Bliss in Every Bite

I made some cookies on Monday that are probably the most delicious chocolate peanut butter combination I have ever tasted before.

The recipe is the brain child of Lizzy Early from Your Cup of Cake. The only difference between hers and mine is that I added the extra drizzle, which is just leftover ganache that is also under the baby Reese's peanut butter cups. Lizzy suggests that you make a depression in the cookie before baking. I used the back of this measuring spoon (it's a tablespoon). 

Once the cookies are baked (and they are super fast and easy since they start with a cake mix), you fill them with a peanut butter frosting and then a peanut butter/chocolate ganache, topped with mini Reese's peanut butter cups. Not miniature Reese's, but mini Reese's. They are each about the size of my baby fingernail. As if that wasn't enough, I made this on the same day. It's from Six Sister's Stuff.

You can get the recipe for that right here.  But their recipe doesn't have that layer of peanut butter goo in it. For me, that's practically the best part of the fudge, so here's that peanut butter sauce recipe. 

Okay, the treats are ready! It's time for friends to come over. The set up in the back was for banana splits. 

Yummy! I made some hot fudge sauce and more peanut butter sauce for the splits, but I left my triple crock pot on high and the sauces overheated. We just dipped out of the very center and we survived. I thought the cookies were even better the next day. I couldn't stop eating them, so I had to give every last one of them away. 

It's the Pits

Laura came up with an ingenious way to pit cherries. I love it.

Hold the cherry with the stem end down (the stem has already been removed) over a frosting tip. Laura is using a Wilton #10. It's round and fairly large, but not so large that it takes out much more than just the pit. 

Press the cherry down onto the frosting tip and the pit comes right out. 

Take a look at how easy this is! 

Peanut Butter Sauce

When I visited Karen in Arizona in March, she fed me Dryers Butterfingers ice cream (a vanilla-based ice cream with chunks of Butterfingers and a peanut butter swirl running through it).  I was in love. Unfortunately, it was harder to find in Salt Lake than it was in Mesa, so I switched to Dryers Slow Churned Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream instead (same base and peanut butter swirl- just switch baby Reese's pb cups for the Butterfingers). Still in love! And maybe even more so because it was slow churned which meant forty fewer calories per serving. Yesterday, my husband broke out a carton of Breyer's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream and it was super yummy too! Breyer's uses a peanut butter flavored based ice cream. I think in my mind it is all about the peanut butter, and the more of it, the more I love it. So I decided to make a peanut butter ice cream sauce to pour over some vanilla ice cream, just in case my supply of specialty ice cream in the freezer disappears.

Peanut Butter Sauce
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup corn syrup
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Bring the first three ingredients to a simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add heavy cream and vanilla extract. The sauce will thicken as it cools. Serve warm over ice cream (some kids like it spread on a slice of bread for lunch!).

Pumpkin Cream Pie

My sister says pumpkin recipes are only allowable during October and November, but I've already fudged on that rule. I wanted to give you lots of time to get your pumpkin recipes into your menu planning before it is banished again until next fall! And what better place to start than with dessert?

Pumpkin Cream Pie 
Crust:
1 pkg. graham crackers (not 1 box, 1 package or sleeve)
1/2 pkg. Biscoff cookies
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 stick butter, melted
Filling:
1 (3.4 ounce) pkg. instant pumpkin spice pudding (if it's unavailable, use instant vanilla pudding, but it is really better with the pumpkin pudding)
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream, divided
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
2 T brown sugar
Preheat oven to 300°F. In a food processor (if you have one- or a Ziplock baggie and a rolling pin if you don't), grind graham crackers and Biscoff cookies until finely crushed (or if it suits your fancy, use ginger snaps instead of the Biscoff cookies). Add the powdered sugar and melted butter and process until combined. Reserve about 1/4 cup of crumbs. Press remaining mixture into bottom and up the sides of your pie plate. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. If you're feeling lazy, use a pre-made graham cracker pie crust.
Mix together the pudding, milk and 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Whisk until smooth. Fold in pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Whip 1/2 cup heavy cream and the brown sugar together until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into pumpkin mixture. Pour mixture into pie crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
If you're calorie conscious, substitute 1 cup of Cool Whip for the 1/2 cup of whipping cream, omitting the brown sugar for the last step before pouring mixture into the crust. However, if you're going to eat pie, just eat the pie and maybe work out a little longer tomorrow.
This recipe was majorly adapted from one I looked at on the Pioneer Woman's website. It ended up being changed so much that it was basically a new pie, but I will give her credit for the idea.

