Peanut Butter Fudge Pie

We love anything chocolate with peanut butter! It is really the ultimate combination of sweet and salty. I had a recipe pinned for a Peanut Butter Fudge Pie with Peanut Butter Salted Caramel that sounded amazing. I adapted slightly out of laziness. I did not have any caramel topping and did not feel like making my own. 

The pie turned out really delicious even despite one little mishap with my ingredients. When buying roasted peanuts, I just grabbed a container that said "Golden Roast" on the label. AFTER making the pie, my husband told me that he noticed the back of the label included ingredients like paprika, garlic, onion powder... Ugh! We ate the pie for dessert and I honestly could not tell, but I would definitely double check next time I purchase peanuts for any purpose. 

Bake-Off

For work I planned a Bake-Off as a resident event. Since I am also a resident I figured it would be OK if I participated. We had three categories--cake/brownies, cookies and pie. I entered one thing in each category:

Cake/brownies: Gooey Chocolate Brownies
Cookies: Lemon Glazed Cookies
Pie: Oatmeal Chocolate Pie

The Bake-Off was a hit! There were 10 entries in the cake category, 4 in cookies and 3 in pie. I ended up taking 2nd place in both the cookies and pie category.

It was really easy to set-up. This could be fun for a church, sorority or any other group event.

We gave out a first and second place prize in each category. The medals were ordered through TrophyDepot.com. We had them engraved with "The Properties at Wright Field." They turned out really great! First place also received a $25 gift card to Kroger. Second place was awarded a $15 Kroger gift card.

We had 4 judges, but residents could also place their votes.

Look at all those cakes! My brownies are the second item.

Pie A is mine! The third pie, Caramel Apple Pie, won first.

The cookies were super yummy! Mine are A.

Me and my prize!

Chocolate Pecan Pies

I was in the mood for some pecan pie the other week. I checked Pinterest for a good recipe and came across one from Paula Deen. I figured a full-figured Southern lady like herself would make a pretty good pecan pie. And even better it was for Chocolate pecan pie.

So I made it... I have issues either with my oven or my pie pan. My pies usually come out runny. I should have remembered this and lowered the amount of corn syrup and should have baked it longer. But I didn't. The pie tasted good. It was just really runny.

Here's a link to her recipe.

This week I tried a different recipe. I used my good ol' Betty Crocker Big Red cookbook. Their recipe is for traditional pecan pie, but I added some chocolate chips to mimick the Paula Deen recipe. I reduced the corn syrup a little and turned the oven up 5 more degrees. It came out a little more brown than I was going for, but it tastes very good. The pecans, because they were mixed into the syrup/sugar mixture, have a nice crunch on them--similar to the Nutty Bavarian nuts. Yum! I think I'll stick with this recipe from here on out.

Betty Crocker Pecan Pie Recipe

one crust (if you're a follower, you know I used Immaculate Baking crust)
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup pecan halves or broken pieces
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line pie pan with crust

Beat sugar, butter, corn syrup, salt and eggs in bowl with wire whisk or hand beater until well blended. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Pour into pie pan.

Bake 40-50 minutes or until center is set.

While reading further down on the page, you can make it "Kentucky" style by adding 2 Tablespoons bourbon and 1 bag chocolate chips.

Strawberry Fudge Pie

Charles requested that I make a Strawberry pie. Strawberry Pie has never sounded appealing to me, but I looked on Pinterest for a recipe anyway. I came across one that looked amazing! It's called Strawberry Fudge Pie. So I thought I would give it a chance. I deviated from the recipe a little bit because it called for a brownie mix and I love my homemade Gooey Chocolate Brownies (follow the link for the recipe for just brownies).

Strawberry Fudge Pie

Ingredients:
One pie crust (I use Immaculate Baking Co. crust because it's amazing! You could always make your own, too)

Brownie Layer:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Cheesecake layer:
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Strawberry layer:
3 cups strawberries, halved

Make brownie layer. Combine butter and unsweetened chocolate in saucepan and melt over low heat. Add sugar; mix to combine. Remove from heat and let cool for 15-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once cooled, mix in eggs. Add flour and chocolate chips.

Pour brownie batter into crust-lined pie pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Brownie does not need to be completely done.

