Stuffed Double Peanut Butter Cookies

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Stuffed Double Peanut Butter Cookies

So this is the original oatmeal peanut butter cookie recipe i used:

http://mandysrecipebox.blogspot.com/2012/03/peanut-butter-oatmeal-cookies.html

I had a ton of peanut butter and since my sister has a cold, i wanted to make her something to cheer her up. unfortunately she is too congested to have any sense of taste, however I can verify that the cookies are AMAZING.

They are peanut butter oatmeal cookies.. stuffed with peanut butter filling. if it isn't already obvious, I love peanut butter.

for the oatmeal peanut butter cookies:

1/3 c. peanut butter 

3/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp.  salt

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1/2 c. butter, room temp

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg

3/4 c. quick oats

for the peanut butter filling:

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1/2 c. peanut butter

directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. combine all dry ingredients for the oatmeal peanut butter cookie dough and then add in wet, creaming in butter and peanut butter. 

3. in a separate bowl combine the powdered sugar and the peanut butter for the filling. form peanut butter stuffing mix into 1/2 inch balls. 

3. taking approximately 1 inch balls of oatmeal cookie dough, flatten the dough and place the stuffing in the center of the cookie dough 'patty'. then wrap the dough around the ball of peanut butter stuffing. The finished balls of dough with stuffing inside will be large, and will spread when they bake so only bake about 8 at a time to make sure there's enough room on the pan. 

4. bake cookies for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are golden brown and center is semi-set. let cool completely and store in airtight container for up to a week (but they wont last that long).

Enjoy!

vanilla peanut butter bars with pretzel crust

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vanilla peanut butter bars with pretzel crust

My best friend is approaching finals week and gave me a challenge: to create a dessert to fuel her studying with just a few ingredients most college kids would have. I took it. I may have to make a series out of it because there are so many possibilities! here's what i came up with for round 1 though. if you have pretzels, butter, peanut butter, sugar, eggs and any sort of chocolate chip, you are set!

pretzel crust
3. 5 cups crushed pretzels
1 cup (2sticks) butter
5 Tbs sugar

Peanut butter cookie layer-->  see note at bottom
2 cups peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
Optional: I added 2 tsp cinnamon, just cause i love it.

Vanilla Topping
1 pkg vanilla almond bark (equivalent to 2 bags of white chocolate chips)
-- this is where you can sub in any chocolate chips you like or have on hand

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. crush pretzels if not already done until you have 3.5 cups worth. melt butter in microwave safe bowl and stir in 5 Tbs sugar. once sugar is dissolved, add pretzels to bowl and stir until coated. press the pretzel mixture into the greased pan and bake for 8 minutes.

2. while pretzel crust bakes, mix ingredients for peanut butter cookie layer. allow pretzel crust to cool a few minutes and then press the peanut butter cookie dough onto the crust, being careful not to push too hard and break the crust below. this is a very wet dough so greasing hands with a little butter or cooking spray helps to prevent it from sticking to your hands as much. bake the pretzel and cookie dough for approximately 20 minutes or until the edges begin to brown and the center holds- will still be soft and seem slightly undone, but this dough continues to bake and harden.

3. while peanut butter cookie layer cools, melt the almond bark/ white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. be sure to check every 10-15 seconds and stir so that the topping doesn't scorch. once melted completely, pour over peanut butter cookie layer. can then garnish with more pretzel or peanuts, but be sure to do this step while the topping is still melted so that whatever you add sticks.

4. allow to cool completely and cut into bars

Now, I used vanilla almond bark, because, why not? milk or dark chocolate chips would also be amazing, or butterscotch if your into that. I limited myself to pretty basic layers because this recipe is intended to be very basic with common ingredients, but i am a huge advocate of doctoring things up. Add chocolate chips to the cookie layer, or raisins, or peanuts, add coconut to the top, or chocolate chips and do a white and milk chocolate swirl thing. the cookie layer is versatile and you can add what you like, you can also leave out the vanilla topping to make this a bit healthier.

also, if you don't have pretzels, you can sub in graham crackers for the crust and be just fine. if you don't have peanut butter... you can sub in nutella... yep. I went there. chocoholics of the world listen up. you can sub in nutella for the peanut butter. if you sub in chocolate chips for the white chocolate (or don't because nutella and white chocolate would be awesome too) you would have a great chocolatey amazing thing.. I'm going to try that next time i think.