Frozen Butterfinger Pie

Several days ago, some friends and I were discussing Pinterest. I told them I only used it for pinning the things I wanted to remember, and that I didn't look at what other people pinned. When I came home, I decided to see what all the hubbub was about in looking at other people's pins. Big mistake. Now I want to see other people's pins all the time. And to round out the obsession, I did a search with the word "Butterfinger." Second big mistake! Or not! I was having some company over tonight and needed a killer dessert, and this is what I decided to make.

The recipe came from here, but I didn't have any Cool Whip so I used sweetened whipping cream. 

To decorate the plate, I made the peanut butter sauce from this post and the hot fudge sauce from this post. I added a squirt of pressurized whipped cream and topped it with a Butterfinger Snackerz.

Frozen Butterfinger Pie (adapted slightly)
Oreo pre-made crust (or make your own, as easy as this)
8 oz cream cheese, softened (I would have preferred a little less cream cheese, but that's just me)
half of a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk (so, 7 oz!)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
8 oz tub Cool Whip (or 1 cup of heavy whipping cream and 1/4 cup powdered sugar whipped together until stiff)
8 miniature Butterfinger candy bars, coarsely chopped (or 4 regular-sized bars)

In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, condensed milk, peanut butter and powdered sugar. Beat on medium speed until smooth (about 2 minutes). Add the Butterfinger pieces, then fold in the whipping cream or Cool Whip.
Spread mixture into crust. Cover and freeze about three hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving, and garnish as desired.

Oh, Pinterest. I'm afraid I'll be spending way too much time at your place from now on.

Better Than Mine

I've never claimed to be original, but one time I made up a recipe for hot fudge sauce, and it was really good. However, when I made Laura's birthday "uncake" I used a different fudge sauce and I will be the first to admit that it is better than my made up recipe. So using what I learned in church two Sundays ago (thanks, Michele), I will admit I was wrong, and to make up for posting an inferior hot fudge sauce, I will now give you an even better hot fudge sauce recipe. I got it from Real Mom Kitchen, but she got it from San Diego Cooks. And now you got it from me. Don't say I never gave you anything.
You can make it in the microwave like the other two did, but I made it on the stovetop because I wanted more control. Does that make me a control freak?
I "borrowed" San Diego Cooks photo because I am being lazy about taking a new picture.

Legitimately, I could use this photo because it's the same fudge, but you've already seen this one. 

Hot Fudge Sauce- (directions adapted)

1/4 cup butter

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 can sweetened condensed milk

a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat.  Add chocolate chips and corn syrup. Stir to combine. Add condensed milk and salt and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract and stir. Be prepared to eat it straight from the pan with a spoon. Refrigerate any leftover sauce in an airtight container. It will keep for several days. 

A Birthday Uncake

Laura was craving a Red Robin mud pie for a couple of weeks. She found a recipe online and asked if I would make it for her birthday "cake." It looks totally ugly, but everyone loved it. The ugly problem happened because my homemade hot fudge was still too warm (room temperature) to cover the frozen ice cream and it all slid right off the mountain to the bottom of the plate.

What I would do differently when I make it again is not try to replicate the shape of how Red Robin does theirs. I would start with an Oreo pie crust, then line that with the peanut butter sauce (recipe to follow), vanilla ice cream, crushed Nutter Butter cookies, and chocolate ice cream, frosted with hot fudge, using less ingredients of everything so it all fits in the pie shell. Here's the original recipe.

