Best Loved! Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Today I wanted to share with you  an especially good dessert recipe!  These are the crazy-amazing peanut butter chocolate bars I made a couple of weeks ago on that perfect fall day I told you about here! 

First if you don't already know, let me just say I'm a big-time dessert person.  We are a big dessert family!  I love baking and we all love eating dessert so we really have to watch our sweet eating habits.  Sometimes I'll make a batch of cookies or pan of brownies and I'll simply give them away, but I get the pleasure of baking and giving out of it. 

I've made no telling how many different dessert recipes over the past 11 years of my married life...most of the best ones I've shared on here.  One kind of dessert treat that I especially love are bars.  They always tend to be chewy and gooey and are a one pan kind of dish that you basically just dump everything in and bake it!

These peanut butter chocolate bars are some of the very best bars I've ever made!!!  Ever!

They are very rich and gooey when warm, and they have the sweet and salty factor going on!  The crunchy peanut butter and coconut add great texture and that thick chocolate filling?!!  To die for.

Puleeease.  Do your favorite people in life a favor by making a pan of these.  They would be wonderful to take to a hayride or eat around a bonfire.  They would be fun for an indulgent dessert after a dinner party, or perfect for a weekend treat to eat as a family while playing your favorite games or watching a cozy movie!  Milk or rich dark coffee is required! 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Original Recipe from Aunt Peaches blog

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 c. crunchy peanut butter

8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter, melted or room temp

2 eggs

2 c. chocolate chips (I recommend bittersweet ones from Ghiradelli)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 c. flaked coconut (You may omit, but I would replace with 1/2 c. chopped peanuts.)

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. hot sauce (I left this out.)

I added about 1/4 tsp. salt

parchment paper

Preheat oven to 325 F. 

Line the bottom of 9x13 in. pan with parchment paper. (Easily found in stores near the foil)

In a bowl, mix the dry cake mix, butter, peanut butter, and eggs with a mixer.  It will come together looking like the consistency of play dough.) Set aside.

In a large saucepan on low heat, heat the sweetened condensed milk to a simmer, stirring constantly.  As soon as it starts bubbling in the middle, turn off the heat, and pour in the chocolate chips.  Stir again until the chocolate is melted in.  Once melted,  mix in the coconut, vanilla extract, hot sauce (if using) and salt.  The chocolate mixture will be warm and thick and gooey!

Divide out half of the yellow mixture you had sitting aside, and use your fingers or a spatula to smoosh it along the bottom of the pan.  If you need to borrow a bit from the other half of the mixture to cover the bottom, that's okay and probably expected! 

Then pour the chocolate sauce over the top and spread it all over.  Go back to the remaining yellow mixture and crumble it with your fingers, or just spread it over.  ( I sort of swirled it all around.)

Look at this!

Bake for 30 minutes.  They made seem underdone, but that's what they should look like.  Just lightly browned around the edges.

The original recipe calls for them to be thoroughly cooled before cutting, but I have to disagree here.  Wait at least 20 minutes, but then I say to dig in before they cool!  It may not cut into perfect squares but since when have we cared what something looks like if it doesn't taste as gooey and delicious that way?  I loooove a warm dessert fresh out of the oven!  Let me know what you think.

Eat, share and enjoy these amazing peanut butter chocolate bars!

Irresistable Peanut Butter-Graham Cracker Balls

 

This weekend Mr. Cozy and I invited some new friends that he works with over for a relaxing evening of homemade dessert and coffee. It was a small casual gathering, and we had a great time!  I love getting to know people over a bit of sugar and coffee.  One bite at a time!  

 

I had to serve a little bit of savory, too.  Enter the cheese and cracker plate!  Smoked cheddar, Havarti with dill, crackers and apple slices.  (The cheese was amazing!)  I think sometimes it's nice to have a bit of salty to accompany the sweet.

 

I captured a few snapshots of the kitchen just before everybody arrived.  The water pitcher and cheese and crackers were out in the living area, and all the desserts were together in the kitchen with the coffee. 

 

The afternoon sun rays were beautiful streaming through the kitchen window!

 

I love my cafe lights!  They're staying up until we put a new light fixture in the kitchen.  We haven't found the right one yet, but that's okay since these lights are so much fun!  I like some whimsy in my kitchen!

 

We still have a few updates to do in the kitchen.  In the meantime, I'm loving my butter yellow walls and the cottage feel a cozy galley-style kitchen provides!

