Peanut Butter Pretzel Magic Cookie Bars

We are dessert people, if you did not know that already. Like one of the contestants on the most recent Great British Bake-Off said, I don't just have a sweet tooth. I have sweet TEETH. 

I had a can of sweetened condensed milk and a couple sleeves of graham crackers in the pantry and thought "let's make magic cookie bars!" But I did not have any coconut. I scoured Pinterest for a variation that included items I actually had on hand and then checked my Beale Officers' Spouses' Club cookbook. It's one I hardly ever use and so sometimes I open it up and look through to justify keeping it. I found a recipe for PMS Bars which had pretzels and peanut butter chips instead of coconut. I used that recipe as inspiration and went off-book a bit for this my creation. 

Introducing my Peanut Butter Pretzel Magic Cookie Bars! They are sweet, crunchy and delicious. If you love the sweet-salty combo, then these will be right up your alley. I have NO idea how many pretzels or how much peanut butter I used, so if you make these use your best judgement. In my opinion, you cannot really have too much of either ingredient. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Baklava

We had a very non-traditional Thanksgiving this year. We ate zero turkey, no normal Thanksgiving sides and no pie. I actually did not mind it. I had some traditional Thanksgiving meals twice prior to Thanksgiving, so that was checked off for me and Charles did not seem to really care. Instead, we made reservations at a local "American" restaurant where I had a steak and Charles had salmon. It was very delicious and relaxing. No stress about cooking and no dishes to clean up afterward. Of course, it is a lot easier to eat out when not in the United States where everyone celebrates Thanksgiving. For Germans, it was just a normal Thursday. 

In lieu of pie, Charles requested one of his favorite desserts--chocolate peanut butter baklava. I found the recipe a few years ago on Pinterest. I do not make it very often. It's an easy recipe, but because of the phyllo dough it is a bit of a process to put together. But if you love baklava and the chocolate-peanut butter combination, then you will very much enjoy this one! 

As the recipe states, it is extremely helpful to have everything ready at your workstation before starting the phyllo dough process. I have made this recipe by myself, but it is 100% better if you have a buddy that helps out. The way we do it is I butter and layer the phyllo and Charles adds the peanut butter and chocolate chips. Plus it is just more fun to do it together. 

One piece of advice, do not make this while hungry. Because we had an old person dinner scheduled (our reservation was for 4:30pm) and I made this prior to that, I was pretty hungry while preparing this. I have a tendency to get a little grumpy when I am hungry and I snapped at Charles over who knows what when we were starting to make this. For the health of your relationship, avoid baking while hangry. 

Sorry no pictures. But trust me, it is yummy!

 

Chocolate Peppermint Sugar Cookie Bars

During the holidays, I love chocolate and peppermint anything! Peppermint mocha...yes please! Peppermint hot chocolate...mmmm! Peppermint sprinkled on homemade brownies...double yes! So when I saw this recipe for chocolate peppermint sugar cookie bars I knew I had to give them a try! They turned out really delicious, but you have to eat them pretty quickly because the cookie base hardens quicker than other cookies. 

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. 

Design: Death by Chocolate

The Officers' Spouses' Club social for October is a murder mystery. This year's theme is Death by Chocolate. This is going to be amazing! Of course, I was tasked with creating the flier.

Fonts used
Vladimir Script
Castellar
Quicksand

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

A couple months ago we got some free peanut butter from the USDA food giveaway on our base. I was inspired to make a breakfast item using the free peanut butter. Since I very much enjoy the peanut butter and chocolate combination, I thought muffins would be a good vehicle for those two flavors. I found a recipe on Pinterest and really, really enjoyed the finished product. The recipe is from Chocolate, Chocolate and More. I found that I thought they tasted better after each day. They are best served warm so the chocolate chips are a little melted inside.

 Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 T baking powder
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil (although I think we used coconut oil)
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare muffin pan (spray cups or insert cupcake liners)

Stir together flour, salt, baking powder and chocolate chips in large bowl.

Combine milk, eggs, sugar, peanut butter and oil in a separate bowl; combine ingredients until just moistened. Do not over beat.

