Father's Day Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Father's Day Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

J.'s family loves desserts. LOVES desserts. Unfortunately, they don't like anything too odd or out there, so I am learning to hide my fun dessert streak and just make plain ole boring desserts for them. Every year for Christmas Eve, J. makes some sort of complicated cake, and his family is more likely to make fun of it (even with a look or turned up nose) than to simply say "Thanks for making this"

So for Father's Day, I asked J. what his dad might like for dessert. His dad is diabetic, so he doesn't really eat dessert, but it IS Father's Day. J. suggested chocolate chip cookies. BORING! Thankfully I found this recipe in my bookmarks and was  able to pump up the regular ole chocolate chip cookie.

I baked them the full 20 minutes, but they are still a bit undercooked in the middle and flaky on top. So. So. GOOD!!!

Father's Day Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars - chewy in the middle, flaky on top

Happy Father's Day!


Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

1½ cups all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan; set aside.
2. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until creamy and light. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Reduce speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until the flour is just incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, mix in the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.
4. Turn out the mixture into the prepared pan and press into an even layer. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until the center is set. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars and store at room temperature in an airtight container.

The kiddo couldn't wait until I was done taknig pics to try to nab one!

 

January Daring Bakers' Challenge: Gevulde Speculaas

Guevlde Speculaas almond paste between spiced dough

Francijn of Koken in de Brouwerij was our January 2013 Daring Bakers’ Hostess and she challenged us to make the traditional Dutch pastry, Gevulde Speculaas from scratch! That includes making our own spice mix, almond paste and dough! Delicious!

This was a fun and easy challenge. I had never made almond paste from scratch, but I would again. Mine did not taste too almond-y, but it was probably the quality of my almonds.

nekkid almonds and their skins

The paste was jut almonds, sugar, an egg and lemon zest in the food processor. Really simple, and it did not take too long to make.

homemade almond paste

The dough was also easy to make. The first step was to mix the speculaas spices. According to Francijn, "Speculaaskruiden contain at least cinnamon, cloves, mace and ginger, and these spices to taste: pepper, cardamom, coriander, anise seeds and nutmeg." Unfortunately, I did not have mace. The mix of spices I used is in the picture below.

speculaas spices

The dough consists of flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, spices and butter that you mix together by hand in a bowl, then roll in a ball. The dough and almond paste should be refrigerated from a few hours or a few days. I left mine in the fridge for a day to help the flavors meld.

The dough then gets divided in half and  rolled out. I had some issues with that and ended up just pressing the dough into the bottom of my pan, then pressing in the almond paste and then the rest of the dough - it totally crumbled. The top is supposed to be smooth but oh well! you also brush on egg in between each layer and on the top.

Crumbly speculaas

Add some almonds on top, bake and EAT!!! The speculaas was crumbly and light. Jeff said the psice tasted like gingerbread, but to me it was cinnamon with a hint of other spices. so good. It was the best on the day one, but today is day 3, and the spices have really come together. It is much more flavorful today.

Gevulde speculaas before and after

This was a great challenge! Thanks Francijn!

Eggless Peanut Butter Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Artsy pic!!

What a day. It was supposed to be rainy, so I planned to bake... just baby E and me, for the first time since he was born. The few times I have baked, Jeff has been home to watch the baby. But, I didn't have eggs and had to use up the milk. I wanted to use up some canned pumpkin, too, but couldn't find a recipe that used what I had on hand. So, I asked around and eventually found a peanut butter cookie recipe. But it was after 3:30 by the time I could make it... after I put a very cranky boy down for a nap. So i had to rush through them (taking a lot longer than I thought... thankfully after his nap the babe was just fine hanging out in the bebe pod in the kitchen) but thankfully Jeff got home way late from work today, so I was  done by the time he got here.  Phew. So much for a relaxing rainy day LOL!!!

Fresh out of the oven and still puffy!!

Eggless Peanut Butter Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

adapted from cooks.com

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. margarine
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
5 tbsp. skim milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup white chocolate chips 

Thoroughly cream butter, sugars, milk and vanilla. Stir in peanut butter and add dry ingredients. Stir in chips, Drop from a teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Press down with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

 

Yum!

 Here are some tips:

• These cookies are thin and chewy, but not crumbly
• Let them cool for 5 minutes on the pan before transferring them to the cooling rack
• The dough was super soft for me - it was much easier to work with after being in the fridge awhile

And to end....a pic of my babe watching me make these!

The Daring Barkers September Challenge... a few! days late!

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

I messed up my days and so the day I baked my cookies was the day the challenge was supposed to be up... oopsie? I didn't get a chance to do the  icing until today.

They were supposed to represent September, which to me means fall, so I made apples, pumpkins and leaves. I also had a new star cutter so I made a few stars.

