Peanut Butter Brownies

Peanut butter + chocolate = yum.

I have made peanut butter and chocolate treats before but these bars are a little different since they are truly peanut butter, instead of chocolate with peanut butter. 

I added in chocolate chips, but you can make this recipe and completely omit all of the chip to just make peanut butter brownies (which would be great lightly iced).

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup margarine, softened

11/3 cups white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup peanut chips

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and peanut butter. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Afterwards, gradually mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Once all these ingredients have been well mixed, mix in the mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Make sure to press down the batter evenly into the pan.

Pour this batter into your greased pan and sprinkle the 2/3 cup peanut chips and 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips evenly over the top.

Place in the oven for 30-35 minutes and let cool before slicing into bars.

Right before entering the oven.

I made the batter for these during one of my free periods, but didn't have enough time to bake them so I left a sticky note for my mom for when she came home to pop them in the oven. When I came home from school, I went inside thinking I would be able to try them out, but it turned out that my mom hadn't even come home yet. 

Though I had to then wait some more time to preheat the oven and bake the brownies, it was worth it. These were peanut chocolate goodness in every bite. (The edges were my favorite.)

Chocolate Bar Cake

Ultra dense and intense chocolate flavor.

Last night some friends and I celebrated our friends Callie and Kiki's birthday. This time I really had to make a cake (I wasn't just trying to find some reason to occupy my time.)
Both Kiki and Callie love chocolate so I thought I would make a family recipe of chocolate bar cake. It is dense, rich chocolate that requires no icing, and is simply delicious.


Recipe:
Ingredients: Directions:
2 sticks butter
2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk/sourmilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 oz milk chocolate bars
1 small can/ 5 1/2 oz chocolate syrup


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F and generously grease a 10" tube pan.

This was a mega-sized chocolate bar.

In a double broiler, pour in the chocolate syrup and break up the milk chocolate bars. Melt the chocolate bars into the syrup, using a spoon to stir to make sure the chocolates mix well together.
In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar and then add each egg one at a time. Mix the baking soda and buttermilk and alternate adding this buttermilk mixture and the sifted flour until both are mixed into the batter. Finally, blend in the chocolate mixture and vanilla completely.
Pour the batter into your already greased pan and place in the oven for 1 hour 15-20 minutes.

The perfect cake for anyone who loves chocolate. It can be easily decorated if you so chose, and its round shape makes it easy for slicing.

Pound Cake

Having a stress fracture and being a senior who's pretty much checked out of school, I now have more time on my hands...great!
So instead of memorizing everyone's address from the school phone book or stalking my facebook minifeed, I instead have found different excuses to bake.
So tonight is a track team dinner so obviously I need to bake!

How about a nice pound cake? A little change from the typical store-bought cookies and brownies that are usually served, but its still so simple to make.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
3 sticks of butter
8 oz package of cream cheese
3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 eggs
3 cups flour


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Run your knife along the edge to
make it easier to remove the cake.

Cream together the butter and cream cheese well and then add the sugar. Once this is well mixed, add the salt and vanilla, and then add each of the 6 eggs one at a time. Once all these ingredients are mixed together, slowly add in the flour.
Bake for 1 1/2 hours, and do not over-bake.
(Set your clock timer for a little earlier to check to prevent over-baking from occurring. Insert a toothpick to check to see if comes out clean, and is ready.)

Once the batter is homogenous, pour it into a well-greased 10 tube pan.

Sift powdered sugar on top to add a finishing touch.

Whole Wheat Cornbread

My Dad loves when I bake something semi-healthy for him so when he works out after dinner there is something he can grab and have for a treat. To take a healthier spin in comforting cornbread, I made it whole wheat, and only used honey, and no granulated sugar, to sweeten it up.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup oil

1 cup milk

1 egg

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease an 8 x 8 inch pan.

In one medium bowl combine together the corn meal, flour, baking powder, and finally, salt. In another bowl combine together the honey, milk, oil and eggs. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well combined, but make sure to not over-mix.

Very easy to cut these.

Pour the batter into your already greased pan and place in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the cornbread is golden brown.

These aren't very sweet, so spread on some butter to make them even more savory.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

So now I'm back from vacation with a tan and crutches.

The day before I was leaving for the DR, I had to get an MRI because my leg was hurting and it turned out that I have a stress fracture which literally sucks. After many tears, I was forced to get crutches, and this was all at 5 o'clock and I hadn't even packed yet. Anyways, I still had a great time away (my friends gobbles up the muffins at 5 in the morning), but now I can't run in the outdoor track season. However, I am obviously going to all the meets and therefore still must make the team treats for after running.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

2 cups flour

2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease cookie sheets.

Beat together the butter, brown sugar, eggs, peppermint and vanilla. One well blended, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. 


Stir in the chocolate chips so they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto your prepared sheet. 


Bake 10 minutes and let cool before removing from the cookie sheets.

Yeah, those blobs don't look to appetising.

These cookies are incredibly easy to make and are moist with the right blend of chocolate and peppermint. 

My friend Olivia who loves peppermint is on the team too and I actually made her these cookies as a good luck for getting into Dartmouth and she did!

Ready to bring to the team.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Tomorrow morning some of my friends and I are leaving for senior spring break to Punta Cana! We are all very excited, except for the fact that we have to leave at 5 in the morning. This leaves no time for a real breakfast, so I thought I could make some nice muffins for us to take with us in the car ride to the airport to snack on.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup milk

¼ cup sour cream

½ cup butter melted and cooled

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips

I might have filled these
up a tad too much...

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees and heavily a muffin tin or line with baking cups. In one bowl, combine the flour, brown and white sugar, cinnamon baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt. In another bowl, combine the milk, egg, butter, and sour cream until well blended. Slowly add in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until the whole mixture is well mixed. Finally fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill each muffin tin until its about ¾ of the way full and place the muffins in the oven for 18-22 minutes (until an inserted toothpick comes out clean).

If possible, serve while they are still nice and warm, but don’t burn yourself while you remove them from their tins!

Peanut Chocolate Eggs

Though I do not celebrate the Christian holidays, when Easter comes around I kind of wish I did. All the cute animals, pastel colors, and not to mention treats look so fun to make and decorate. But who says I still can't bake for Easter? I know plenty of people who celebrate the holiday, so I decided I would just make these absolutely amazing chocolate covered peanut butter eggs.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 ¼ cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup graham crackers

¼ cup butter

4 tablespoons milk

1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter

¼ cup heavy cream

Sprinkles (for decorating)     

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, ¼ cup butter, graham crackers, vanilla, and milk until well blended. Shape the peanut butter mixture into a bunch of tablespoon sized eggs and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place them in the freezer for an hour.

To prepare the chocolate coating, place the 1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter, and ¼ cup of heavy cream into a saucepan over low heat. Constantly stir the mixture until smooth, making sure it does not burn.

Once ready, remove the eggs from the freezer and one-by-one, dip each egg into the chocolate. To make this easier you may use a fork to dip each egg in. Tap off the excess chocolate and place the eggs back onto the parchment paper.

Make sure to sprinkle the sprinkles on before the
chocolate hardens.

You may then decorate with sprinkles or other icing if desired.

Wait until cool before eating.

Wait for them to harden before removing them from the paper.

These came out soooooooo well. They are nice and fluffy on the inside- better than any store bought Reese's candy.