Meanwhile, make cheesecake mixture. Beat together all cheesecake layer ingredients. Once brownie layer is done baking, pour cheesecake mixture over brownie and carefully spread over the top. Bake the pie another 18 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool for an hour.

Cut strawberries and place cut side down on top of cooled cheesecake layer. You can melt some chocolate and drizzle over the top to add a little extra touch, but I skipped this step out of laziness. Refrigerate for an hour.

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Pecan Pie

A couple years ago, I found a recipe for a Caramel Apple Pecan pie (probably in a magazine, but I don't remember). It sounded so delicious! I decided to make it for Thanksgiving that year. When I took my first bite, I thought it was the most amazing apple pie I had ever tasted and decided to make it every Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow, after work, I'll be making this pie, but I wanted to go ahead and share the recipe with you. It's so easy to make, especially if you use store-bought pie crust. I love to bake, but I am intimidated by pie crust. And my kitchen is pretty tiny, so I don't have much room for rolling out a pie crust anyway.

Caramel Apple Pecan Pie

Ingredients:
2 9" pastry shells or pie crusts (don't buy Pilsbury... they have trans fat)
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced (you could use a different kind of apple, but I love Granny Smith. You kind of need that tart to balance out the sweet from the caramel. And it says to slice them, but I just chop them into bite size pieces)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (you can omit these if you don't like nuts)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 lb chopped Caramels (I use Werther's)
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 cup milk
Milk and sugar for the top

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, toss together apples, pecans, sugar, caramels, flour and milk.Spoon mixture into pie crust. Top with other pie crust. Pinch together edges. Cut slits into the top (our your initials to be fun). Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar (this just gives it a nice shimmer).

Bake until crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Sound easy, huh? It definitely is! I hope you enjoy!

* This post was shared on the following Link Parties:

Six Sisters' Stuff
Young & Crafty

Oatmeal Pie

I have finally made the Oatmeal Pie! I've been talking about making this pie since our visit to Amish country last month. I did a simple search on Google for a recipe and came across one that claims to be from Charleston during the Civil War era. As most people know, pecan pie is a very popular pie, especially in the South. But according to this person, pecans were hard to come by during the Civil War so people substituted oatmeal. I did make one tiny adaptation to the recipe and added chocolate chips. I love anything chocolate and thought it would be good in this pie. This pie tasted so yummy and you feel slightly less guilty eating it because of the oatmeal.

Ingredients:
one pie crust
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal (uncooked)
1 cup chocolate chip

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs until frothy.

Combine sugar, flour and salt in small bowl. (If not using chocolate chips, you can add 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon at this point). Add eggs; mix well. Add corn syrup, melted butter and vanilla. Mix in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Pour into uncooked shell and bake for 45 minutes.

Weekend in Amish country

The wonderful thing about Charles being in the military are all the holidays he has off. For Labor Day weekend, he had both Friday and today off. We decided to spend Friday and Saturday in Amish country (Ohio). I've never really been to Amish country, but have seen bits and pieces about it on TV. Charles and I love visiting the country...it's just nice to get out of "civilization."

The fun thing about visiting Amish country is finding a cute B&B to stay in. We were lucky to find one with an available room on short notice that didn't cost an arm and a leg. We ended up staying in Sugarcreek, the little Switzerland of Ohio. This area of Ohio also has the largest population of Amish and Mennonite people. The B&B had a video and some books about the Amish and Mennonites that were really interesting. Visiting Amish country really made me appreciate their culture. They value community and family. They also take care of each other; if someone's barn burns down the whole community will get together to help rebuild it. I think this characteristic is really missing from communities now.

The only disappointing thing was pie. I was looking forward to trying shoo fly pie, which I've seen on the Food Network when they've talked about Amish country. But I didn't see it anywhere. I'm guessing it's a Pennsylvania Amish thing. We wanted to try Oatmeal pie on Friday night, but the restaurant was out. I had never heard of Oatmeal pie before, but after looking it up when we got back, it seems similar to Pecan Pie. Once I get all the ingredients, I'm going to attempt to make it (and of course share on here!)

If you have never visited Amish country, I highly recommend it. I wish we could have stayed longer, but hopefully we'll be able to visit again.