Fill muffin tins. Top with a few chocolate chips (optional). Bake for 14 minutes.

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

When I was growing up we made chocolate pudding a lot. We always made the cook & serve kind. Not instant. Chocolate pudding is one of the many pleasures in life. Recently I wanted to make a chocolate pudding pie, but was curious about making pudding from scratch. I found a recipe on (you guessed it) Pinterest. It turned out to be so easy and very tasty! I'll never go back to the box mix again.

The recipe is from Moms Need to Know.

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 t salt
4 cups milk
2 T butter
2 t vanilla

Directions
In a pan, whisk together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt.

Whisk the milk into the mixture and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Once it has started to boil, continue to cook and stir for 2 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Transfer to serving dishes and chill in the fridge.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I love chocolate. I love oatmeal cookies. Combine the two and it is pretty awesome. I found this recipe on Pinterest a while back and finally decided to make them. It makes a whole bunch, so I sent a tray to work with Charles. He came home with an empty tray and tons of compliments. I altered the recipe just slightly, but you can see the original recipe by visiting Something Swanky.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 eggs
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat together the butter, brown sugar and applesauce until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix in-between each addition. Add the salt and vanilla. Mix well. Mix in cocoa powder, flour, oats and baking soda until dough forms, but don't over mix. Add the chocolate chips and mix.

Scoop onto cookie sheets by rounded tablespoons. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, until edges are set.

Thanksgiving dessert: Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars

For my second homemade dessert for Thanksgiving I wanted something with chocolate. Traditional Thanksgiving desserts do not normally contain chocolate (at least not the ones I always had growing up), but I love chocolate. I came across a recipe for Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars (Pinterest, of course). Tada!

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 8oz bag pecan halves
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (I think I just used more regular sized chocolate chips)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan or line with foil and then grease.
In a large bowl, use a pastry cutter or fork to cut the butter, sugar and flour together until crumbly. Press the crust into the pan and bake for 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder in a small bowl and set aside.
Once the crust has finished baking, remove from the oven and sprinkle with 2 cups chocolate chips and the pecans.
Pour the chocolate condensed milk mixture evenly over the top. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 15 to 18 minutes.
Immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips (mini or regular).
Cool bars on a wire rack before cutting into bars. Store in an airtight container.  

Sister Visit

This week my sister, Delaney, came out to visit. It was nice to see her and to have our first house guest. She flew into the bay area to spend a couple of days with a friend and then I met up with them in Napa. It sounds so fancy to meet someone in Napa, but I was a little disappointed in the part of Napa I saw. There was a lot of road construction and even more traffic. Ugh! I will have to give it another try.

Since Napa is so expensive, we actually stayed the night in Vacaville which was about 30 minutes outside of Napa. We checked out their outlet mall, which was a let-down and had some dinner.

The next day we grabbed breakfast at a local spot, Joe's Creekside Cafe. Afterward, we visited the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA. You can tour the factory and get samples of jelly beans. They also had a wine and chocolate tasting that we participated in. Yummy!

Jelly Belly artwork

Our options for the tasting

The winner

The next day we spent time in Roseville for lunch and pottery painting. We also walked around the mall.

Our pieces

And yesterday we were planning on hiking. Right before we were about to leave the power went off expectantly. Therefore, I could not open the garage door to leave. We thought about walking down to another trail but the only way out was blocked by a couple firetrucks and police cars. I guess there was a fire. On the way back, we realized there is a fruit tree in a yard down the street and saw a deer napping in a flower bed. We came back to the house and played Monopoly until the power came back on. Then we drove up to Grass Valley for manicures and a snack. I went with a fun bold hot pink on my nails...perfect for summer!

Now I'm ready for more visitors!

Bake Off!

This afternoon I participated in a Bake-Off. It was hosted by the base community center. It ended up just being me against one other lady, but it was a lot of fun. It took me a few days to decide what to make. I decided on my Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting.

I ended up winning Best Tasting! My competitor's cupcakes were salted caramel mocha and tasted very good, too. I am glad I was not a judge having to choose between the two.