Red Robin® Mountain High Ice Cream Pie ingredients

Makes 12 servings

6 cups chocolate ice cream

1 cup peanut butter cookie pieces

6 cups vanilla ice cream

1 2/3 cups creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup chopped peanuts

4 chocolate-flavored graham crackers, crushed

1 cup fudge topping

1 (20-oz) squirt bottle chocolate topping

1 (20-oz) squirt bottle caramel topping

Garnish:

Chocolate sauce

1 can Redi-Whip

3/4 cup chopped peanuts

12 maraschino cherries, with stems

Notes:

Directions

Line a 3-QT bowl with Saran wrap and freeze for at least 30 minutes.

Soften the chocolate ice cream and pack it into the bottom of prepared bowl. Make sure the surface of the ice cream is smooth and leveled.

Evenly spread the peanut butter cookie pieces over the top; cover the bowl and freeze for at least one hour.

Then, soften the vanilla ice cream and spread it over the peanut butter cookie layer, again smoothing a level ice cream surface. Cover the bowl and freeze again for at least one hour.

After the vanilla ice cream is hardened, use a spatula to spread 2/3 cup of peanut butter over the top.

Evenly spread the chocolate graham cracker crumbs over the peanut butter. Cover the bowl and freeze again for at least one hour, preferably longer.

About five hours before serving, partially fill a sink with warm water. Then, remove ice cream bowl from the freezer and hold it in the warm water for about one minute; you want the ice cream around the edges to soften just enough that you can invert the domed-shaped ice cream onto a plate.

Turn a large plate upside down and place it on top of the ice cream bowl; flip bowl and plate together, gently tapping on bowl until the ice cream dome falls onto the plate. You may have to immerse the bowl in warm water again to release the ice cream dome.

Once released on the plate, cover the ice cream dome with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for another 1 - 2 hours.

Without heating, evenly spread the fudge sauce over the entire surface of the ice cream dome ("mountain"); freeze for 1 hour.

When the fudge sauce has hardened, spread the remaining 1 cup of peanut butter over the entire surface as well; freeze again for 1 hour.

About one hour before serving, use a warm knife to slice dessert into 12 pieces. Place wax paper between the cuts so it is easy to divide when you serve it later. Then cover and return to freezer. If desired, freeze dessert plates, too.

Just before serving (finally!), and on each serving plate, use squirt bottle of  chocolate topping to make 3 parallel (side by side) lines.

Make quarter-turn of each serving plate and use squirt bottle of  caramel topping to make 3 parallel (side by side) lines which are perpendicular to the chocolate lines.

Turn each serving plate so the lines appear as an "X."

Near the back of the "X" design, place a slice of ice cream upright onto each serving plate; spray generous amount of Redi-Whip on top and down the curved edge of the slice, onto the plate over the sauces.

Sprinkle about a tablespoon of chopped nuts over the Redi-Whip on each plate; add a cherry on top and serve immediately.

Peanut butter sauce-  (adapted slightly)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream ( you can use half and half)
• 1/4 cup sugar 
• 1/4 cup light Karo syrup
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients (except peanut butter) in a saucepan stirring constantly until all ingredients are dissolved.
2. Let the mixture cool completely then add the peanut butter and stir well.
3. It will look like a mess, but keep stirring and it will turn out smooth and still have the grain texture.

Let It Shine

After shining up the appliances, I looked at the floor and realized it was in bad shape. I won't disgust you with a before picture.

But this is an after picture! I almost don't want to bring the table and chairs back in here. 

Minwax hardwood floor reviver- high gloss. My new best friend (unpaid endorsement...unfortunately). 

My Mom Knows Stuff

 I was in Target a few minutes ago and was talking to my mom on the phone while I looked for the things I needed wanted. New throw pillows at $25 wasn't going to happen, so I moved on to the next item on my list. My lunch group ladies had been talking about stainless steel wipes and I knew my appliances were difficult to clean so I thought I'd try out the wipes. The only problem was that I couldn't find them in the store. I mentioned it to my mom and when she found out why I wanted them she gave me brilliant advice.

Dirty refrigerator. 

Half clean, half still dirty. 

All clean (and so is the oven and dishwasher and microwave) and I've never seen it so amazingly streak-free! What did my mom tell me to use? 

Yep. She said when she was the custodian for our church building (back in the day when that was a paid position, not volunteer duty like today) she'd use WD-40 to shine the drinking fountains. 

