Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again…I love cookies.  I especially love these cookies because they contain my most favorite food: peanut butter.  But not only do they contain peanut butter, they also have Reese’s Pieces in them AND chocolate chips!  I know, right?  AMAZING!

I bought a good sized bag of Reese’s Pieces to snack on, but after having them in the house for about a week, I realized how dangerous they were and I needed to devise a plan to get rid of them (without throwing them away, of course).  Cookies immediately came to mind.  Phew!  Crisis averted.

So, where did this recipe come from??  Whenever I find a new recipe on a blog or website, I usually print it out and throw it on my computer desk in our office.  As you can imagine, with all the wonderful blogs that I read, I have quite a stack of delicious recipes, especially cookie recipes, sitting there, just waiting for me to make them.  However, this recipe came from…the back of my peanut butter jar!  I look at that jar almost everyday, so no wonder the recipe was in my head! :)

In my usual baking-fashion, I made a few adjustments to the recipe.  First of all, I used butter instead of shortening because 1) shortening kinda creeps me out and 2) butter makes a softer cookie.  While gathering ingredients out of the pantry, I came across half a bag of chocolate chips and thought, “Hey, why not!”  Then, of course, I added the Reese’s pieces.  Also, as a side note, in between batches I’d put the dough in the fridge, so the texture/butter consistency would not change.

I’m not gonna lie…these cookies are good.  They are soft, peanut buttery and chocolaty.  Could it get any better?  I took them to work the next day and one of my co-workers (who’s eaten a lot of my cookies) said, “Oh my gosh, these are the best cookies you’ve made in my entire life!”  Ha!  So, there’s the proof.  They are good.

Enjoy!

 

Ingredients.

Cooling.

Up close and personal.

Irresistible Jif Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening (1/2 cup butter)
• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons milk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup Reese’s Pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Place sheets of foil on countertop for cooling cookies.
3. Combine Jif peanut butter, Crisco® Shortening (butter), light brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl.
4. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.
5. Add egg. Beat just until blended.
6. Combine flour, salt and baking soda.
7. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.
8. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.
9. Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with tines of fork. (skip if using chip and pieces)
10. Bake at 375ºF for 7 to 8 minutes or until set and just beginning to brown.  Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Four Cheese Baked Penne

Who likes pasta?  I do!  Who likes cheese?  I do!  Who likes four cheese pasta from Self Magazine, so it’s somewhat light and healthy?  I do!  I do!

I actually made this recipe for the first time a few months ago, but I recently made it again and remembered that I never blogged about it.  How silly of me! 

This pasta is creamy, delicious and comes together fairly quickly.  By using reduced fat cheeses, it’s lighter than most pastas and when paired with a green salad, you’ve got a delicious and healthy meal.  Plus, it feeds a lot.  Both times that I’ve made this, I’ve cut the recipe in half and we’ve had leftovers for 2 days.  Surprise, surprise…when making this I actually didn’t make any substitutions!  Well, except I used dried parsley, instead of fresh parsley because why would I just buy fresh parsley…what would I use it for besides this?  Anyway, I recommend this yummy and cheesy pasta, if you’re looking for a lighter pasta option.

Enjoy!

 

Ingredients.

 

Hot out of the oven.

Ready to eat.

Four Cheese Baked Penne, by Self.com

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups small-curd lowfat cottage cheese
• 1 1/4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 pound whole-wheat penne
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 can (15 oz) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (8 oz) no-salt-added tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 400°.

2. Combine cottage cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella, ricotta and parsley in a bowl.

3. Cook pasta until tender but still firm; drain.

4. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.

5. Add garlic; cook, stirring, 30 seconds more.

6. Add tomatoes, sauce, oregano, rosemary, salt, pepper flakes and pepper.

7. Bring to a boil; reduce heat; simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.

8. Add pasta; turn off heat. Stir in cheese-parsley mixture.

9. Coat a 9" x 13" glass baking dish with cooking spray; transfer pasta mixture to dish. Top with remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella and Parmesan.

10. Bake until heated through and cheese melts, 30 minutes.

Hawaiian Cake

Boy, do I have a delicious cake recipe for you!  For Easter, Jeremy, Diesel and I went down to my parents house for dinner and you know I was all about making the dessert.  My grandma’s birthday was in a few days, so I thought a cake would be perfect.  More specifically, I thought this cake would be perfect!  My parents just back from a Hawaiian vacation, we’re Hawaiian and it’s delicious.

This cake is very simple to put together and would be great for get togethers or a pot-luck or a birthday celebration.  It is yellow cake, topped with a layer of pudding and pineapple, then frosted with Cool Whip and coconut.  Yummy!  Make this for your next party.  Seriously, it’s a-mazing.

Enjoy!

Ingredients.

 

Pineapple layer.

Frosted.

Ready to eat!