Fondue!

One of our many wonderful wedding presents was a fondue pot. At least once a year I like to pull it out to justify keeping it. When you move so much you want to make sure that everything you have is useful. For Valentine's Day dessert (which we didn't end up having until the day after Valentine's Day) I decided to make fondue. I chose a recipe called Flaming Turtle Chocolate Fondue from the blog For the Love of Food. It was soooooo yummy! I did not get any pictures, but I wanted to share the recipe with you anyway.

Ingredients
12oz milk chocolate (chips or finely chopped)
2 Tablespoons heavy cream (I actually used half & half and I ended up using more than 2T)
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping (see below for a homemade recipe)
1 Tablespoon rum
3 Tablespoons pecans, chopped
Fondue dippers, examples: pound cake, strawberries, apples, pineapple, marshmallows, pretzels

I always melt the chocolate in the fondue pot, but you can do it over the stove or in the microwave. Once your melted chocolate/cream mixture is all melted and smooth, make sure it is in your fondue pot. Then pour the caramel into the center of the mixture. Do not stir.

Add the rum and ignite carefully using a lighter. This was the fun part!

Allow the flame to burn out and stir gently to combine. Sprinkle with pecans. Keep fondue warm over low heat.

Caramel Topping Recipe

Ingredients
5 Tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup half & half
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter and brown sugar in large saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth. Add half & half, then salt; simmer 4 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

We used the leftover caramel over the leftover pound cake, but it would be amazing on all kinds of things. Or by itself. :)

Pecan Pie Bread Pudding

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently made bread pudding. It is not the first time, but my first bread pudding was made with croissants. From what I remember it tasted good but was really rich. And coming from me that means the average person would go into a sugar coma from eating it.

This time I gave Charles two recipes to choose from. One had a ton more ingredients which probably means it was extra yummy. He did not choose that one. He chose Pecan Pie Bread Pudding. The recipe is from Something Swanky. 

Mine did not turn out like what I imagine bread pudding to be. It was VERY dry. I may have used a little  more bread than called for, but I don't know if less bread would have helped out that much.

Picture borrowed from Something Swanky

Ingredients
8 cups bite-sized bread pieces
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
 1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup pecan, halved and chopped
(I also threw in about a cup of chocolate chips because I love chocolate)

Prepare an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish by spraying with cooking spray. Place all of the bread pieces into the baking dish. Pour the melted butter over the bread.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the pecans (and chocolate chips if you are like me).

Pour evenly over the bread pieces. Use a spatula to push the bread pieces around in the dish until all are coated in the syrupy mixture. Bake at 375º for 45 minutes.

Christmas Traditions

The holidays are full of traditions. I thought I would share a few of mine...

- Decorate... I don't know if this really counts as a tradition since most people do it. But you cannot have the Christmas holiday without decorations. Some of my favorite decorations are my two German houses. I grew up with these types of houses from when we lived in Germany. My mom's collection seemed to grow each time my Dad went to Germany on a business trip. Then a couple years ago when my brother-in-law lived in Germany, he gave me one of the houses. It was the best ever!

- Christmas breakfast... growing up it was either sticky buns or coffee cake. And then at some point we added quiche. When Charles and I got married, our Christmas breakfast tradition became chocolate french toast. Yum, yum, yum! And when we visit my in-laws, we enjoy waffles!

- Christmas pajamas... I don't remember when this started, but it was one year when I was a kid. We begged my parents every year to let us open a present on Christmas Eve. Thus the Christmas pajamas started. The nice thing about that is you have new pajamas to wear on Christmas morning.

My 2012 Christmas pajamas...I love the sheep!

- Christmas Eve service... I love the Christmas Eve service at my parents' church. The church is large and they have the traditional choir and orchestra. Normally that is not my cup of tea at church, but on Christmas Eve nothing is better. They always pass out candles that we light towards the end of the service. The lights in the sanctuary are turned down and everything is illuminated by the individual candles. It is kind of magical.

- Watching movies... we would usually get a movie for Christmas. After all the presents were opened and the wrapping paper mounds disposed of we sit around and watch one of the new movies we received. It's a nice way to spend time together on Christmas and enjoy your new presents.