 

 As you all know, this was a perfect time for me to try out a couple of new recipes. Everyone agreed they were delicious!!!  I made homemade peanut butter & graham cracker balls--rolling some in crushed salted peanuts--dark chocolate covered Fleur de sel caramels, and unbelievably delicious mud hen bars!  The bars will be featured very soon at Inspired By Family magazine!

 

The peanut butter-graham cracker balls are scrumptious!  The graham cracker crumbs give these a nice texture that's different than the usual buck-eyes. (Don't get me wrong I love those, too!) This treat fun and so easy to make!  I have a feeling this recipe is going to pop back into my kitchen at Christmas-time!  They would be a lovely gift to package up in some cute Chinese take out containers and give to family and friends! 

 

I have a couple left over right now in the fridge.  Hmmm.  If you'll excuse me, the smooth dark chocolate covered peanut butteriness is calling my name....

 

Hope you'll try these delicious treats out soon!

 

Peanut Butter-Graham Cracker Balls

Adapted from: Baby Gizmo Blog

 

1 c. Peanut Butter

 

1 1/2 c. Graham Cracker Crumbs, finely ground

 

1 1/4 c. baking chocolate, chopped

(I used equal parts semi-sweet and bittersweet.

Here it really helps to have a baking/melting chocolate versus chocolate chips.)

 

Optional: 3/4 c. chopped peanuts, mini chocolate chips, Heath toffee bits

(Used to roll the balls in.  I'd love to try the toffee bits, but my favorite were the ones simply dipped in chocolate.)

 

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Take your graham crackers and grind in a blender or food processor until you get 1 1/2 cups.  Add graham cracker crumbs to the peanut butter.

 

Mix it up well.  You want the mixture dry enough to make balls.  Here, I decided to add a heaping Tbsp. of powdered sugar.  The original recipe doesn't call for this, and you can do whatever you want.

 

Form 24 even sized balls with your hands and place on an aluminum foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Freeze for 30 minutes.

 

 

Melt half the chocolate in a double boiler until just melted.  (I used a glass bowl sitting over simmering water.)  Once melted, add the rest of the chocolate and stir until melted and glossy.  The more you stir, the glossier it becomes. 

 

 Place toppings in smaller separate bowls.

 

Using a toothpick, dip the balls in the chocolate and allow for some of the excess chocolate to drip off.  Proceed to roll them in the topping or place them back on an aluminum foil or wax paper lined baking sheet. 

 

Refrigerate until firm.  Keep in the fridge in a tightly sealed container.  Will keep for several days.

 

 

 

I'm joining friends at:

 

 

 

 

 



Decadent Peanut Butter Cookies!

Wow, the weather has been just perfect these past few days!  Sunshine and highs in the low 80's with a constant breeze....is this really August??  I'm lovin' these summer days!  

I've been in the mood to make some really good peanut butter cookies lately.  You know, that over-the-top kind with lots of peanut butter morsels and crunchy peanut butter, the kind that are chewy on the inside and a bit crumbly on the outside--indulgent peanut butter cookies!  Well, I finally found that perfect recipe over at Sugary Sweets, a great food blog that I've enjoyed following!  (Please check her recipes out, because she has some fabulous ones!) This is exactly the peanut butter cookie Mr. Cozy and I were craving!  I decided to make a batch while we were watching a movie Saturday night.  (I love my weekends with my husband!)

I know I say this a lot, but I love the aroma of something tasty baking in the oven.  There is nothing better, in my opinion, that says "home sweet home" than freshly baked cookies, warm bread or a bubbly pie sitting on the stove top when your family gets home or friends come by for a visit.  I am all about a comfy, cozy home that stimulates all the senses!  These delicious peanut butter cookies certainly gave me that warm fuzzy feeling!

I have a wonderfully easy family recipe, that I've always loved, for peanut butter cookies.  They are simple and delicious and I'll have to share them with you another time!  These peanut butter cookies that I'm sharing with you today are a bit more involved, but are filled with all that extra goodness!  Please give yourself the opportunity to make your home waft with welcome and your taste buds dance with delight with these decadent peanut butter cookies!  

Don't you love my fresh sunflower arrangement?   

As Mom has always said, they are a "happy" flower!

Decadent Peanut Butter Cookies

2 1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. butter flavored Crisco

1 1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter

1/3 c. milk

2 tbsp. vanilla

2 eggs

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 bags peanut butter morsels

Combine sugar, Crisco, peanut butter milk, vanilla.   Add egg.  Beat in flour salt, and baking soda.  Mix in morsels.

Drop by large Tbsp on cookie sheet.  Flatten with fork, making criss-crosses.

Bake at 375 for 10-13 minutes.  (I found that 9-10 minutes worked best for me.)

