"Just like Reese's" Peanut Butter Bars

If you like Reese's Peanut butter cups, you'll love these! They are super easy to make, and I actually had everything in my cupboard already. I left the graham crackers a little chunky for some texture, but you can crumble them up to dust if you want :) I also stuck mine in the freezer, I love my desserts cold! mmmm..... enjoy!

Peanut Butter Layer:

1/2 c. butter

1 3/4 c. powdered sugar

1 c. peanut butter

3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs


Chocolate layer:

1/4 c. butter

1/2 c. milk chocolate chips

*Line an 8×8, 9×9, or 7×11 pan with foil for easy removal of bars later.

Directions:

Peanut butter layer: On low heat, melt 1/2 c. butter. Remove from heat and stir in confectioner’s sugar. Add peanut butter and graham cracker crumbs, stirring until creamy. Spread mixture evenly into pan. Refrigerate while making chocolate layer. 

Chocolate layer: On low heat, melt butter. Add chocolate chips and stir until chips are nearly melted and very soft. Remove from heat and continue stirring until chocolate is smooth and shiny. Spread over peanut butter layer. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cut into bars.

Store peanut butter cup bars in refrigerator or freezer.

Makes 16 or more bars

Coconut Lemon Cake

It was my husband's birthday yesterday and I asked him what he wanted for cake. He went from apple pie, banana cream pie, and then on to ice cream cake. The night before his b-day he said he would like a cake with lemon filling. I couldn't find any recipes that looked reputable, so I made a white cake with Lemon Filling and a Coconut Buttercream Frosting. :) It turned out pretty yummy! We were in a hurry to leave so I wasn't able to get a great picture, but I know I'll make it again, so here some for the meantime.

It was super easy to make, so here ya go!

Bake any white cake as directed on box and divided between 2 9 inch round pans. Cool completely.

Make frosting while cake is cooling.

Cut top of both cakes so they will be level. Place lemon filling on top of one of the cakes, right side up. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes to set filling. Place other cake, cut side down on top of lemon filling. Frost with a crumb coat, refrigerate for 45 minutes, then finish frosting cake.

You could decorate however you wish, but I pressed shredded coconut on the outside of the cake. Enjoy :)

Coconut Creme Frosting:

1 C. Butter, softened, not melted

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 box (16 oz) +1 C. Powdered Sugar

1/2 c. Coconut Creme Coffee Creamer

Mix butter with electric mixer till smooth and creamy. Add 1 tsp. vanilla. Slowly mix in powdered sugar. When mixture is fluffy and powdered sugar is thoroughly mixed, add milk slowly until it reaches desired consistency. You may use more or less creamer depending on how you like it.

Fluffy, Amazing, Pumpkin Cookies!

These cookies are so good! Even people who don't like pumpkin go crazy over them. They are so moist, and are kind of like a bread/cake. I like them with or without the frosting. I think the problem is that they taste kinda healthy. I can eat like 5 at a time and not feel guilty. That's totally awful, but they are worth the extra calories and extra hour of kickboxing to burn them off! lol! :)

The Original (with penuche frosting):

Original, Pumpkin with mini chocolate chips, and "The Works" (Mini chocolate chips & frosting)

This is my dog Harley, waiting for me to look away so he could jump and eat my cookies!

Pumpkin Cookies with Penuche (brown butter) Frosting:

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• Frosting:
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together shortening, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and white sugar. Mix in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; mix into the creamed mixture. Stir in walnuts. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on wire racks.
4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the 3 tablespoons butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute, or until slightly thickened. Cool slightly, then stir in the milk, and beat until smooth. Gradually stir in 2 cups powdered sugar until frosting has reached desired consistency. Drizzle on cooled cookies.

*I made these without the frosting, but added mini chocolate chips, and they were really yummy!

Mini Reese's Brownies

My sister Paula made these for Halloween, and they were AMAZING! They are little brownie bites with a miniature Reese's pressed into each one and then topped with peanut butter frosting! YUMMY! And they are so EASY to make :)

All you have to do is:

1. Make a brownie mix as directed on the box.

2. Line mini muffin tins with paper liner, and fill half way with brownie mixture.

3. Cook about 10 minutes, or until you stick a toothpick in it and it comes out clean.

4. Immediately after taking out of oven place a miniature Reese's into the middle of each cupcake until level with brownie.

(if the cooked brownie has expanded all the way to the top of the liner, don't worry it won't overflow! It magically stays the same height)

5. Cool, and top with frosting of your choice. :)

SO EASY!

My peanut butter frosting:

1 jar of pillsbury vanilla frosting mixed with 1/4 cup of peanut butter.

(This time I was lazy and just used the jar frosting because it was quick--but it was good with the peanut butter mixed in!)

Best Ever Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Coconut

My favorite cookies in the world are the Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies from Paradise Bakery.... They are so amazing!!! I tried out this recipe and think they could easily rival Paradise. If you have had the one's from Paradise, you know that is a BOLD statement. But I am the toughest critic when it comes to my baking, and I think they are pretty close. So, try them, they are super easy, and let me know what you think...

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Coconut:

1 1/4 c. oatmeal

1 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. flaked coconut

1 c. choc. chips (I use milk choc. chips)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. oil

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients, then add oil, egg and vanilla.

Mix thoroughly and add in chocolate chips.

Drop with cookie scooper onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 325 for 12 minutes. ENJOY!!!!

Checkerboard Cake!