--> peanut butter cookie layer: this dough can be made and then baked as a cookie as well and it works great! mix as indicated above and drop spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. bake for 8-10 minutes and be sure NOT to over bake, the bottoms burn easily.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Toffee Squares

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Chocolate Toffee Squares

You know those times where you MUST have something sweet/salty/chocolaty? today was one of those days. nothing was satisfying me. so i thought of all the things i was wanting and mashed them together and maybe its the cravings talking but I think it turned out mighty delicious.

note that this recipe can be tweaked. add a little more reese's if you like them, or more toffee if you prefer that. or less of other. really it is up to you. this is what I had on hand, and what I craved.

3 layers to this recipe:

1- pretzel crust.

2.5 cups crushed pretzels
5 table spoons sugar
1 cup butter

2- brownie layer

1 pouch betty crocker brownie mix
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
2 tbs water

3- reese's & toffee layer

approximately 20 reese's peanut butter cups, unwrapped and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup toffee bits (I like the bit o brickle by hershy)- you can use more if you like toffee!


Directions:

first off, preheat oven to 400 degrees, and grease a baking dish. I used a 9 x 13, but an 8 x 8 would make the bars thicker, and likely even more epic.

1. melt butter in microwave safe dish in, and stir in sugar once until disoveled.

2. pour butter over the pretzel crumbs and stir until evenly mixed.

3. press the mixture into your baking dish, and bake at 400 for about 6-7 minutes.

4. while the pretzel crust cools, mix your brownies according to the package directions. for this step, any store bought or even homeade recipe will do. make as prepare as usual, and pour batter over pretzel crust, bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees this time!.

5. take brownies out and evenly spread the chopped reese's over the top of the brownie layer- the brownies may not be set and the reese's will sink in and that's ok!

6. sprinkle the toffee bits over the reese's layer. As much toffee as you like!

7. return to oven for another 10-15 mins. Reese's will have melted and a tooth pick should come out relatively clean.

-Its ok for the brownies to not be completely done, the bars will stay held together because of the pretzel crust.

8. allow the entire pan to cool (I couldn't wait that long to be honest) and cut into squares.

NOTE: bake times may vary if using an 8 x8 pan, so adjust accordingly. things will take longer to bake through!

Enjoy!

'Light' Cranberry Orange Muffins

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'Light' Cranberry Orange Muffins

So I made this recipe for my Mom's birthday, as a treat she could have that would fit her diet- which is in place for medical reasons. But I love them too because, really, who doesn't want to eat muffins without the 'muffin top' appearing on their waist immediately after?

So I took my favorite cranberry orange bread recipe and tailored it to meet my needs. The original is here:
http://oceanspray.com/Recipes/Corporate/Breads---Muffins/Classic-Cranberry-Nut-Bread.aspx?courses=BreadsMuffins

As I continue to bake, I have learned there are a ton of substitutions for things if your missing something, and also healthier versions of almost everything. I pretty much just pulled out all the stops here to come up with something that fit for me. Swapping splenda for sugar, egg whites for egg, apple sauce for shortening, and fresh orange juice for bottled- which often has added sugar. You could easily make this even healthier by subbing in whole wheat flour, or one cup whole wheat, one cup all purpose. whole wheat flour makes the muffins a little more hearty, but I didn't go that route because my mother is a staunch believer in white flour, white rice, white pasta. Growing up italian means lots of carbs, and changing recipes is a sin. therefore, anything "healthified" with whole grains- unless specified in the original recipe hand written by a little italian mamma in italy- is unacceptable.