These make a large batch (about 4 dozen), so I divided the recipe in half for us.  

Enjoy!!!

I'm linking up with:

Peanut Brittle Topped Peanut Butter & Caramelized Banana Cream Pie

  
   Ok, so I'm on a bit of a dessert kick this summer!  I probably have the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know (other than my husband), and I find baking so much fun and easy to share with you.  I mean, you can't have enough dessert recipes, right??  Here's a recipe that I was inspired to make after watching a yummy episode of Bobby Flay's Throwdown on the Food Network.  The challenge was banana cream pie, and both Bobby and the competitor's looked A-mazing!!  I have never even thought about making a banana cream pie -- and honestly it's never been a favorite of mine -- until I saw these recipes.  I decided to combine them and make my own divine version of Peanut Brittle Topped Peanut Butter & Caramelized Banana Cream Pie!

I have to start off by saying that this pie is quite a process to make.  It's a pie that you may not always have all of the ingredients on hand (like cream cheese, a box of vanilla wafers, and heavy whipping cream...oh, and make sure you have 6 eggs) so you will need to plan ahead when making this.  Also, there are several steps, that include several hours of refrigeration, so you may want to make the filling the night before or first thing in the morning in order to actually slice and eat the pie the same day.  Trust me, all of this preparation is well worth the wait!

The beauty of this delicious pie is in the layers.  The first being the homemade vanilla wafer crust, then some the layers of fresh banana slices that are overlapping right on top of the crust.  The next layer is "the" layer of caramelized banana custard that you have slaved over the stove top to prepare.  This dreamy, creamy layer is what truly makes this pie the banana goodness that it is.  The next layer of the peanut butter whipped cream/icing that makes this banana cream pie unique and rich tasting. The peanut butter tastes SO good with the banana flavor in the pie. (This is something I love so much I may add it to other pies or cakes!) The final layer, my personal contribution to the pie, is crushed peanut brittle all over the top to add a crunch that pairs perfectly with all of the creaminess!  Try this pie for a special occasion and you'll be glad I shared it with you!

Peanut Brittle Topped Peanut Butter & Caramelized Banana Cream Pie

*The Crust
3/4 of one box of Vanilla Wafers, crushed
1 stick of butter, melted
2 Tbsp. sugar

Combine together in a bowl until the butter is evenly distributed and the mixture looks like wet sand.  Pour in a large pie plate, and push down and around with the bottom of a flat glass or measuring cup. Or, you can  do what I did and press down with a slightly smaller pie plate to quickly and evenly spread the mixture in the pie plate and up the sides!  Then bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

*The Caramelized Banana Filling
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
3 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 ounces cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
6 egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup cold heavy cream
Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar is melted and the mixture is caramelized, about 4 minutes. Add the bananas and cook until bananas start to break down, and caramelize on both sides. Add 2 cups of the milk, bring to simmer and scrape the bottom and sides of pan and carefully transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth; bring to a simmer.

In a bowl whisk the sugar, cornstarch and salt together until combined. Add the remaining 1 cup of milk and whisk until the cornstarch is dissolved. Whisk this mixture into the banana mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes.Whisk together the remaining tablespoon of brown sugar and yolks in a small bowl until smooth. Ladle some of the thickened mixture into the egg mixture to temper the yolks. Pour the yolk mixture into the pot and cook until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes, WHISKING THE ENTIRE TIME. Once the mixture has thickened let it come to a boil for exactly 1 minute, whisking a few times. Remove from the heat,wisk in the vanilla and strain through a coarse mesh strainer into a bowl.

Cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until set, at least 4 hours and up to 12 hours. Once pudding is set, whip the custard in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment on high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add the heavy cream and whip until light and fluffy, about 20 seconds longer.

Transfer the filling into your cooled pie shell. Place plastic on top and let chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. 

*Peanut Butter Whipped Icing
3 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. creamy peanut butter (do not use freshly ground)
2/3 c. chilled heavy whipping cream
Peanut Brittle, coarsely chopped

In a large mixing bowl, whip together cream cheese, and powdered sugar until creamed.  Add the vanilla extract and whip in.  Next, add the peanut butter and mix together well.
In a separate medium mixing bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream on high, until firm peaks form.  Once you have made the whipped cream, gradually add it to the peanut butter-cream cheese mixture, folding it in.  Be careful to not stir this together too roughly, because you want to maintain the integrity of the whipped cream in the topping.
You will spread this evenly over the top of the filling in the pie pan.  Top with as much crushed peanut brittle as you like!