Lesson #185: Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

The holidays are the perfect time to enjoy fudge. Not surprisingly, I like to make my own!

This sweet treat is ULTRA creamy and smooth with just the right balance of chocolate & peanut butter. I took some to share with my students this week. A few people remarked they could eat a whole container of this fudge. I replied, "Me too!  That's why I brought it to my classes!"

LESSON LEARNED: You need a candy thermometer for this recipe. If you don't cook the fudge to the right temperature, it will not set correctly.

Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Lesson #169: Peanut Butterscotch Fudge Bars

These cookie bars are part rice krispie treats and part butterscotch fudge....ahh the best of two kinds of sweet treats! A thin layer of peanut butter rice krispie treats is covered by a generous layer of homemade butterscotch fudge and the entire bar is topped with chopped peanuts. Yummy!

LESSON LEARNED: These stay fresh in a covered container at room temperature for 3 days.

Recipe for Peanut Butterscotch Fudge Bars

Lesson #157: Buckeye Ice Cream

Candy buckeyes are pretty a typical candy in Ohio households - especially during the holidays. For anyone that is unfamiliar with the candy, they are creamy peanut butter balls partially dipped in chocolate to resemble, well, buckeyes.

A few weeks ago for our county fair, I decided to enter a Buckeye ice cream into the novelty ice cream category. Since the classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate is usually a favorite and given the fact that I live in Ohio, I thought this ice cream would be popular. I did win a ribbon for my ice cream so I guess I was right!

I loved the fact that the ice cream was super smooth & creamy with a strong peanut butter flavor. The richness of the peanut butter was cut with chunks of dark chocolate. The people who tasted this ice cream told me it definitely reminded them of the candy version.

LESSON LEARNED: Use your favorite type of chocolate in this recipe - I used dark, but milk chocolate would be equally good!

Recipe for Buckeye Ice Cream

Lesson #148: Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

I enjoy peanut butter cookies which are soft, chewy, and rolled in sugar. This is my go-to peanut butter cookie recipe that never fails. I would suggest baking a big batch and keeping them in the freezer for emergency cookie cravings. Yes, they are AMAZING straight from the freezer! :)

LESSON LEARNED: Chill the dough in the refrigerator before baking to keep the cookies from spreading too much as they bake.

Recipe for Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Lesson #112: Butterfinger Rice Krispie Treats

Combining Butterfinger candy bars and rice krispies into one delicious dessert? Yes, please! The rice krispie treats are made with melted marshmallows, peanut butter, and chopped Butterfinger candy bars. On top, I melted milk chocolate and topped with more candy. These are so fun and super DELICIOUS!

LESSON LEARNED: Cut these into bars first and then sprinkle with chocolate/candy. You will get an even distribution on top and they are less messy to cut.

Recipe for Butterfinger Rice Krispie Treats

Lesson #111: Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

These bars quickly became one of the favorite desserts I made last week. They have 3 distinct layers which come together to form an additively good treat. The first layer is a crispy cereal layer which is held together by a sugary syrup. The second layer is a combination of creamy peanut butter and milk chocolate. The third layer is rich dark chocolate. One of the great things about this recipe is that there aren't too many ingredients and doesn't take too long to put together. The longest part is waiting for the bars to chill so you can cut them!

LESSON LEARNED: Serve these bars in small pieces because they are pretty rich!

Recipe for Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

Lesson #101: Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

My father-in-law is unable to eat gluten or diary, but I wanted to include something for him in a care package I sent to my in-laws, so I searched the library for a gluten free cookie cookbook. I love browsing the library (especially the cookbook section) because you never know what you'll find!

I ended up finding a few gluten-free cookie books and chose a recipe that I thought would ship well since the package was going from Cleveland to Atlanta. It was a bonus that this recipe contains no butter or dairy so I didn't have to substitute margarine or oil.

The cookies have a pretty intense peanut flavor due to peanut butter and chopped peanuts. I thought they tasted pretty good and the texture of the cookie was best right after baking. We keep a cookie (after shipping the rest!) in an airtight container to see how the texture changed and they weren't quite as crispy after a day or two. I've modified the recipe to create a small batch, so they can be eaten fairly fast.

LESSON LEARNED: This cookies are best enjoyed right after baking.

Recipe for Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Lesson #95: Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Last week I had one lonely bag of milk chocolate chips left in my pantry and I wanted to use them up. As I was browsing through some recipe books, I came across a milk chocolate and peanut butter cookie and thought it would be the perfect recipe to try.

These cookies are FABULOUS! Two peanut butter cookies studded with milk chocolate chips are sandwiched between a creamy & silky milk chocolate/peanut butter ganache. One note for this recipe is that there is barely enough ganache cover all the sandhich cookies. It leaves no room for tasting or putting a generous amount in between the sandwich. Next time, I think I'll double the recipe for the ganache :)

LESSON LEARNED: Double the ganache for this cookie - you'll need it!

Recipe for Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Lesson #87: Peanut & Banana Biscuits

These biscuits are ABSOLUTELY delicious with a hot, steaming cup of tea or coffee. The buttermilk biscuits are buttery, fluffy, and chock full of bananas & chopped honey-roasted peanuts. The topping is peanut butter mixed with powdered sugar, milk, and a touch of vanilla extract. My favorite part of the biscuits was the texture that the chopped peanuts added. It was a pleasant crunch in the otherwise soft & fluffy biscuit. I thought they were best served right from the oven, but my husband continued to snack on them throughout the day.

