Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been meaning to blog about these for weeks now! I am a sucker for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies! I just can't seem to get enough of them! I grabbed this recipe off of My Kitchen Cafe and got straight to work. Heaven! Pure heaven!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

(makes 4-5 dozen)

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups peanut butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 T milk

1 1/2 t vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 cups chocolate chips (I used 1/2 milk chocolate and 1/2 peanut butter chips)

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl combine butter and peanut butter and beat until it is light and fluffy.  Add the brown sugar and white sugar and mix until combined.  Add the eggs and mix for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture is well combined and light in color.  Add the milk and vanilla and mix again.  Add the dry ingredients and mix briefly.  While there are still large spots of flour, add the chocolate chips and then continue mixing until the flour is all mixed in. Let the cookie dough sit for 15 minutes before scooping onto cookie sheets.  It will firm up as it sits.

When ready to bake, scoop the dough onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.  Leave 1-2 inches between cookies to allow spreading.  Bake for 10-11 minutes, making sure to not over bake in the slightest.  Leave the cookies on the sheet for 2-3 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.  The cookies will look lightly undercooked but they will firm up as they cool.  (My cookies didn't flatten out very much so I had to flatten them with the back of a spoon as soon as they came out). Cool completely.

These are Super good frozen too!

Day 114 - PB & Fluff Brownies

We received our order of Marshmallow Fluff yesterday.
Woo Hoo!
12 TUBS of the stuff!
My son's excited because he knows there won't be a shortage for quite some time.

So, between being inspired by our old favorite, the Fluffernutter, and my middle daughter' request for something chocolate, I decided to combine (hopefully) the two.
I'm not making any promises, but here goes...

PB & Fluff Brownies

½ cup creamy peanut butter
6 tablespoons butter
1½ cups Marshmallow Fluff
2 oz. (2 1-oz squares) unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 300ºF.
Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking dish.
Combine 2 tablespoons butter and peanut butter in a small saucepan.  Heat contents over low heat and stir until well combined and butter is completely melted.
Place marshmallow fluff in a mixing bowl.  Add butter/peanut butter mixture and mix until completely incorporated; set aside.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate and remaining 4 tablespoons of butter.  Mix well.
Remove from heat and stir in the sugar, egg, salt, flour and vanilla; pour half of the brownie mixture into the baking dish.  Spread so that the whole bottom of the dish is completely covered.

The white stuff around the edges is the butter/flour spray I used.

Place approximately 9 dollops of peanut butter/fluff mixture on top of brownie layer.  Spreading gently, cover entire layer of chocolate.
Again, using dollops, place the remaining brownie mixture on top of the pb/fluff.  Spread gently so that the batter touches all edges of the pan.
Run a knife through the brownies to somewhat combine layers.

Place baking dish in oven and bake for 50 minutes.

These once again proved to me that I am better at this point following recipes instead of creating them.
Don't get me wrong, these were still good, but didn't bake  and resemble that picture I had in my head.
You know, the perfect picture that I was going to submit to Tastespotting.
No, not today.
So here's the story.  I baked these for 35 minutes at 300, took them out of the oven and let them cool completely (about 1/2 hour).  Seeing that they were extremely mushy (probably due to the amount of butter and relatively low baking temperature - those are my guesses and I'm stickin' to it), I decided to bake them again at 300 for another 15 minutes.
I didn't want them to get burnt, so 15 minutes was my time limit.
Almost success.
These were VERY rich and reminded me more of fudge than a brownie.  They were a little caky on the top, but waaaaayyyyyyyyyy moist on the bottom.
The taste of peanut butter was definitely present, but as with the     I think the marshmallow fluff was just completely SUCKED into the brownie batter because I couldn't see it as a separate layer.  But then again, oh yeah, I ran a knife through the final product to "kind of mix them" together.
Ah well, my job here is not done.
Whoops, I almost left without rating these.
I rate everything that I bake on a scale of 1-4 with a 4 being the best.  Based on a variety of input from the peanut gallery, these brownies earned 3 brownies.
No, not brownies, haha, rolling pins!  They earned 3 rolling pins!
Happy baking!

