Peanut Butter Dream Bars

Here's another recipe/result of my Pinterest surfing. I currently have 388 pins on my "Sweets" board, which is a little crazy. When in the world am I going to make 388 different desserts!?!  The recipes that I actually make have to not only look good, but be simple enough for me to take the time to do. One day a few weeks ago- this recipe fit those requirements, so I gave it a try. It did not disappoint!! Peanut butter and chocolate is always a good idea. These bars add oatmeal and end up a little melty and gooey. I found them best served warm with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Our weather has been up and down A LOT over the last few weeks, but the next time its up and we can host a backyard bbq, this dessert will definitely be on my menu!

-Wendy

Peanut Butter Dream Bars

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Wendy (found on Pinterest)

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 25

Ingredients

• 1 c melted butter


• 1 c brown sugar


• 1 tsp bakíng soda


• 2 1/4 c quíck cookíng oatmeal


• 1 1/2 c flour


• 1 tsp salt


• 1/2 c peanut butter


• 1 can sweetened condensed mílk


• 1 Kíng síze Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup candy bars, roughly chopped


• 1 c chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.


2. Líne a 9×13 pan wíth tín foíl and spray líghlty wíth cooking spray.


3. In a medíum míxíng bowl, stír together melted butter, sugar, soda, oatmeal, flour & salt untíl ít’s crumbly. Set asíde about 1 cup or a líttle more.


4. Press the rest of the crust into the prepared pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes.


5. Whíle crust ís cookíng, ín a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter and sweetened condensed mílk.


6. Once crust has baked, evenly pour and spread peanut butter fíllíng over the baked crust. Be gentle so you don’t pull up the warm crust whíle you spread the fíllíng.


7. Evenly sprínkle the reserved crumbs on top of the peanut butter and sweetened condensed mílk míxture. Bake at 350 for about 15 mínutes.


8. After 15 mínutes, remove from the oven and sprínkle the chopped candy bars and chocolate chíps evenly over the top. Return to oven to bake for another 5-10 mínutes or untíl the toppíng ís líght golden brown and candy bars/chíps are meltíng.


9. Allow to cool to make cuttíng and servíng easíer.

3.2.1310

 

Maple Peanut Butter Pie

I'm definitely the baker in my family. I love to bake pies, cookies, coffee cakes, whatever... and I love to experiment with different recipes. This year when I was trying to come up with a pie to make for Thanksgiving my pregnant little sister pulled out a few pie recipes that had caught her eye. When she gave me this one, I'll admit I thought she was crazy. Maple Peanut Butter pie? For Thanksgiving? It didn't sound good to me...at all. But she is my little sister, and she is pregnant (with some crazy taste buds right now). So of course I made it. It made me feel better that the recipe had won 2nd place in a Taste of Home pie contest. How bad could it be?

When I started assembling the ingredients I started to change my mind. Peanut butter, cream cheese, whipped cream, maple flavoring, hot fudge....yum!! The pie is served cold and can be made in advance. I made mine the day before and froze it until the hour before it was served. It came out perfectly. Warning though- its very very rich!! So delicious! I meant to post this one before Christmas, as it would be a great dessert for any holiday party. I just ran out of time. It really doesn't matter though- if you love peanut butter, this is the pie for you, no matter the time of year. My little sister was very happy and my 5 year old declared this pie to be his favorite ever. :)

~Wendy

Maple Peanut Butter Pie

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Taste of Home

Prep time: 25 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 c. crushed cream-filled maple sandwich cookies (about 12 cookies)


• 3 tbsp butter, melted


• 1/3 c. hot fudge ice cream topping


• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened


• 1 c. creamy peanut butter


• 1 tsp maple flavoring


• 1-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar


• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed


• 1 c. heavy whipping cream


• 2 tbsp maple syrup


• 1/4 c. chocolate-covered peanuts, coarsely chopped

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix crushed cookies and butter. Press onto bottom and up sides of an ungreased 9-in. pie plate. Freeze 5 minutes.