Okay, It's finally done, and I had to wait all day and after dinner to cut into it and see if it worked....and... It looked really cool inside, I just wished the cake part would have tasted better. :( It was kinda dry. The batter needed to be really thick to hold it shape in the circles and not blend together, so maybe a pound cake would work?? If anyone has a good cake recipe that has thick batter....please let me know. :)

Oh the other hand, I made homemade Chocolate mousse for the filling, which was AMAZING!!! So amazing that I ate so much of it while frosting it, that I can't even look at it anymore...

Well, here are some pictures of the Cake:

Ta, Da! The Inside:

It may not be perfect, but I am sure that the pictures on the box are totally fake. I don't think that it is possible to get it Absolutely Perfect... at least that's what I have to tell myself so I don't go crazy!

My hubby's birthday cake!

Okay, so I was trying to think of a really yummy cake to make my hubby for his birthday, which is Wednesday...Today! I was at Michael's looking for a cake frosting spreader, and I saw Checkerboard Cake pans.

I thought, that looks hard, but how difficult could it be, plus it looks really cool! Anyway, I bought the thing, brought it home and saw that there is a recipe on the box that you are supposed to use. I looked online and everyone who said they used that recipe said it was dry. So I went looking for another. I found one which was made for the William Sonoma Cake pan, which I decided to attempt.

After two full pages of recipe and 2 1/2 hours later, they are finally out of the oven! Holy Moly! That was the biggest pain in the rear...let me tell you! I am OCD, when it comes to baking. I want everything to be perfect. So it took me FOREVER to get the batter into the pans evenly. Now it is one in the morning, and I am waiting for the cupcakes to be ready with the extra batter I had left. I am so exhausted!

Well, I think I hear them beeping, so here are a few pics to show what I have gotten myself into!

Finally in the pans:

Yay! Oven time! The circles look even to me!

Now they are out of the oven, and they definitely aren't perfect circles, so hopefully they still turn out and will be a checkerboard when it is all done! Cross your fingers!!!

This is what it should look like tomorrow:

Please, Please, inside of cake.. look like that tomorrow!!!!

I am on a mission!

I'm on a mission to be good at blogging and photographing my food. We have a really good camera (Nikon D80), so I have the capability to take some really cool shots of my food. However, this camera is pretty high-tech(to me), and you have to use crazy settings to make pictures look good, so it takes practice! I took like 100 pictures while I was baking these Chocolate Chip cookies, and think I came out with a pretty good one. I also took pics of my new adorable cake stand that has red ribbon with white polka dots! So cute!

Anyway, on to the SWEETS....These chocolate chip cookies turn out AMAZING every time, and I don't know if I will ever use another recipe! I would keep this recipe to myself, but the secret is too amazing not to share! Anyway, here they are:

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

1 c. unsalted butter (softened...but not melted)

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 c. flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

*Milk Chocolate Chips

Hand mix the butter and both sugars until incorporated (I use a wooden spoon). Add vanilla and eggs. Sift dry ingredients together and add to mix. Mix thoroughly and add a whole package of milk chocolate chips. (I think the Ghirardelli ones are the best, Guittard are good too) Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, or until barely brown.

*You can use whatever chips you want. Milk chocolate chips are my favorite! This time I used half milk chocolate and half Reese's Peanut butter chips. They are so yummy! Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Madness!

I should have taken a picture of these all cut up to show the inside chunky texture....I will next time... Anyway, they were super yummy! They even tasted better the next day....even though I only had one little square, cuz that's all that was left.. :( "Thanks Justin"... Hehe... At least he was nice enough to think of saving me one....I'm sure it took lots of willpower!

*After I baked these I found out that Trader Joe's makes little mini peanut butter cups, about the size of chocolate chips. They would have been really good to use instead of the Reese's...or in addition! :)

Reese's Peanut Butter Blondies

1 c. AP flour

1/4 c. cake flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1/3 c. peanut butter (smooth)

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm

1 c. firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

3/4 c. peanut butter chips

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease or spray an 8X8 baking pan and line it with parchment paper or foil that overhangs the sides (you will use it to lift the blondies out of the pan).

Mix together the AP flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Whisk together (by hand) the melted butter and peanut butter. Add the brown sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Switching to a wooden spoon or a spatula, mix in the sifted flour mixture. Stir in the chips and peanut butter cups. The dough will be thick and chunky.

Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and spread it in evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating front to back halfway through. The bars are done when the dough is set and golden.

**Optional: you can press peanut butter cups into the surface of the blondies while they are still warm. Let the pan and bars cool completely on a cooling rack. Slice the bars into 4 quadrants--and then slice each quadrant into 4 squares. Try not to eat them all! :)

Yummy Sugar Cookies!

This Sugar Cookie recipe was always my favorite growing up. I remember my Sister-in-law Lynda made them once with a carrot cookie cutter. She put orange frosting on the bottom and green for the top leafy part. Not only were they adorable, they tasted so good! Dense and chewy with homemade cream cheese frosting. YUM!

*I made these heart-shaped cookies for Valentine's Day

Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

1 c. sugar

1 c. butter

3 oz. cream cheese (softened)

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together above ingredients and add 2-1/4 c. flour. Chill for 2 hours. Roll out on lightly floured surface and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 375 for about 7-10 minutes depending on size of cookie. I usually take them out when they are beginning to turn light brown on the edges. Cool on wire rack and frost...

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

1 cube butter (softened)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 lb. powdered sugar

Mix until light and fluffy.