October 15: No-Bake Wheat and Peanut Butter Bars

No-Bake Wheat and Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup or honey
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped, lightly salted peanuts
3 cups spoon-size Shredded Wheat cereal, coarsely crushed

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with nonstick foil.
2. Mix the sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter in a large, microwave-safe mixing bowl; microwave on high for about 1 minute, or until hot and bubbly. Stir in the vanilla, peanuts, and cereal. Mix well and transfer to the prepared pan. Press down tightly and chill until firm. Lift from pan, set on a cutting board, and cut into 24 bars.

Peanut butter, brown sugar, corn syrup

Addition of vanilla

Addition of crushed cereal and peanuts

Thoughts: Another easy recipe because it was no bake. It probably took 10 minutes to put together and then I popped it in the fridge for a couple of hours. We both thought it was just ok...for me, I tend to not like these types of flavors. Ordinarily I don't like shredded wheat at all.

This Week's Concoctions Ending 8/6

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

Blueberry Cream Pie with premade crust (of course!). There is a layer of cream cheese and cool whip underneath the blueberry filling.

Blueberry Cream Pie

Nutella brownies which took forever to make....the recipe said to bake them for 30-35 minutes, but I ended up leaving them in the oven for probably 50-55 minutes. They were pure mush when I took them out at 32 minutes.

Nutella Brownies

These were supposed to be peanut butter cheesecake cookies but I couldn't taste the "cheesecake" at all.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cookies

This Week's Concoctions Ending 6/18

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

This week I forgot to take pictures of a couple of things that I made....like sweet and sour beets and peanut butter lush (cake bottom, chocolate pudding middle and peanut butter-cool whip top).

Kit Kat Cake

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pizza

June 3: Mud Bars

Mud Bars

Ingredients:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 3/4 cups butterscotch chips
1 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
2 cups, dry roasted lightly salted peanuts
2 cups mini marshmallows

1. Line a 9 inch square pan with nonstick foil.
2. Combine the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter in a large saucepan; heat on medium-low heat, stirring often, until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the peanuts and marshmallows.
3. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan and chill for at least 2 hours. Grasp the foil, lift from the pan, set on a cutting board, and cut into 30 pieces. The mud should remain stored in the refrigerator and will keep for a couple of months in an airtight container.

Thoughts: This was a VERY easy recipe. The only variation that I made was that I topped it with peanuts instead of mixing them in. It makes a very rich and thick piece of chocolate. It was good. It tasted mostly of chocolate (obviously) and peanut butter...not so much butterscotch. Patrick didn't think he would like it because of the thickness and texture, but it got a thumbs up!

February 28: Stir and Bake Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

Stir-and-Bake Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (2.3 oz) white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vanilla flavored protein powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons (1 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
5 tablespoons turbinado (raw) sugar
1 tablespoon mild molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil or parchment paper.
2. Mix the flour, protein powder, salt and baking soda together in a small bowl; set aside.
3. Beat the butter, applesauce, sugar, molasses, vanilla and peanut butter together in a second bowl. Stir in the egg. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and stir until blended. Add the chocolate chips and stir.
4. Scoop up tablespoonfuls of dough and shape them into neat rounds. If you don't want to bake all the dough at once, just scoop up what you need and chill the rest. The cookies don't spread much or change shape much, so try to make the mounds of dough look nice rather than scruffy. Arrange the mounds evenly apart on the baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, or until the cookies appear set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I actually had all these ingredients on hand except the applesauce!

I used all purpose flour even though I had whole wheat because I didn't have "white whole wheat"

This was before I added the flour mixture. The picture doesn't accurately show how dark the batter was

Ahh...much better.

Thoughts: This was a very straightforward recipe. I had some extra time so I thought why not? and made this cookie. I doubled the recipe because the original only yields 12. I used a rounded tablespoon to get the circle shape and baked them for about 11 minutes. This was a soft, lighter, fluffier cookie. I liked it quite a bit.  It mostly tastes like peanut butter. I didn't tell Patrick about the protein powder until after he said he liked it :)

February 24: Peanut Butter Rocky Road Bars

Peanut Butter Rocky Road Bars

Base
8 tablespoons (4 oz) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup (3.4 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups mini marshmallows
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup lightly salted peanuts
Milk or dark chocolate, for melting and drizzling

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Line a 9 inch square pan with nonstick foil.
2. Make the base: In a microwave safe mixing bowl, microwave the butter on high for 30 seconds, or until melted. Stir in the cocoa powder and let the mixture cool. When cool, stir in the sugar, flour, salt and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat with the spoon, and then beat in the vanilla until the mixture is well-blended. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top appears set. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.
3. Make the topping: Soften the peanut butter for 8 to 10 seconds on high in the microwave and spread it over the brownies. Sprinkle the marshmallows, chocolate chips and peanuts over the peanut butter layer. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or just until the marshmallows puff up. Let cool in the pan. If desired, melt some milk or dark chocolate in the microwave using 50% power. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the rocky road topping. Let cool completely and then chill. When chilled, lift from the pan, set on a cutting board, and cut into 16 squares.

Melted peanut butter is so easy to spread!

I should probably work on my artistry skills!

Thoughts: I broke down and bought a 9 inch square pan for this recipe.  After the cream cheese brownies almost overflowed due to being stuffed into a smaller pan, I decided to buy one.  I really prefer glass pans but it is what Target had and I didn't feel like going somewhere else.  I used semi sweet chocolate chips for the melted chocolate on top.  I put about 1/2 cup worth in a glass measuring cup and waited until it melted and poured it on top. Then I used a knife to spread it out.  We weren't crazy about these bars.  They were very gooey.  Patrick thought that they were pretty gross and I thought that the brownie base was pretty bland.