2. In a microwave, warm fudge topping 5-10 seconds or until spreadable; spread over bottom and up sides of crust.


3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and flavoring until blended. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar; fold in whipped topping.


4. Spoon into crust, spreading evenly. Refrigerate 4 hours or until set.


5. In a small bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add syrup; beat until stiff peaks form.


6. Serve with pie; top with peanuts.

Notes

I found the maple flavored cookies at Aldi. I used maple extract for the maple flavoring which is easy to find in any backing section with a decent selection of extracts. I chose not to add syrup to the whipped cream. I felt like that would be a little too much maple for me- however I leave that up to you!

3.2.1275

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Secrets

Its "Cookie Week" on Three Lucky Husbands! This year we're going to share the three recipes that we made for my annual cookie exchange. I've been hosting a cookie exchange for the past 5-6 years. Every year I make small changes to how things run. This year we only did 1/2 dozens, thank the Lord. When you have 10+ ladies in attendance it can get CRAZY to make full dozens for each person. The only downside is that when you have so many EXCELLENT cookies (like we did this year) 6 is nowhere near enough to take home! For those of you not familiar with cookie exchanges, you invite between 8-14 friends over. Each of you makes one type of cookie, bringing one dozen (or 1/2 dozens in our case) for each person coming. At the end of the party you exchange your cookies and end up leaving with one dozen from everyone else- in other words, lots of cookies!

The other change this year was a friendly competition. We voted on the best tasting cookie, the most creative cookie and the cutest/best looking cookie. I'm happy to say that 2 of the 3 winners will be shared this week! We might even invite winner #3 to guest blog her recipe. :)

This recipe came from the Pillsbury site. When I made them, I made the cookie balls a little too big. I would suggest forming the dough around the peanut butter cup so it barely covers the chocolate. That way each bite will have some of the candy in it! Other than that, its pretty simple. Enjoy your holidays this year!

~Wendy

Peanut Butter Secrets

Recipe Type: Cookies

Author: Pillsbury

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 37

Ingredients

• cooking spray


• 1 c. vegetable shortening


• 3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar


• 1/2 c. granulated sugar


• 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter


• 1 large egg


• 1 tsp vanilla extract


• 2 c. flour


• 1 tsp. baking soda


• 1/2 tsp. salt


• 40 to 45 chocolate-covered miniature peanut butter cups


• GLAZE


• 1 tsp. vegetable shortening


• 1 c. (6 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips


• 2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

Instructions

1. HEAT oven to 375ºF. Coat baking sheets lightly with no-stick cooking spray.


2. COMBINE shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar and peanut butter in bowl of electric mixer; beat at medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg and vanilla.


3. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Mix into shortening mixture at low speed until just blended. Form rounded teaspoonfuls of dough around each peanut butter cup. Enclose entirely. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet.


4. BAKE 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies are just browned. Remove immediately to cooling rack.


5. COMBINE shortening, chocolate chips and peanut butter in microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave on MEDIUM (50% power) 1 minute. Stir. Repeat until smooth.


6. DIP cookie tops in chocolate. Let stand until chocolate is set.

3.2.1263

 

Crunchers

Life has been crazy lately! My son started kindergarten, my daughter started preschool, they both have swimming lessons, my daughter has dance class, it goes on and on and on.... I feel like I'm always sitting in the car waiting to drop off or pick up a kid. God bless I-Phones and the Pinterest app! Its a great way to kill time. When you see a recipe that says "The Most Popular Recipe on Pinterest" you have to be a dummy not to try it, right? Well thats what I thought when I saw this one. One day when I needed an easy dessert recipe I decided to try it out.

(Here's our first day of preschool. Clearly she had her big brother's full support!)