Thanks, Mom! You sure know a lot about a lot! I love you! 

"Modern" Buttercream Frosting

My sister, LynnEl, told me last week about craftsy.com. Specifically, she told me about a tutorial that would calm all my fears about making my niece's wedding cake. I spent the next hour watching one lesson after another until I felt like I had learned what I needed to know. Then my daughter, Laura, watched the same tutorial so she could know everything too.

What I was most pleased with was the buttercream recipe they gave for working with the outside of the cake. It was smooth enough to get the crisp lines I needed and firm enough to do the piping work on the middle layers. A bonus was that it tasted quite good (it wasn't sickly sweet), and you never get that when you have to use all shortening because you have to have white frosting- like for a wedding cake. I haven't yet tried the recipe using butter (which is why it's called buttercream), and hope I get a chance to test it in the near future.
I'm going to give you the recipe (mostly so I can find it easily when I need it again).

Modern Buttercream with Joshua John Russell
8 egg whites (about 1 cup)
1 cup granulated sugar
6 sticks (3 cups) butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar), sifted
pinch salt
2 T vanilla extract (use clear, if needed)
Over a double boiler (I used my Kitchen Aid bowl and set it over a small pan of boiling water so I wouldn't have to transfer the mixture), heat the whites and granulated sugar and salt, whisking constantly, until all the sugar is dissolved. Heat this slowly! You don't want scrambled eggs (as soon as I put the bowl over the pan, I reduced my heat to low). This step only takes about 3-4 minutes. You will test it to see if the sugar is dissolved by rubbing some of the mixture between your thumb and finger.
Place the mixture in a stand mixer (been there, done that!) and whip on high until a peak forms and the mixture is cool, about 5 minutes.
Turn the mixer to medium speed and add the softened butter a little at a time (this is where you can either add butter or shortening, depending on your needs. If you're using shortening, it will be three cups, added about one cup at a time).
Add the sifted powdered sugar and the vanilla extract. Whip until firm.
In warmer weather, you will want to change the amount of butter to 4 sticks (2 cups) and also add 1 1/2 cups of shortening to stabilize it (you don't want to frost your cake just to have it all slide off if/when it gets too warm outside. I think you can see my project on craftsy.com if you click here.

Tweaked

I was tempted last week by this container. Peanut butter filled pretzels. I'd sampled them before and liked them, but in the back of my mind, I knew they needed a little something to bring them to their full potential.

I drizzled them, front and back, with three kinds of chocolate. Now we're talkin'!

Since it's my turn to host game night tonight, and since everyone (except Bud) seems to be on a diet, I'm not really serving dessert. We're having fruits and veggies, but even with trying to be good, you need a little treat to go with it, right?

National Whatever Day

My niece posted on Facebook that every single day is some kind of national "holiday." For instance, today is National Irish Coffee Day. Bleh. But tomorrow is National Peanut Brittle Day! Now I could get behind that kind of celebration. Some other noteworthy days coming up are National Popcorn Day, National Blueberry Pancake day, National Baked Alaska Day, National Carrot Cake Day, National Homemade Soup Day and National Chocolate Cake Day. If you're ever in need of giving something to someone and you don't know what to do, just look up this chart and see what National Day it is and go with that! I looked up what day it was on my birthday. At first I was not so thrilled with National Spicy Hermit Cookie Day because I had never heard of a hermit cookie. Now I've heard of it and if you'd like to try it, here's a recipe. I think because I don't like nuts so much, I'd have to do something about that, but I'm guessing it would be a great experience for my husband. Maybe I should make some for his birthday instead of mine.

I knew what Karen's birthday item was because she and I have actually celebrated it! Her favorite restaurant makes sure we all know when it is National Cheesecake Day! What is your birthday's National food celebration?
Thanks for the link, Bekah!

Cranberry Sauce

I used to hate cranberry sauce. Then I learned to make it myself, and now I love it! Take a bag of these guys...

 ...and turn it into this.