Day 40 - Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies

          *I've added a "print friendly" button on the bottom of the posts so that the recipes can be printed out and you can opt to have them with or without the pictures.*
     Wow!  Day 40.  It seems like it's been longer, but there's still such a looooong way to go - 325 recipes to be exact.  Yikes!  I feel like I do when I go to an Italian restaurant and have a bowl of pasta in front of me.  I keep eating and eating, but it seems like it's an unending bowl and that I don't even make a dent in it.  Which brings me to the question...Why?  Why on earth am I doing this?  It wasn't like I needed something to do because there is plenty around this house that could be worked on, finished, cleaned, etc.  And certainly having so many baked goods in the house can't be healthy.  I'm interested to see the weigh-in (ok, NOT really) because I'm feeling a little more voluptuous this week and not in a good way.  I know I've gained something which really makes me want to pull out those P90X DVDs.  Yup, maybe I won't bake tomorrow and we'll all just exercise!  Haha, my son without even looking at what I'm typing sees that today is day 40 and says, "Wow, it's really day 40?  I can't believe we all haven't gained any weight!"  Ah, my dear sweet, sweet boy.  No wonder your momma loves you so much!
     No, I'm kidding - I'll be baking again tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure it'll be something for dinner instead of something sweet.  We'll see how I feel when I wake up in the morning.
     Today I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies.  I saw them posted on Joy the Baker.  I've got her site listed under my Delicious Blogs.  She's got some really awesome recipes on her site and I love her writing, especially the story under her posting of Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake.  Very funny!

     Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies 
     from Joy the Baker

     makes 9 large brownies
     adapted from Martha Stewart
    
     For the Brownie:
     8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
     2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
     4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
     1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
     3/4 cup granulated sugar
     3 large eggs
     1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
     2/3 cup all purpose flour
     ½ teaspoon baking powder
     ¼ teaspoon salt
     coarse sea salt for topping

     For the Peanut Butter Filling:
     4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
     ½ cup powdered sugar
     3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
     ¼ teaspoon salt
     ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

     large handful of pretzel sticks

     Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 325ºF.  Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan.  Line with parchment paper so that it overhangs on two sides and grease the parchment paper as well.
     Boil two inches of water in a medium saucepan.  Combine butter, unsweetened chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate and coffee powder (if using) in a heat proof bowl and place over simmering water.  Stir until chocolate and butter are melted.  Use a pot holder to remove the bowl from the double boiler and let mixture cool slightly.  Stir in vanilla extract.
     In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
     Whisk granulated sugar into the chocolate and butter mixture. 

Make sure the chocolate mixture isn't too hot and whisk the eggs into the mixture one at a time.
     Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and spoon into prepared pan.

     To make the Peanut Butter Filling, whisk together peanut butter, melted butter, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract until smooth.

     Pour the peanut butter mixture on top of the brownie batter and use a butter knife to swirl the two together. 

Arrange pretzel sticks on top of the brownie batter in whatever pattern makes you happy.  

Top with a few sprinkles of coarse sea salt.  Bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out mostly clean or maybe with just a few crumbs.
     Let cool for about 30 minutes before slicing and enjoy!  (Good luck with being patient enough to "let it cool".)

     I love the combination of chocolate, peanut butter, salt and pretzels.  It is really good and reminds me of those Hershey Take 5 candy bars that I love so much.  I was glad the parchment paper was suggested in addition to greasing the pan because I think it would have been a very big mess trying to remove them.  The coarse sea salt on them was divine!  I used about 3-4 handfuls of pretzels, broke them apart and sprinkled them all over the top.  In Joy's picture she had the whole pretzels laid out over the top.
     This has gotten to be a lot of fun now because the whole family has a meeting of the minds shall we say about what the day's recipe should be rated (I think it makes them feel important ;-) ).  So, after much deliberation this evening, (our rating system (well, my rating system) which is based on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best), the family has decided that these brownies deserve 3 rolling pins!  Thank you, Joy for sharing it with us!
     Happy baking!