These bars are very easy to make. They would have to be these days, I don't have time for complicated. Its a perfect dessert to take to a pot luck, picnic or party, super easy to transport. If you like peanut butter and chocolate its a clear winner. They really didn't last long in my house. Give them a try. If you're reading this in the pick up lane, lobby of dance class or doctors office, I feel your pain. :)

~Wendy

Crunchers

Author: Pinterest

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 16

Ingredients

• 80 Keebler Club Crackers (or a similarly buttery cracker that has a rectangular shape)


• 1 c butter


• 2 c graham cracker crumbs


• 1 c firmly packed dark brown sugar


• 1/2 c milk


• 1/3 c sugar


• 2/3 c creamy peanut butter


• 1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Line an ungreased 9 X 13-inch baking pan with foil, allowing foil to extend about an inch on either end. Line the foil with 1 layer of club crackers, cutting to fit if necessary.


2. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, milk and sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. (Begin timing 5 minutes from when you see the first bubbles)


3. Remove from heat and spread half of graham mixture evenly over crackers. Place another single layer of crackers evenly over graham mixture, cutting to fit if necessary. Spread remaining graham mixture evenly over crackers. Top evenly with remaining crackers.


4. In a small saucepan, combine peanut butter and chocolate chips. Melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over top of crackers. Cover, and chill for at least 1 hour.


5. Lift foil overhang and remove Crunchers from pan. Cut into bars.

3.2.1255

 

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

One of my favorite things to do is bake. And even though I'm a planner by nature in every other part of my life, unless its for a party or holiday I never plan my baking. Typically when the mood strikes me I pull up my Pinterest "Sweets" board and scroll up and down until I find something that looks good. Its VERY rare that when I do find a recipe I like, that I have all of the necessary ingredients. So I look at recipes on Pinterest as more of an inspiration rather than exact directions.  I like to be creative! This recipe came from one of those moments.

There are millions of brownie variations out there. I think I've tried almost all of them, always in a semi-homeade kind of way. I honestly never find it necessary to make the brownies from scratch. Believe me, I've tried that route too lots of times. There are some good homemade recipes of course but I truly believe that none are as good as the Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix. Or at least none are SO much better that I ever put the time into making them from scratch. I usually buy the brownie mix from Costco in bulk so I'm always ready when my "baking mood" strikes. One of my favorite combos is peanut butter and chocolate. So one day when I perusing my Sweets board I saw a recipe for a chocolate cupcake with a peanut butter frosting. For the past few months I've been experimenting with buttercream frosting recipes trying to find the perfect one. So when I saw that cupcake recipe I decided to try out a peanut butter version. I'm not a huge cupcake fan so I decided to try the frosting on my beloved Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix, but of course with a twist. Instead of a pan of brownies (which you could do of course) I poured the batter into mini-muffin tins and added a few peanut butter chips to each one before baking. It turned out to be a perfect platform for an AWESOME frosting. If you like peanut butter, you will love this frosting. Feel free to use your favorite brownie mix, or make them from scratch if you're feeling fancy! Or just eat the frosting on a spoon- its really that good.

~Wendy

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Wendy

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 16 mins

Total time: 31 mins

Serves: 36-42 brownie bites

Ingredients

• Brownie Bites-


• Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix


• 1/3 c. vegetable oil


• 1 egg


• 1/4 c. water


• 1 1/2 c. peanut butter chips


• Peanut Butter Frosting-


• 4 c. powdered sugar


• 1 c. unsalted butter, softened


• 1 c. peanut butter


• 4-5 Tbsp. milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees


2. Line a mini-muffin tin with mini-cupcake liners or spray with cooking spray. Combine all of the brownie ingredients in a large bowl and mix until combined. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each muffin 3/4 full. Push 2-3 peanut butter chips down into the center of each brownie bite. Bake for 13-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a brownie bite comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.


3. While the brownies are cooling prepare the frosting.


4. In a mixing bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar until all are combined. Then add milk, one tablespoon at a time until the frosting is smooth and light. Transfer the frosting to a ziploc bag with one corner snipped off. Pipe 1-2 Tbsp of the frosting onto each brownie bite. Garnish each with chopped peanuts or chocolate sprinkles.

Notes

This recipe can also be used to make normal cupcake-sized brownie bites. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake them for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

3.1.09