Hawaiian Cake, by Recipezaar

Ingredients

• 1 (18 1/4 ounce) package yellow cake mix

• 3 eggs (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1/3 cup oil (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1 1/3 cups water (or as called for by your cake mix)
• 1 1/4 cups cold milk
• 1 (3 1/2 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
• 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 8 ounces Cool Whip (standard size)
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted

Directions

1. Prepare and bake the cake according to package directions, using a greased 13 in x 9 in x 2 in baking pan.
2. Cool.
3. In a bowl, whisk together milk and pudding mix; let stand to thicken.
4. Stir in pineapple.
5. Spread over cake.
6. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
7. Beat in 1 cup whipped topping.
8. Fold in remaining topping.
9. Spread over Pudding.
10. Sprinkle with coconut.
11. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

Honey-Ginger Crunch Mix

I love snacks.  They are a great way to make your tummy stop rumbling in between meals.  Are you looking for a new snack?  Well, I suggest that you make this sweet Chex mix, because it is delicious!  I came across this recipe about a year ago when I had extra Chex to spare, after making the regular Chex mix.  It’s a nice change from the traditional savory Chex mix and it’s got some of my favorite ingredients in it. 

This mix contains nuts, pretzels, coconut, Craisins and honey.  Yum!  Plus, it’s got ground ginger in it.  I don’t know about you, but I love ginger.  It’s such a great flavor and it’s a bit unexpected in this mix.  Of course, I made a few modifications to the recipe, based on what I had in the pantry.  I used cashews and peanuts instead of almonds, and I added chopped, dried apricots with the Craisins.  Mmmm, I love this mix.  If you’re ever looking for a new type of Chex mix, head on over the the Chex website because there are a bunch of delicious varieties to try.

Enjoy!

Ingredients.

Cooling.

Ready to eat!

Honey-Ginger Crunch Mix

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger or cardamom
• 6 cups Rice Chex® cereal
• 2 cups bite-size pretzel twists
• 1 cup unblanched whole almonds
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup dried cranberries or pineapple

Directions

1. Heat oven to 250°F. Spray large roasting pan with cooking spray.
2. In 1-quart saucepan, heat brown sugar, butter, honey and ginger to boiling. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Into roasting pan, measure cereal, pretzels, almonds and coconut. Stir in brown sugar mixture until evenly coated.
3. Bake 50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes. Place in serving bowl; stir in cranberries. Store in airtight container.

POM Wonderful Chocolate Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, the fabulous people at POM Wonderful sent me a free sample of their pomegranate juice!  Yay!  Have you guys ever tried this stuff?  It’s delicious and the health benefits from it are amazing.  

Here are a few outcomes of numerous studies done by POM Wonderful where patients drank 8oz of POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice daily:

Cardiovascular

• In 13 healthy male volunteers who drank POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice for 2 weeks, the amount of LDL cholesterol oxidation decreased by 20% and antioxidant activity in the blood increased by 9%. Read the study.

Prostate Cancer

• • In a clinical study involving 46 men with rising PSA after prostate cancer treatment (surgery or radiation) who consumed 8 ounces of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice daily over two years, PSA doubling time increased from 15 to 54 months (p <0.001).5 A longer term (6-year) continued evaluation of active sub-group patients showed a further increase in PSA doubling time to 88 months. Read the study.
  * PSA doubling time is an indicator of prostate cancer progression.

Pretty awesome, right?  Major health benefits from such a little bottle.  Anyways, beside just drinking this juice, I wanted to make something with it.  After searching the POM website, I found a chocolate cupcake recipe!  Chocolate cupcakes made with pomegranate juice??  I was intrigued and decided to make it.  The chocolate cupcakes were delicious and had just a hint of pomegranate flavor in them…and of course, they were 100% healthy because of this juice and had zero calories in them (I can’t dream can’t I?). 

Along with the cupcakes, I also found a recipe for cream cheese frosting on the POM website, but I had some issues with it.  It calls for 1 1/2 cups of juice.  That seems like an awful lot for frosting, doesn’t it?  I’ve made many frostings in my day, but never one with so much liquid.  In fact, I only added 1/4 cup of juice because it made the frosting so runny.  There was no way that my frosting was going to turn out like this picture.

 

Has anyone else tried to make this recipe before?  What did I do wrong?  Anyway, it turned out to be more of an icing, so I just dunked the cupcakes in them and viola!  Deliciousness.  Thank you POM Wonderful for sending me some juice.  I already feel healthier! :)

Enjoy!

 

Cupcake ingredients.

Iced cupcakes.

Frosting ingredients.

Mmmmm.

POM Wonderful Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water, heated to boiling
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar (not wine vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F with rack in the center, place a paper baking cup in each of 24 regular sized muffin cups.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients to combine well, in a large measuring cup.
3. Combine pomegranate juice and boiling water.  Add oil, vinegar and vanilla to the pomegranate juice mixture.
4. Add to the flour mixture all at once and whisk to combine (batter will be lumpy).
5. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups (about half full), bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and free of crumbs, let cool.