Day 23 - Peanut Butter Cookies

     I realized something today.  The past few days I have been glued to the internet perusing different food blogs and it is amazing the amount of time I can spend looking at one site which takes me to another site and leads me to another, and so on.  I'm sure you have all at one point experienced this.  It's like when I first started Facebook; looking at her friends led me to her friends, oh there's someone I know, and then there are her friends.  Hours and hours of internet time.  What I realized a few minutes ago, as I was looking at this one beautiful blog, was that...I am a victim of blog envy.  Oh my gosh, the pictures, the writing, the recipes. (sigh)  Now I want to stay glued to my computer 24/7, but the all-important baking won't be done and certainly my house would never be clean and we all know how much of a struggle that's been.  I know, it's only been three weeks, but I want to shoot for the moon, take this nationally, internationally even!   I know, it already is national and international because it's on the web and all this from a family shared computer and my husband's laptop.  I'm just letting you all know that I'm excited about where this is going and I have a good feeling, a really good feeling.  I'm blessed to have people actually reading this stuff.  AND to top it off, you are all telling me you're enjoying it!  For that I am extremely flattered and grateful.  So, for all of you who have joined us (me, myself and I) these past three weeks, I thank you and encourage you to stay along for the ride.  As I said, I am really excited about this and have been supported in many different ways.  Who knows what will happen next?
  
     Peanut Butter Cookies today, y'all.  It is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook Thirteenth Edition, p. 617; author, Marion Cunningham; publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, division of Random House; ISBN 0-394-56788-9.
     Peanut butter cookies have always been a favorite in this house.  My husband will eat them like there's no tomorrow with a big glass of milk.  This recipe calls for shortening, but I have another recipe using butter which I like the taste of better.  These were still quite good though.





Peanut Butter Cookies
     Will make 50-60 cookies
     The ingredients:
     1 cup shortening
     1 teaspoon vanilla
     1 cup granulated sugar
     1 cup brown sugar
     2 eggs, beaten
     1 cup peanut butter
     3 cups flour
     1/8 teaspoon salt
     2 teaspoons baking soda

     Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease some cookie sheets.  In a mixing bowl, thoroughly cream the shortening, vanilla, and sugars.

Add the eggs and beat well.

Stir in the peanut butter.  At this point, the dog came into the kitchen from the dining room.  He can smell peanut butter from a mile away and probably thought I was making his dog treats again, poor dog!

Mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda, and add to the peanut butter mixture, combining thoroughly.

Form into tiny balls with the palm of your hands and place on the cookie sheets.  Press each cookie twice with the back of a fork to make a crisscross design.

Bake about 8-10 minutes or until firm. (or bake and bake and bake until they are finally finished)

    
     They were tiny, pop-in-your-mouth size which was cool, but they took forever to bake on the larger cookie sheet.  I am not kidding, probably an extra 10 minutes making it a total bake time of 20 minutes if not longer.  I kept hitting the timer for another two minutes and was becoming extremely frustrated they were taking so long.  In the end it was all good though.  People liked them, but I prefer the buttery ones.
     The rating:  3 rolling pins!
     Happy baking! (still working on it)

Day - 11 Peanut Butter Brownies

I have realized that when you add something to your life something else must go.  Since starting this blog, I've added computer and baking time and have neglected the housework.  I know what I'll be doing once I drive the kids to school tomorrow morning.

This one comes from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook Thirteenth Edition, pg. 628; author, Marion Cunningham; publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; ISBN 0-394-56788-9.

Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies 
½ cup peanut butter
4 tablespoons butter, softened    
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped salted peanuts

Preheat the oven to 350º.  Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.  Combine the peanut butter and butter in a mixing bowl, and beat until smooth and well blended.  Add the brown sugar and vanilla and beat well, then add the eggs, and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, then stir and toss them together.  Add to the first mixture and beat until completely mixed.  Stir in the peanuts.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top appears dry and a toothpick in the center comes out barely clean.

 Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.  Cut in 2-inch squares.

     I omitted the nuts because we have a family member who doesn't like them.  The brownies were quite good, but I felt that there was something missing.  I think it's that I'm stuck believing that brownies need to have some chocolate in them.  I think these would be delicious with some chocolate chips or some melted chocolate swirled into the batter.
Happy baking!