LESSON LEARNED: These biscuits make a perfect afternoon snack!

Recipe for Peanut & Banana Biscuits

Lesson #65: Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

This past weekend, we had a Christmas celebration at my Grandma's house, so it was the perfect excuse to try another dessert that could easily feed a large crowd. I've been fixated on the idea of trying a peanut butter cheesecake, so here's what I came up with!

I first made a crust out of chocolate graham crackers. Next, I blended a generous amount of peanut butter into my cheesecake batter. Finally, I topped off the cheesecake with a milk chocolate ganache and chopped mini peanut butter cups. The end result was a super RICH and DECADENT peanut butter/chocolate cheesecake. YUMMY!

LESSON LEARNED: Holidays are the perfect time to bake rich and decadent desserts!

Recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake

Lesson #57: Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Justin has been asking me to try new ice cream flavors! BTW, I'm planning on having an ice cream tasting party next summer, so everyone will be able to try all the flavors I invent. :)

I thought peanut butter ice cream sounded interesting, and I've never had peanut ice cream before, so I used my favorite ice cream base and added peanut butter.

This flavor of ice cream is definitely a keeper! It's super YUMMY! I added some marshmallow fluff during the last minutes of churning and I'm sure chocolate chips would be a great addition as well.

LESSON LEARNED: Thinking creatively about ice cream flavors has delicious results.

Recipe for Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Lesson #50: Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

I've never thought of making peanut butter cups before. The homemade version of this popular candy is surprisingly easy to make. Trust me, you will impress your friends if you whip up these easy chocolates! I definitely impressed myself and was pretty excited by the finished product.

I would suggest using the best quality chocolate you can. It does makes a difference since there are very few ingredients in the recipe. The peanut butter filling is AWESOME! The peanut butter is melted with a bit of butter, boiled for a few minutes with brown sugar, and sweetened with powdered sugar.

LESSON LEARNED: Making homemade candies is fun!

Recipe for Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Lesson #47: Peanuty Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

This week I was hungry for a peanut butter oatmeal cookie that, well, tasted a little more interesting than a typical peanut butter oatmeal cookie. I saw a recipe in a food magazine that used toasted pecans in the cookie batter and I was sold!

The neat thing about this batter is that you combine the toasted pecans and peanut butter in a food processor to make a smooth paste. So, in essence, you taste the pecans, but there are no chunks of pecans. If you don't know that there are pecans in the cookies, it makes you wonder why they taste different (and a little better, in my opinion!) than typical peanut butter cookies. I was a little skeptical about how other people would like these cookies, so I took them to my 8am class this week. Only 10 students wanted cookies, but they finished 2 dozen cookies in 5 minutes! I would say these were a SUCCESS.

LESSON LEARNED: Pecans make a good addition to peanut butter oatmeal cookies!

Recipe for Peanuty Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

Lesson #40: Peanut Butter Cup Rice Krispies Treats

We have an ongoing discussion in my house about how to improve Rice Krispies Treats. They are so DELICIOUS, and for a while, were one of my go-to desserts. This recipe is a hybrid of two ideas: Justin wanted me to stir in extra mini marshmallows and I wanted to use up our extra Halloween candy.

First, I followed the standard recipe by melting marshmallows and butter together in a pan. I mixed in the cereal and then added the extra mini marshmallows. I then melted some peanut butter, mixed in chopped peanut butter cups, and layered it on top of the cereal treats. For an extra layer of chocolate-y goodness, I melted milk chocolate kisses and layered this on top of the peanut butter. After they cooled, I cut them into squares to share with my afternoon class!

Seriously, these cereal treats ROCK! This picture makes me want to have another one right now :)

LESSON LEARNED: Leftover Halloween candy can be turned into a delicious dessert!

Recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Rice Krispies Treats

Lesson #33: Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Brownies

If you like peanut butter and chocolate, you'll LOVE these brownies! The bottom layer is a chocolate brownie which is topped with chopped peanuts, peanut butter cups, and a layer of chocolate-peanut Rice Krispies. The texture of the brownies is AMAZING - the brownies are soft & chewy while the peanuts and Rice Krispies add crunch!

LESSON LEARNED: Peanut butter and chocolate are a delicious combination!

Recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Brownies

Lesson #13: Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

If you like peanut butter, you'll LOVE these cookies. I shared these cookies with some of my classes yesterday and they were well received - hopefully at least as well as my lecture! :)

I've made them a few times and learned a few things along the way. First, and this may seem like common sense, you want round cookies when you make sandwich cookies. The first time I made these I started to roll the dough into balls and it was WAY too sticky to roll into balls. It works best if you refrigerate the dough for at least an hour. Yes, this adds an extra step, but it's definitely worth it (at least for presentation).

Second, the filling for these cookies is AMAZING! It's light and fluffy with tons of peanut butter flavor. However, I would not advise you to walk away from the filling when it's mixing. I went to our basement to look for a container to package the cookies and the filling went from light & fluffy to thick & chunky. That's not what you want in this cookie. I found that if you added more powdered sugar and milk, the filling goes back to light & fluffy. So, I learned to solve two problems by making this cookie, but don't forget that these cookies are absolutely delicious!

LESSON LEARNED: Refrigerating dough makes cookies at lot easier to shape!

Recipe for Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies