No-Bake Peanut Butter Cups, or Bars

These honestly taste like the real deal. The peanut butter part tastes EXACTLY like the filling of a Reese's peanut better cup. I thought I would be creative and use white chocolate instead of regular, but by then adding some marshmallow fluff to it, I just got a really stiff mixture that was unspreadable. Not cool. So I ended up molding it on like fondant. But worse. It looked pretty bad, but tasted beautiful. It was dead on. I think regular chocolate would have been fabulous too, though I am partial to white. And it would have spread nicer.


So for those of you who love Reese's cups and want to try and make them yourself, look no further! You could make them into cups by using cupcake liners to get the ridges like a real Reese's cup. But I just thought this method was easier and you got the same great taste.



No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
found at The Sweetest Kitchen
Makes 12-16 squares, depending on how you want to cut it

3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cups creamy peanut butter
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
6oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used white chocolate)
2 teaspoons Nutella (or peanut butter) (I used marshmallow fluff)

In a large mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, peanut butter and butter and beat until combined. Press into a parchment-lined 8×8-inch pan, making sure top is smooth and level.

Melt chocolate and Nutella in a double boiler. Pour chocolate over peanut butter layer and spread out evenly (I tilted the pan around to get a smooth top, instead of spreading it out with a knife). Place pan in refrigerator just until chocolate is set and then cut into bars. Best served at room temperature.

Banana and Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

I guess I really enjoyed my last whoopie pies that I just had to try them again! This time: banana and peanut butter! I saw this over at Daydreamer Desserts when I was still a "whoopie virgin" (see that play on words I did there? It works on many levels of funny) and was intrigued even then.

I made these for our Honors Chorus bake sale alongside the chocolate chip cookies and the other mystery item you will soon learn about;) When I decided to make these I was so excited. For some reason I had it in my mind that these were going to be the greatest things ever! Can I honest? Not so much. And that's a lot coming from me. I am so much a peanut butter fan, that we can no longer keep peanut butter in the house. I'm not kidding. We do not buy peanut butter AT ALL because of the major self-control issues I have with it.


So like I said, I wasn't too impressed=/ The banana cookie was nice on its own, but when paired with the peanut butter filling, it kinda flopped. I don't think it was either components fault; they just weren't a good match. Again, this seems odd because I am an advocate for peanut butter and banana sandwiches and why should this be any different? But it was. My one chorus director was even kind enough to tell me about how he assumed it was some sort of "regular cookie", but after taking a bite, he spit it out. Yupp, thanks...


So I mean I guess I recommend trying this? Maybe. If you're looking for an interesting new whoopie pie flavor to try, then go for it. I will say I actually did not use the peanut butter filling from below. I created my own and really enjoyed it. But I think I might keep it my little secret hehe. I will say that the banana cookies were VERY sticky and hard to hold in order to frost because they would stick to my fingers.


Banana Whoopie
found at Daydreamer Desserts
adapted from whoopie pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup bread flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3/4 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line three baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat.In a small bowl whisk together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter, vegetable shortening, light brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, and stir just until combined.

Alternate adding the flour mixture and the mashed bananas. Stir to combine between each addition and scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.

Spoon one tablespoon of batter at a time onto a lined cookie sheet making sure they are at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 minutes.


Salty Peanut Butter Whoopie Filling
adapted from whoopie pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell

3/4 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a small bowl beat together the peanut butter and unsalted butter on low speed until smooth and creamy.

Add the confectioners' sugar and salt, beat on low just until combined then increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 4 minutes.

Trash/Monkey Munch/Puppy Chow... Whatever!

I always oogle this recipe as it floats around. It's funny because it's so simple and really just a quick snack to make. We never really have Chex Mix in our house and have never had an inclination to buy it, so the opportunity to make this never arose. But I made it a point to try this, and it actually happened!

I first heard this called trash in my family, so I am forever tied to that name. It's funny, the first time I saw this at a family party, I thought it looked disgusting. It was called trash and I'd never seen anything like it. Can you blame me? I was probably 10 years old. Now I'm obsessed!


The only bad part about making this was I keep eating it! I may not be able to make this again after how crazy I went eating it. Maybe a once a year thing. Yes, I went that crazy for it that I have to limit myself!

But honestly at least make it once and you'll be in love<3

Trash
1/4 cup butter
1/2 smooth, creamy peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla(I forgot to add this, as usual. Honestly I forget vanilla in almost all my recipes!)
9 cups Chex Mix (Or any generic brand resembling it)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I'm pretty sure I was close to 2 1/2 he he)



Microwave the butter, peanut butter, and chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. I did 30 and 30 so I could stir it in between and not burn it. Then an extra safe 30 seconds to fully melt it.


Put the chex in an extra large bowl so you have room for stirring. Pour the chocolate/pb mixture over your chex until fully and evenly incorporated. Then add your powdered sugar in until it covers all the chocolate.

You can wait a minute or so for the chocolate to settle/harden, or just dive in like me!

SnackFace Cheetahs!

Today is the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. My school always sends a group to go but I decided not to go this year=/ Last year had some pretty bad moments.. But those of us who came to school were treated with a half day! I didn't do anything all day. Today was the last day of the quarter so the teachers had to get their grades in and not worry about starting new lessons. Overall, it was a fun day!

Since I wouldn't be eating lunch at school, I could make something special to eat! Thank goodness I had sweet potatoes in the house. The adorable blog SnackFace has an amazing recipe that almost everyone knows about. Her famous Chu-Chu-Chu-Cheetahs! I have been longing to try these and follow the trend of sweet potatoes. And I'm so glad I did!


Cheetahs:
1 Sweet Potato
(sprinkle cinnamon on the coins for a sweet treat version)

Put foil on a baking sheet and lay slices of your sweet potato on it. You can use non-stick spray, but I didn't. Bake for 15 minutes on both sides or until black spots form. (Like cheetah spots!)