Day 6 - Probably not a recipe you were expecting, but your best friend will love it!

      I've been attempting to plan out at least a few days in advance as to what I'll be baking each particular day.  The other day as I was in the bathroom I had a visitor.  It was not the first time I have had company in that small space and I'm sure it won't be the last.  If you're a mother or if you have any pets, you know what I'm talking about.  We no longer have toddlers, they're teenagers and I know if they caught me in the bathroom they'd be... how shall we say it?  Yeah, mortified and probably need years of therapy.  And my visitor was neither my husband or the family cat who has also been an uninvited guest.  The one who joined me was our 6½ year old Golden Retriever named, Brady.

Remember we are from Rhode Island, and are avid Red Sox and Patriots fans, so when we purchased our first family dog in August of '04 he had to have a New England connection.  As you dog lovers know, there is nothing like the unconditional love from your dog.  I never had one growing up, but my husband did.  I had resisted owning one when the kids were little because that was the last thing I felt we needed to add to the mix; three kids under the age of five was a lot for me.

     So, with those big brown eyes looking up at me, I decided that Brady should have something baked for him during this challenge, too.  I have to say that the kids were disappointed they wouldn't be taste testing anything today.  I offered them the treats, but they declined.  Before I became a stay-at-home mom in May I worked at a veterinary clinic for two years as the office manager.  At Christmastime one of my co-workers, Diane Isha, generously brought in some treats for our own personal dogs.  When I brought them home and gave one to Brady, he devoured it and absolutely LOVED them.  Diane has so wonderfully agreed to share her recipe with all of you and I know if you make them, your best friend will be very happy.  They are made with one of their favorites, peanut butter, not with who-knows-what they put in the store bought stuff.  :-/   They were very easy to make and inexpensive.  I didn't have any bone shaped cookie cutters, so I did buy some and found them at Michael's after thinking Petco would be the place.  As you now know, I hate to pay full price for anything and was very excited to be able to use my 40% off coupon that was in this week's Michael's add.  Score!

     Doggie Peanut Butter Treats

     Ingredients

     2 tbs. Corn Oil ( I used Canola Oil and they tasted the same.  Yes, I had one.  They're like a cookie without the sugar.  Hmmm...now there's a thought for another day.)

     1/2 cup Peanut Butter

     1 cup Water

     1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

     2 cups White Flour

     Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine oil, peanut butter and water.  Add flour 1 cup at a time then knead into firm dough.

Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with small bone shaped cookie cutter.  Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.  Makes 2½ dozen.

     I made 36 cookies from the dough, but I used different shapes.  Brady sat in the kitchen as if he knew that today was his special day.  He scarfed the two that I gave him and was so excited he almost took off my finger even after I told him, "gentle" which he does.  The house smelled like peanut butter, too!

     Now I'm off to watch "Chopped".  Tuesday night at 8 is the one hour during the week I demand the remote.  I love that show!  If you haven't seen it, check it out, it's on the Food Network.  Four chefs compete for $10,000 each week.  They are each given a basket with secret ingredients that they need to use to prepare an appetizer, entree and desert.  With each course the basket changes and it's so neat to see the food they create with the ingredients they're given.  I think I have the rest of the family addicted to it, too.
(Pictures will be uploaded in a little while - waiting to use my husband's laptop.  Now I know what I want for my birthday or Mother's Day!)

     Happy baking!

     

Peanut Butter Banana Blender Drink

This has been a breakfast that has been in my life since I can remember. I loved it (and still do) and now my kids love it. It brings back memories, it's healthy, and can pack some protein. So what are you waiting for, make this for breakfast!

Peanut Butter Banana Blender Drink

(about 2 servings)

1 ripe banana

1 spoonful of peanut butter

1 cup of milk

1/4 t vanilla

protein powder (optional, but so good)

ice

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. These measurements are just a guess, I alter the amounts to taste. So, if you LOVE peanut butter, add more. If you like it thick add more ice. You get the point!