In the name of health though, almond flour, soy flour, whole wheat flour or oat flour might be good options? you may need to tweak the amount of leavening agents (baking powder and soda) to get the right amount of fluff though.

I also do want to note that unless you have a health reason, using a whole egg rather than egg whites wont add many calories/fat and the yolk does help to keep the muffins tender.

Here's how I did it:

2 cups All purpose flour
1 cup splenda
1/4 cup egg whites
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs natural unsweetened apple sauce
1 Tbs vanilla extract
2 fresh squeezed oranges
Zest of 2 whole oranges
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped- (if frozen make sure they do not have added sugar)

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix all dry ingredients, and all wet ingredients separately. Add wet ingredients to dry- the dough may 'fizz' . this is normal, it's because of adding the orange juice to the baking soda.  stir all ingredients together. add in cranberries, if using frozen, stirring them in frozen is just fine.

3. In greased muffin tins, or using muffin baking cups, add dough to the tins so that each muffin tin is about 3/4 way full. bake muffins for 10- 15 min or until golden brown and tooth pick comes out clean. keep in mind- when using splenda things may not brown as much as they normally would and may also bake a little faster so keep an eye on them. If you like sugar on top of your muffins, sprinkle each muffin with a bit of sugar (the real stuff, not splenda, it won't work) with about 5 minutes remaining on their bake time.

4. Remove from tins and allow to cool, but only enough so that they won't burn your mouth. slather with butter (not healthy... but somethings simply can not be replaced) and devour.

Oh.. also, while you binge on muffins, don't feel bad. Each muffin has approximately 87 calories, 2.5 grams of sugar, and is fat free! slathering with butter/etc will add to this amount.. but really? with only 87 calories per muffin go ahead and eat a whole stick of butter with it if you want!


Enjoy!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

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I have added a twist to this delicious creation.  Pretzels instead of peanuts!

The original recipe: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/peanut-butter-cookie-candy-bars/ec3f7334-a3b9-498a-9966-39fc6246b50c

My Version:

Cookie Base:
1 pouch peanut butter cookie mix
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 egg

Peanut Butter Filling:
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3 tablespoons peanut butter
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
3 1/2 cups powered sugar

Caramel Layer:
1 (14 oz) bag of caramels, unwrapped
2 tablespoons water
1.5 cups very coarsely chopped pretzels

Chocolate topping:
4 oz mini reeses cups
1 lb milk chocolate (either bulk or chips)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cookie base as directed on package. Grease 9 x 13 inch baking dish, and press cookie dough into baking dish. Bake 15 mins, or until edges brown and center is baked through. A toothpick should come out clean when poked into center of baking dish. Allow to cool completely.

2. With electric mixer, mix together corn syrup, peanut butter, vanilla, and water. Add sugar in increments and mix until all powdered sugar is blended into 'dough'. The filling will be thick. Spread the filling on top of the peanut butter cookie dough. Chill in refrigerator.

3. While the filling chills, place unwrapped caramels and water in microwave safe bowl, and melt the caramels in the microwave. Melt as directed on package. Stir as needed. Once melted, spread the caramel layer over  the peanut butter filling. Generously sprinkle the pretzels over the caramel layer, lightly pushing them into the caramel. Chill while preparing chocolate.

4. Melt chocolate in double boiler or in a microwave. To melt in the microwave, place chocolate in microwave safe bowl in large chunks (or chips). Melt chocolate for approximately 3 minutes on 50% power, and 30 second increments after that should ensure the chocolate will melt without burning. Stir every 45 seconds during first 3 minutes, then every 30 seconds. KEEP AN EYE ON IT! Sprinkle mini reeses onto chocolate layer.

note: if using milk chocolate chips, they may melt faster. adjust the time as needed, being careful not to burn the chocolate.

5. Spread melted chocolate over caramel layer, and refrigerate until chocolate is set. About an hour. Cut into bars.

Yeild: 24 large bars