Chocolate and Peanut Butter and Sugar

Gooey Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Cookies. 

Or, at least that's what the recipe is supposed to make. These are definitely a brownie recipe. My fail photos to follow will help you understand. 

They taste awesome, but crumbled and fell apart when in cookie form. Here is the recipe from sugarhero.com:

Gooey Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
yield: 20 large cookies

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (3 oz) creamy peanut butter
2 oz unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups mini peanut butter cups (I actually used chopped Peanut Butter Eggs from Easter. Be resourceful, people!)

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.

Combine the chopped chocolate, the peanut butter, and the butter in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave in 30-second increments until completely melted and smooth. Stir after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. Let the mixture cool to lukewarm. *try not to lick the bowl.

Place the sugar and eggs in the bowl of a large stand mixer, and beat with a whisk attachment until thick and foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the chocolate mixture and the vanilla, and mix them in until they’re combined. 

Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, as the chocolate has a tendency to sink to the bottom.

Stir in the flour mixture, and when that’s incorporated, add the miniature peanut butter cups, reserving about 1/4 cup of them. Press a layer of cling wrap on top of the batter and refrigerate it until it’s firm enough to scoop, at least 1 hour. (The batter can be refrigerated for several days, but it will need to sit at room temperature to become workable if it has been chilled for an extended period.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a large 1/4-cup scoop to scoop large portions onto the baking sheets. Cut the remaining peanut butter cups in half, and press a few of them on top of each cookie.

 Bake the cookies until they look dry and crackly on the top, but the center is still very jiggly and soft when pressed, about 12-15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet—if you try to move them too soon, they’ll fall apart. *P.S. I left them cool and they still crumbled when I moved them.

Looks easy enough right? Check out my fail photo. 

Great job, Kristin. So I put them in a small dish.

MUCH better. With a spatula, they can come out relatively easy. Just make sure you spray whatever you use with cooking spray.

The uneven texture with chunks of peanut butter cups make it better than you could imagine.

Once cool, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days For the best taste and texture, microwave them for a few seconds before serving, so the centers get warm and gooey. They can also freeze.

What do they taste like? They taste like I'm skipping my diet for today. And tomorrow.

Like what you see? Share/Post/Follow/Comment! Have a great week. No stress.

Pumpkin Oat Bars

Most of you are looking at this recipe and saying "but Kristin, it's Spring. Spring is not time for pumpkin." 

And I would say "you are correct. But I was looking for something healthy and carb-y, and didn't have time to make bread. Also, chocolate chips."

The pumpkin bars also freeze nicely, so when I get back into school, they are a nice quick snack break option. 

Recipe is here:

Ingredients

• 3 cups gluten free oats
• 2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
• 1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top

Make Raspberry-Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8×11 or 9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Make oat flour: Place oatmeal into blender or food processor and blend for 1-2 minutes until oatmeal resembles flour. You may need to stop blender and stir oats a couple of times to ensure that all oats have been blended.
3. Measure out just 2 1/2 cups of the oat flour and place in a medium bowl. Whisk in baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices; set aside.
4. In a separate large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, vanilla extract, oil, and applesauce for 1-2 minutes until the consistency is smooth and creamy. Slowly add in oat flour mixture and mix until just combined.
5. Gently fold in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips on top. Bake for 15-25 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Timing will depend on what size pan you use, but definitely check around 15 minutes. Once finished baking, cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Cut into 16 slices.

Notes

Bars can be frozen. Simply bake, cool, cut; store in ziploc bag. Reheat individually for 30 seconds in microwave.

Make sure you read all ingredients and nutrition info to ensure recipe is gluten free/vegan, if that is what you desire.

Love life, y'all. They were delish. 

Peanut Butter Eggs

It's Easter, y'all. So I made Peanut Butter Eggs. I am Also visiting the boyfriend's parents, so I fled that it was natural to bring a gift. It was caramel corn (last post) and peanut butter eggs. The recipe can be found here.

The recipe was pretty easy to understand. 

Homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs
Yield: About 15 eggs (depending on how big you make them)

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• 1¼ cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips (or 12 ounces milk chocolate, chopped)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar over medium heat. Heat until completely melted and starting to bubble a little, stirring constantly. 
   
3. Remove from the heat. Add the powdered sugar a ¼ cup at a time, stirring until completely combined with the peanut butter mixture after each addition. Put in fridge to cool.
   

1. Using a medium cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon, scoop out peanut butter mixture and shape into eggs. I found it easiest to roll the scoop into a ball, and then roll it into a short cylinder. I placed it on the baking sheet, and then used my fingers to shape the ends into an egg-like oval. Freeze to allow the peanut butter eggs to set, about 30 minutes or until hard.
   
2. Once the peanut butter eggs are set, melt the chocolate chips and shortening together in the microwave on 50% power in 30-second increments, stirring after each, until completely melted. One at a time, dip a peanut butter egg into the chocolate and, using a fork, flip it over so it is completely covered. Remove it from the bowl, letting any excess chocolate drip off. Return it to the baking sheet, and repeat with all of the peanut butter eggs.
   