I just love Christmas! There are so many fun traditions that families can have this time of year.

Super easy fudge

I've never ventured into the fudge-making world. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fudge. For a while, every time Charles and I went on vacation we would buy a bunch of fudge and indulge ourselves. We would try several different flavors. My favorite is chocolate and peanut butter. He loves maple nut. I have just never tried it for myself.

Part of the moving process is clearing out the pantry. I had a can of sweetened condensed milk so I thought I would try to make some fudge. I pulled out the trusty Betty Crocker cookbook and found the easy fudge recipe. This isn't new and exciting, but it's easy so I thought I would share.

Ingredients:
1 can sweetened condensed milk (I think it is 14 oz)
1 bag of chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)
1 teaspoon vanilla
mini marshmallows

Pour the milk and chocolate chips into a saucepan and heat on low heat. Stirring occassionally until melted together.

Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Pour in marshmallows (no exact amount...whatever looks best) and mix together.

Pour into greased 8x8 pan and spread out. Refrigerate for at least and 1 1/2 hours. Enjoy!

The recipe called for nuts, but I didn't have any. I would have loved to make some peanut butter fudge to layer on top, but that will have to happen another day.

S'Mores Soirree

I've thought for a long time that someone should open up a shop specializing in s'mores. There are cupcake shops. Why not s'mores shops? I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to s'mores and all the lovely varieties I have found.

To make up for this lack of s'mores goodness in the world, I planned a S'Mores event as a resident event. We had traditional s'mores, of course. But we also tried some different things. Here's the rundown of everything we had:

- honey graham crackers
- cinnamon graham crackers
- chocolate graham crackers
- gluten-free graham crackers (they happened to be shaped like cookies, so I think some people too them without knowing they were gluten free)
- Hershey bars
- Mounds Bars
- Peanut butter cups (my personal favorite)
- Peppermint Patties
- Little Debbie Brownies

The event started at 7pm and there were a few people inside figuring out what they wanted. I walked outside to check on the fire and there were a WHOLE BUNCH of people outside waiting. I was truly amazed at the number of people that came out for this event. Typically an event like this will draw maybe 30 people at the most. But I'm pretty sure we had closer to 100 people (if not more) at this event. It made me very proud of myself. Halfway through I had to run to the store to get more supplies because we ran out of chocolate. Oops!

I did not even get a chance to take many pictures because I was so busy keeping all the goodies stocked.

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.

Fudge-making virgin no more!

I have officially delved into the world of fudge-making. I have always avoided it because I thought it would be difficult. I found a recipe on Pinterest for Chocolate Cinnamon Fudge from a like-minded blogger. She was nervous about making fudge, too, but realized it's a lot easier than you would like.

Here's the recipe:
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (if you like cinnamon, but don't want a huge cinnamon taste, I would go with 1 t. Or you can leave it out completely)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lb (about 2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, at room temp

Butter an 8x8 dish. Line with parchment paper (or don't and be like me...although this makes it more difficult to get the fudge out)

In a glass or stainless steel bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon and vanilla extract.  Stir to combine. Stir in chocolate chips and butter. Put the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and stir until chocolate is melted and there is a smooth consistency. This can take about 6-8 minutes. You can add nuts at this point, if you like nutty fudge. Pour mixture into baking dish and spread evenly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Cut into pieces and enjoy!

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!

Dessert Cheeseball

I love cream cheese! My husband, however, thinks cream cheese is gross. For the Friday before Christmas, we had a mini potluck at work. This gave me a great excuse to make a cream cheese based dessert--Chocolate Chip Cheeseball. Everyone at work loved it! (It is pretty tasty, if I must say so myself). It's probably been around blog world a million times, but just in case, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (it's OK to use regular chocolate chips if that is all you have)
3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add sugars; beat until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

After two hours, place mixture in plastic wrap and shape like a ball. Refrigerate for an hour.

Before serving, roll ball in pecans (optional). Serve with graham crackers. (Or just eat it straight...it's that good).