't be any easier to make!

Source: About.com

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa
pinch salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

Directions:

In large saucepan, combine sugar, milk, cocoa, salt, and butter and mix well. Bring to a boil and cover saucepan for 30 seconds to allow steam to wash sugar crystals down sides of pan. Stir mixture and bring it to a boil that can't be stirred down for 1 minute. Then remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth. Add oatmeal and mix well. Do not use regular or instant oatmeal; quick-cooking oatmeal is essential to the success of this recipe.
Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to let the oatmeal absorb some of the liquid.

Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto waxed paper or parchment lined baking sheets or Silpat sheets. Let cool until you can touch the mixture; then reshape the cookies to make them more a ball shape. Let cool completely; store at room temperature. You can also pour this mixture into a 9" square pan that has been greased with unsalted butter, let cool, then cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Cheerio Bars

I love Costco. I can spend an unnecessary amount of time there walking up and down the aisles. There's one problem with Costco- John and I don't have kids so it's really just the two of us at our house. Therefore when I buy a metric ton of Cheerios (or any other food item) it comes to a point where I need to use it up NOW because we just can't look at it anymore. I decided to make these bars and boy are they sweet! I love them because I am a peanut butter freak but if I were to make these again I would cut the sugar a lot- maybe try 3/4 of a cup. After I made them and sliced them I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap. Also I would suggest keeping them in the fridge until you eat them because otherwise the peanut butter gets too melty! Overall a delicious treat!

Source: The Crepes of Wrath (I should also mention how AMAZING this blog is- check it out!)
Ingredients:

1 cup crunchy or smooth peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar (You can cut this back a bit)
1 cup honey
6 cups Cheerios cereal (I used Honey Nut)

Directions:

1. Grease and/or line a 9×13 pan and set aside. In a small sauce pan sprayed with Pam, bring the honey and sugar to a boil over medium heat. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, remove the pan from the heat.
2. Stir in the peanut butter until well blended and melted.
3. Place your Cheerios in a large mixing bowl and pour the peanut butter-honey mixture over the cereal, stirring until everything is well coated.
4. Pour/spread the cereal into your prepared pan, pressing down to make sure everything is smooth and even. Set aside and allow to cool before slicing into squares. Makes 16-20 bars.
5- Store in the refrigerator until serving.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cake

There are many wonderful food blogs in the food blogosphere, but few are as good as Annie's. Annie has quality recipes, beautiful pictures, and often unique recipes that aren't found on everyone else's blog (well... that is until we all copy her haha!) I decided to make her Reese's Peanut Butter Cake for Mother's Day since both of our mothers love the chocolate/peanut butter combo. Last minute I decided to go with vanilla frosting in place of the peanut butter frosting recommended in Annie's post. It came out excellent with the vanilla, but I am sure it would be much more rich and decadent with the peanut butter. If you are looking for a good cake give this a try. The batter was amazing and if there weren't 4 raw eggs in it I would have eaten a bowl full of the batter. Delicious!


Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional) I did use it

For decorating:
Frosting (I used vanilla)
miniature Reese’s cups, halved and/or chopped

Directions:

For the cake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Butter two 9×2” round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. (I used baking spray and skipped both the flour and parchment paper. It worked perfectly) Place the pans on a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly blended into the butter. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk; add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2 (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients). Mix each addition only until it is blended into the batter. Scrape down the bowl and add the melted chocolate, if using, folding it in with a spatula. Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans.

Bake for 26-30 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to the touch and start to pull away from the sides of the pans. Transfer to wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cardboard circle or serving dish. Spread frosting on top of the cake layer. (If desired, sprinkle with chopped Reese’s cups.) Place the second cake layer on top of the frosting. Frost the top and outside of the cake with remaining frosting. Decorate with halved and chopped Reese’s cups as desired.

Apple Peanut Butter Cookies

I mentioned in an older post that I never bake... HA! How times have changed. I used to never bake. Now that I found a place to send all of my goodies (aka John's work) I love to bake. Especially since John works such long hours, baking gives me something to do that doesn't involve spending money. When this recipe popped up in my google reader this week I starred it and knew I'd make it. I did have some trouble finding some of the ingredients, namely vanilla granola clusters and tubinado sugar. I found a substitute for the granola and decided to skip rolling the cookies in sugar. If you want to roll them in sugar, go for it, but they were awesome without it!

After tasting one of these I was so tempted to not send them to work with John! They are THAT good. If you love the combo of peanut butter and apple these are a must try. I can't recommend these highly enough.

Ingredients:

1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 Cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
3/4 Cup vanilla flavored granola clusters (I used oats and honey granola)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Cup diced apples, about 1/4 inch, I used Granny Smith

1/2 Cup turbinado sugar, or other sugar of choice to roll cookies in (Omitted)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light mixed well. Beat in peanut butter until combined then add the egg and vanilla until well combined.

2. In a large bowl mix together the flour, granola, baking soda and salt. Slowly mix into the wet ingredients following the apples until just combined. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough, roll into sugar then place onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. With tines of a fork, press down slightly making an X on top of each cookie. Bake for 8-9 minutes, cookies should look somewhat soft inside when you take them out. Let cool/finish baking out of oven for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Peanut Butter Bliss Bars

Ok so I made up the name for these things.. and it is kind of a lame name... but they are awesome and truly blissful haha! I first tried these back in college when my roommate Tiff's mom made them for us. They are the most addictive and delicious treats. They kind of taste like a Reese's peanut butter cup only better. However they are extremely heavy and you can't eat more than a small piece. The pieces pictured above are even borderline too much. Don't believe me? Try it. I made these for my coworkers and I am so thankfully they won't be hanging out in our house because they are also quite sinful.

The recipe originated from Allrecipes.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:
1- In a medium bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, peanut butter and melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Take a sheet of wax paper and tightly press it over the peanut butter mixture, pressing down to even out the mixture. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or more. Remove wax paper.

2-Melt chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring occasionally. Spread melted chocolate over the crumb crust. Allow to chill completely, then slice into pieces.