POM Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
• 4 oz. soft unsalted butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 14 oz. powdered sugar

Directions

1. Place butter into electric mixer bowl with paddle attachment and cream on medium-high speed for 1 minute, add the cream cheese and continue to mix for 2 more minutes,
2. Turn the speed down to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar and the pomegranate juice, mix until the sugar is fully combined.
3. Remove icing from the mixer and place into a piping bag with a round or star tip.
4. OR just dunk your cupcake into the runny icing! :)

Chocolate Toffee Candy

Hello blog readers!  I hope you are all doing well.  Today I present you with one of the easiest and most delicious recipes ever!  Have you ever had a Skor candy bar?  Well, if you haven’t, I highly encourage you to go to the store and buy one right now because they are delicious.  According to the Hershey website, “with buttery toffee enrobed in milk chocolate, this bar is a distinctively rich treat.”  Mmmmm, toffee and chocolate.

I came across this recipe on Recipezaar.com and of course, it’s fabulous!  There are 4 ingredients total and it takes about 15 minutes of cook/put together time and that’s it!  I’ve made this twice now.  The first time I cut the recipe in half, which works nicely, and used semi-sweet chocolate chips.  It was good…but it didn’t quite taste like a Skor bar, so when I made it again, I used milk chocolate chips and it was AMAZING!  I took it into work and got nothing but raves about it.  If you’re looking for a quick treat or dessert, I really recommend this recipe.

Enjoy!

 

Ingredients.

Toffee.

Delicious!

Mock Skor Bars, by Recipezaar

Ingredients

• 24 regular salted Saltine crackers
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13 x9 inch pan with Parchment (or foil) paper for easy clean up. Arrange crackers evenly in pan.
2. In saucepan over medium heat melt butter. Stir in brown sugar until melted and smooth. Bring mixture to a boil stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Boil for 2 minutes and then pour mixture evenly over cracker.
3. Bake in oven for 5 minutes.
4. Sprinkle chocolate pieces evenly over caramel mixture. Return to oven just long enough for chocolate to melt. Spread chocolate evenly with spatula.
5. Place pan in refrigerator or freezer until chocolate is firm. Cut or break into pieces.

Cinnamon Apple Swirl Bread

Here is another delicious recipe from Recipezaar.  I made this bread before years ago and came across it again a few weeks ago, while I was bored.  Mmmm, it’s good stuff. 

It’s very similar to a cinnamon raisin bread, except you use apples!  Which is perfect for me because I’m not a fan of raisins but I happen to LOVE apples.  In making this, I made a few substitutions (surprise, surprise, right?).  First, I used half whole wheat flour because I usually use that in my baking and I prefer whole wheat bread.  Secondly, I didn’t have any “real” butter, so I used Smart Balance buttery spread and it worked great!  Third, I used Gala apples and mixed, chopped nuts.

This bread takes a little while to make, due to the rising and such, but it’s worth it.  You get two loaves and they freeze very well.  One word of advice, next time I make this I plan to just roll it all up like a jelly roll from one end, as opposed to from both ends.  My reasoning would be that I like to eat this bread toasted with a bit of Smart Balance, but on some pieces the bread didn’t “connect together” and it broke in my toaster.  Which now leaves me with little pieces of apple and nuts and the bottom that get charred every time we make toast. :)

Enjoy!

Ingredients.

Apple, cinnamon and nut filling.

   

Diesel likes to help me cook…even when I get a little messy.

 

Pre-baked.

Right out of the oven.

Swirly!

Cinnamon Swirled Apple Bread

Ingredients

• 5 1/2-6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup shredded apple
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped peeled apples
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 slightly beaten egg white
• 1 tablespoon water
• coarse sugar

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside.
2. In a saucepan heat and stir milk, granulated sugar, the 3 tablespoons butter, and the salt until warm (120° to 130°) and until butter almost melts.
3. Add milk mixture to dry mixture along with eggs.
4. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping side of bowl constantly.
5. Then beat on high speed 3 minutes.
6. Stir in shredded apple.
7. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much remaining flour as you can.
8. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
9. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total).
10. Shape into a ball. Place in lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface.
11. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double (about 1 hour. Punch dough down.
12. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
13. Lightly grease two 8x4x2- or 9x5x3-inch loaf pans.
14. Meanwhile, for filling, in a medium mixing bowl combine chopped apple, nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon; set aside.
15. Roll half of the dough to a 14x9-inch rectangle. Spread with 1 tablespoon of the softened butter; sprinkle with half of the filling.
16. Beginning at both short ends, roll each end up, jelly-roll style, to center.
17. Place loaf, rolled side up, in a prepared loaf pan. For second loaf, repeat with remaining dough, remaining butter, and remaining filling.
18. Cover, let rise until almost double in size (about 30 minutes).
19. Stir together egg white and water. Brush egg white mixture over tops of loaves; sprinkle with coarse sugar.
20. Bake in a 375° oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when you tap tops (if necessary, loosely cover with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning).
21. Immediately remove from pans. Cool on wire racks.