Enjoy with PLENTY of ketchup!


These were so good and much better for you than french fries. They can be super versatile too, so I can't wait to have these again and again!

As a follow up dessert I decided to make protein powder cookie batter! I have protein powder that left over from volleyball season and I haven't used it in forever. I'm really glad I found this recipe because know it'll be fun to eat. Instead of grosssss.


Protein Powder Cookie Dough:
1 scoop protein powder
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tablespoon water
*I then added a generous sprinkle of cinnamon, my fav, and a small splash of milk. This greatly helped create a wonderful consistency. (And of course I added whipped cream...!)


This was so delicious! It is such a great idea for dessert. And it's healthy for you!

Later tonight I'll pretty much be having a repeat of last week. Basketball game, dinner with my best best friends, and then a sleepover! I can't wait! I was supposed to go to dinner with another group of friends before the game... but 2 dinners? As wonderful as that sounds I may have to pass=/

Go Chargers!

Snow Day Cookies

Yes I had my first official snow day on Friday. I know this is what every kid dreams of, but all I really wanted was a two hour delay. Now unfortunately I have none of the books or homework I had hoped to work on over the weekend with me. This is quite problematic but I prevail...

This however was a good thing in that I was able to bake, something I haven't done in a while. I had my heart set on a cheesecake, but with only two eggs in the house and only 13 oz of cream cheese I could see it wasn't happening. I did however make a cheesecake dip and which I devoured for breakfast. (I should warn you now that this was probably the unhealthiest eating day of my life, but it was all yummy!) So I ate the whole dip myself.

Cheesecake Dip: by me!
(these were all eye-balled amounts)
Combine all ingredients:
5 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp. powdered sugar
splash of milk
heavy sprinkling of cinnamon
drop or two of vanilla any leftover
white chocolate chips in your pantry
*spread on bread rounds with dark chocolate peanut butter and you've found dessert bliss!!!

After that nourishing breakfast(just kidding...), I headed to my neighbor/friend Julia's house to watch all of Arrested Development Season 2!!! After that, we made a chocolate lava cake in her crockpot. I'm not really a fan of chocolate so we made another lovely treat. This one was pretty crazy. We took the regular Nestle chocolate Chip cookie recipe, and kind of played around with it using what we had. I love this recipe to begin with, especially the brown sugar, but we did some tweaking. Dark brown sugar was all she had and I think that's what made these fabulous. Also, they weren't chocolate chip. She had tiny peanut butter cups instead so we put those in! YUMMM! Also, our butter wasn't room temp. but since we were playing around, we didn't car and mixed it in anyway. We ended up with a struesel like topping. And you all know how I LOVE my struesel!! We ate a good amount of that stuesel before adding eggs or anything. Then the "chips" were added and we ate a lot more of that batter. Oh, and we also got ice cream and topped it with a ton of struesel. I told you I ate pretty crappy.


Peanut Butter Cup Cookies:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups peanut butter cup chips

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars. With the leftover batter, and both cookie sheets full, we made one huga cookie in a cake tin. It came out beautifully but I never got to try it=( I did take some cookies home to enjoy later!

Don't worry, the next day, today, I ate a ton better! We had a breakfast of ham and eggs with pan fried potatoes and onions. For lunch we went to Cracker Barrel ( MY fav!!) and I got the signature chicken n' dumplings with fried apples, pinto beans, and THE MOST AMAZING BISCUITS! That's no exaggeration either. Like seriously, there has to be a Cracker Barrel near you, they're everywhere. Can you not agree with me on this? Best ever biscuits. Hands flippin' down.

We're looking to redo our bathroom so maybe I'll post some pictures throughout the renovation. Before and after kind of stuff. We'll see if I get to lazy or not=/

Baked Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

Since we were in Ohio for Christmas, we weren't able to have our traditional cream cheese roll-ups. So as soon as we got back I made sure we had at least a variation of them. The normal recipe is just putting the cream cheese filling into white bread then rolling it up. But I decided to take it a bit further by baking it in a 9 x 13 dish instead.

I'm really not a fan of white bread at all. So I found some interesting bread called paska? I've never heard of it before but I thought it would work out since it was a type of sweet bread. It turned out to be pretty similar to challah, which is what I had been looking for.

Baked Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast
adapted from my dad's Cream Cheese Roll-ups recipe

1 loaf of paska bread (or any other bread really)

Cream cheese filling:
2 8oz packages of cream cheese
2 eggs
1/2 sugar
(combine this in a bowl)

Cinnamon sugar topping:
1 1/2 sticks of butter
sugar and cinnamon (I mixed this to taste with a starting point of 1/2 tbsp cinnamon to 1/2 cup sugar. I thought there needed to be more cinnamon overall though)

I first buttered my baking dish, a 9 x 13 dish. Then I layered slices of the bread evenly on the bottom. Then I spread the cream cheese mixture over top. I sprinkled a generous amount of cinnamon sugar over that. More bread is added to cover the top. Then, I poured the melted butter/cinnamon sugar mixture as evenly as I could over top.

At this point you can refrigerate it over night. If not, place it in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!

That evening we had a mock Thanksgiving Day feast. My dad loves turkey but we never seem to have any other time than at Thanksgiving. So we went through the preparations and with some Jenny-O turkey we were able to pull it off! No pumpkin pie for dessert, but we have enough chocolate to last us years!

Also, look what I got:

DARK CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER! I am truly in heaven. I honestly ate half of it the very night I got it. I spread it over the last of the paska bread and also added vanilla frosting. Yeah, I know it's weird. Dipping pretzels into it is truly divine!!

I just love that cute little monkey on the side!