   Sprinkle with decorations, if desired. Return the chocolate-covered peanut butter eggs to the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to set, about 30 minutes. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Okay, maybe I went a little overboard with the sprinkles.

Enjoy!!

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.

Caramel Corn Like Whoa

Spring Break + Easter + Bad Romance Movies on Netflix + Baking = Happy Me. 

I am using the Tough Mudder as an excuse to eat and bake more. Gotta have lots of padding when I fall off those 12 feet walls, right? 

So this happened. 

And so did this.

Peanut Butter Easter Eggs and Microwave Caramel Corn. More to come on the eggs later. Let's focus on the caramel corn I have been using and recreating the Caramel corn recipe for a while now. Last Christmas I used it for gifts.

So, I will tell you all my secrets. Here are the ingredients.

I apologize for the super sketchy screen shots. But I wanted you to get the recipe, and not just have to direct you to allrecipes.com to find it on your own. And here are the directions.

I basically followed the directions. Mostly. I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon. You start out with popped popcorn.

I dumped that stuff into a huge paper bag. I also made sure to spray it. One review said it worked... And I've always had issues with it sticking to the sides.

Big ol' bag. You then mix all the other ingredients together (minus the baking soda.) Looks like this.

After you add the baking soda, it foams up and looks like this (my fave part).

Mix it!

First, let's take note of my pajama pants and mismatched socks (it was 5pm). 

Just as the recipe suggests, you do a mixture of shaking, microwaving, shaking, and moving with a spatula. I microwaved at 30 second intervals... Unlike the 1 1/2 minutes that the recipe suggests. Then lay it out on a pan.

Oh it's glorious.

I also added nuts. Mixed nuts. I put them in so they were also coated in the mixture. They were fine in the microwave.

Then I added drizzled white chocolate, and other chunks of candy.

Are you drooling yet?

Pretty uncomplicated, right? And on that note, I will leave you with this pic. It started growing and I want to see how big it gets.

Pre-Palm Sunday Parties

I honestly did not think I was going to make it to Spring Break. But it's finally here, and I'm free until next Tuesday. In that time, I have the task if completing Tough Mudder number 3 and directing the choir on Easter Sunday. Naturally, I needed to bake things. Or make some No Bakes. Ha. 

These are a little different from the original peanut butter and chocolate cookies. The recipe is listed below.

Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

Rating: 5

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 9 minutes

Yield: 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3 cup quick cook oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cup Reese's Pieces (I used a combo of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips because that's what I had)

Instructions

1. In a large pot, add sugar, milk and butter. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for one full minute. Remove from heat. Add vanilla, salt and peanut butter. Stir until smooth. Fold in oats, stirring until completely combined. Fold in candy.**

(Not Boiling)

(Boling!)

1. Lay out a large piece of parchment paper on counter. Using two spoons, drop cookie dough by large tablespoon onto paper. Allow to set (about 20 minutes). Store in a covered, airtight container. ENJOY!

I could live on peanut butter. Alone.

**I did not fold the candy in, but instead pushed them down onto the cookies after I dropped them on On to wax paper. I didn't want the candies to melt or look unapealing, so I figured this would prevent that. I liked the way they looked much better.

This is a huge feat for me because for the longest time I would make no bake cookies, but they would never solidify when they cooled down. They tasted fabulous, but would be mushy and fall apart. 

The trick is letting them boil for a minute. And this is a full on boil... Not just small bubbles. It should be a rising, rolling boil. I have found that doing this for too long rather than too short is almost better. 

My mistake before was that I didn't let the mixture boil long enough before I removed it from the heat.

Anyway, I made these puppies and watched them disappear in the course of 1 hour at a party. I would say they were a success. 

Peanut Butter Cups/Squares

All you need to know is that they taste like gold.

This recipe involves 4 ingredients and a fridge/freezer. How awesome is that? 

They are totally misshapen, but that's okay. Also, this recipe could totally double as a peanut butter Easter eggs if you roll them into eggs instead of out flat. 

This is the recipe I followed:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used Jif creamy) 
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips, about 1 cup

1.  Stir all ingredients until well blended. (If it is too difficult to stir, 10-20 seconds in the microwave will soften up the peanut butter.)  Form into a ball.

2.  Place mixture on parchment paper and roll out to 1/2 an inch thickness. Cut into 1 inch squares. Place on parchment or wax paper, and freeze while you melt the chocolate.

3.  In a microwave safe bowl, microwave half of the chocolate chips at thirty second intervals until fully melted.  Stir in remainder of chips.  Continue to stir until the new chips are almost melted.  Microwave for 10-20 more to ensure all chocolate is fully melted and a smooth, flowing consistency.  Use a fork to dip the squares in chocolate. Set on parchment paper. Refrigerate until the chocolate sets. (1st picture is final product before they have set)

I took them out of my apartment and gave them to the boyfriend IMMEDIATELY. 

1. Because I already licked the chocolate off of all the spatulas. 

2. Peanut Butter Cups are his favorite candy. 

3. Out of sight, out of mind. 

And with that, I am going to leave you with a picture of the best feeling in the world:

Look away.