Here's how:
Cranberry Sauce (by Our Best Bites)
1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
1 cup water
1 pinch ground cloves (barely shake the bottle one time)
1 stick cinnamon
1 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar
Turn the oven on to 350°F. Rinse the cranberries (there can sometimes be little sticks in there), and place the berries in a 9x13 pan. Add the water, cloves, cinnamon stick and orange juice. Give it a swirl, then sprinkle the sugar on top of the berries.
Bake for one hour.
I like my sauce a little lumpy, so I mash them a little bit after they've cooled slightly. You can process it in a food blender if you like yours smooth. Chill until ready to serve. I'm hoping there will be leftovers!

Apple Pie Filling

I've never canned (or bottled) anything before. Ever. Unless you count freezer jam, which I don't. My friend, Jenny, loaned me some tools and gave me a recipe, and off I went.

This is the sauce. No it is not caramel. 

How many apples makes six pounds? This many. 

A medieval torturing device 

Turn the handle

It peels and slices and cores all at once

I'm going to have to get me one of these corer/slicer/peeler things.  

Ready for the steam bath

Ta-da! Beautiful deliciousness! Jelly jar (12 oz) sized for my family of two. 

You can't even imagine how fast I devoured this. And no, that isn't pineapple- just apple. 

I decided I needed to make them just a little cuter

Oops, I can't leave it crooked! 

There. That's better. Don't worry, Jenny. None of our neighbors will get one of these. 

Preserved Apple Pie Filling -adapted from Jenny Orchard's recipe

(makes 7 quart-sized jars)
6 lb. apples (I used Granny Smith for its tartness)
4 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup cornstarch
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 T lemon juice
2-3 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
5 cups apple juice
4 cups water
Combine the dry ingredients, then stir in the apple juice and water. Cook over medium-high heat until thick and bubbly, about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and food coloring.
While the sauce is cooking, peel and slice apples. Add apple slices to the cooked sauce. Fill jars, wiping the jar rims clean after filling. Leave 1/2 inch of space at the top. Put the amount of lids required into a small pan of water. Bring just to a boil. Add lid and band to each jar. Process either by steam or water bath for 30 minutes if you live near me. If you don't live near me, check this handy information.

Processing time for pint or quart size jars:  0-1000 ft: 25 min, 1001-3000 ft:30 3001-6000 ft: 30 mins 

Above 6000 ft: 40 mins

After you remove them from the canner or steamer, let them sit on the counter overnight, undisturbed. You will hear the lids pop as they seal. Avoid the temptation to check them by pressing on the lid. On day two, you can check them by pressing on the lid! Any that have not sealed should be refrigerated and used promptly. All mine sealed just fine, so I think yours will too! Thanks, Jenny!

This Smells Good!

You probably think I'm baking something, but I'm not. What smells so good? Laundry soap!
I pinned a "recipe" for homemade laundry soap onto my Pinterest board awhile ago and have been eager to try it out. I've been on the search for Zote soap ever since and I'll save you some trouble and just tell you that I found it at Lowe's Walmart Target Big Lots, at the huge cost of 90¢ a bar (so of course I bought 8 bars)! I found the "recipe" here.

The list of participants

This pesky guy was hard to find! 

I had to slice it in half to put it in my food processor, but it cut like butter. 

Into the food processor it goes, using the fine shred blade. 

I put it into an old (and I mean OLD, this was from July of '73 when my dad filled it with wheat!) plastic bucket. 

Here it is all stirred up. 

I was told to put it back in the Purex container, and yes, it looks cute in there, but the Zote soap doesn't come out of the hole easily. Spare yourself the trouble and put it back in the Oxi Clean bucket! 

I found all the ingredients for this at Walmart, except for the Zote soap. I know, Walmart is your least favorite place to shop, but sometimes it just gets the job done. I layered the ingredients a little bit to make mixing it easier. I also put the lid on the bucket and rolled it around, but eventually I just stuck my hand in there to really mix it up. After all, it's only soap. If you use your food processor to grate the soap, make sure you wash it really well afterwards! It is supposed to last for-ev-er. I washed one load of whites last night. There was no static cling and they were clean and smelled nice (I thought they might smell a little stronger, but they didn't). But if I can wash clothes for mere pennies, count me in.