Easy Chocolate & Peanut Chip Squares

I like to have an easy, quick recipe on hand for it I ever need to whip something up in a moment's notice. One of my easiest recipes is my chocolate and peanut chip squares, which are perfect to make when a friend calls you over, upset about something, and all they need is someone to take to and something comforting to eat.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter 

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips  

Directions: Heat oven to 350°F and grease an 8x8 inch pan.

Melt the stick of butter and then mix it in a bowl with the graham cracker crumbs. Press this mixtureevenly to the bottom of the pan. Afterwards, sprinkle the semi sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips evently over the graham cracker mixture and then use a spatula (or your hands) to press down the chips into the graham cracker mixture. Once done, open up the can of sweetened condensed milk and pour it evenly over all of the chips.

Place the bars into the oven for 25-30 minutes. Let them cool before slicing.

You can use your hands too to press it down firmly.

PB Graham Chocolate Squares

Yesterday we had no school on account of the torrential rain the night before that inundated the entire town. Literally, I went for a run and I fell in a newly formed lake of water in the middle of the road that went past my belly button. The power even went out on Sunday, and it got me thinking of no bake recipes (recipes that don’t require an oven). Since peanut butter and chocolate is a classically good combination, I decided to make no bakes with that in mind.

Recipe:

Ingredients

¾ plus ½ cups peanut butter, divided

Action Shot!

6 tablespoons softened butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup plus ¾ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Grease an 8 by 8 inch baking pan. Beat ¾ cup peanut butter and the butter in a large bowl until creamy. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar. Afterwards, mix in the graham cracker crumbs and 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips. Press this mixture evenly onto the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Making sure to smooth the top.

Melted chocolate before hardened

Melt the last ½ cup peanut butter and ¾ cup chocolate chips on low heat in a saucepan. Stir constantly until the whole mixture is smooth. Then, spread this mixture evenly over the mixture already in the pan. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour until chocolate if firm.

Cut into bars and store in a container in the refrigerator. 

S'Mores Cookies

I was planning on making my friend birthday cookies a while ago (well obviously in the month of her birthday) and I totally messed up and told her I promised I would make her some. Well now its been about 4 months, but I didn’t forget my promise! She has the taste buds of about a seven year old so I thought that s’mores cookies would be perfect. I adapted my recipe from http://www.cookiemadness.net/2006/02/smores-cookies and did a couple tweaks to make them spread less and instead be more like softer balls of dough after baking the cookies.

Hopefully my friend thinks they were worth the wait.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks cool room temperature
 butter

½ cup granulated sugar


¾ cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract


½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda


1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup graham cracker crumbs


1cups semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup miniature marshmallows

2 Hershey Bars, broken into pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease two cookie sheets.

Cream butter and both sugars together and then beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in the salt and baking soda until well blended. Once this mixture is well mixed, mix in the flour and then graham cracker crumbs. Finally, Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets, spacing them each about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 8-9 minutes. Remove & quickly press marshmallows & chocolate in. Return to oven and cook until done (about 3 or 4 minutes).

Just like toasting marshmallows over a fire

A much more portable version of the campfire classic.