I made the thinner ones the way I usually do... with sprinkles and jimmies and fun little things.

Here is my finished, iced cookies. Not too bad for a first time, especially since I only have 3 tips, and I have no clue what "number" they are.

I also used some edible glitter. (They look better in person!)

I tried to use the icing over method, but my icing was jsut too thin by the end. IDK why but it thinned up the more it sat.

My yellow ones...

The strs with the iridescent glitter!

Well one thing is off my bucket list! LOL I enjoyed the icing part, but I think I'd only do it again for a very special occasion!

August 2010 Daring Bakers Challenge!

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I decided to make the baked Alaska. The brown butter cake was easy to make (even though my butter didn't really brown!)  and it tasted sooo good! But the meringue... HEAVENLY!!! I wanted to eat it by the spoonful!!!

Here are my two little baked Alaskas:

 We have a creme brulee set and WAS going to use that torch to "bake" to Alaskas... but who knew you needed to get a gas canister to use it LOL So we used the lighter we sue to light the candles. It took forever so we didn't do too much - BUT the toasted parts tasted just like marshmallow. YUM!!

The end result.... pretty tasty!!! I used the leftover ice cream I made for last month's challenge!

Daring Baker's July 2010 Challenge: Swiss Roll Ice Cream "Bombe"

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home. -

This was my very first time doing a Daring Bakers challenge, and yes it was a bit of a challenge! 

I started by making the ice creams. I decided on a Mint Chocolate Chip

 and a Peanut Butter ice cream. I was surprised at how easy to make they both were.

 I had been kinda intimidated to make ice cream without an ice cream maker, but  no more!

Next up was to make the swiss rolls! They were really easy to make, too.
Here is an action shot - folding in the coca powder.

The two cakes in the pans ready to bake!!!

After baking, I rolled the cakes to cool, then made the filling. It was very very liquidy, but tasted good anyway! Then i rolled up the  cakes again!

Then it was time for the msot time consuming part - the assembly!! I cut the rolls and put them in the bottom of my bowl.

Then the first layer of ice cream, homemade chocolate sauce (that didn't thicken either) then the other ice cream!

The finished product:

But you know what? the chocolate covered cakes taste sooo good!!!!
It looks ugly but tastes yummy :D

Lemon Coolers Recipe

Our stove was busy today!! First I made Lemon Coolers, then Jeff made almond cookies (if you want the recipe LMK). Then I made baked chicken for dinner later on in the day. Phew.

So, I decided that my Easter cookies would be lemony - a great taste for spring. I searched through allrecipies and ended up adapting a few recipes to make my own version of Lemon Coolers.They are so simple to make!

(The confectioners' sugar is missing!)

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 egg
• 1 T almond extract (I used a little vanilla also to use it up. You could also use lemon)
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat oven the 350 degrees F
2. Mix together cake mix, whipped topping, extract and egg until well mixed. Batter will be really sticky!!
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar and turn to coat. Smoosh into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. (Note... make them bigger than the ones in this picture! The bigger ones are better.)

4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Try to take them out before they brown. Makes 36 or more cookies.

And note... powdered sugar will get EVERYWHERE.... but that is part of the fun!! :D

Happy Easter again... and Happy Spring!!

Easter/Spring Cookie Recipies?

Does anyone have any good spring or Easter cookie recipes? I will be doing cut outs for Mother's Day. I was thinking something light and airy - like with lemon or lime cookies, but J doesn't think his family will like those. So maybe something with chocolate instead? I still might just make some lemon crinkles though lol

Please LMK if you have any suggestions!!

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day! Last night I wanted to make a pie to celebrate, but I didn't have any pie crusts. I have made pie crust once in my life - and I FAILED. The biggest issue is that the crust was for 9 inch pie and mine was a 9.5 inch pie pan.  I probably over mixed too. So, it was just "ok." Does anyone have a good recipe for a 9.5 inch pie crust?

I ended up making Pillsbury Cinnabon cookies instead. They were in my freezer and needed to be cooked!  The best thing about them is how big and uniform they are. They taste pretty darn good too. But I feel a little guilty for taking the shortcut.

I have eggs to use up, so I will make something this week. Need to gather recipes for Menu Plan Monday, too.

Sunday is one of my fave TV nights... Amazing Race and now the 2 hour premiere of Celebrity Apprentice! Since it is a heavy TV night, I decided to do my "Commercial Cleanup," where I straighten up, return items to thier proper room, etc., during commercial breaks. This living room has so much paper clutter it is RIDICULOUS!!! And its working. I just need to clean off the little table next to my chair, and I am done,

This weekend, I have already gone though my coupons and organized my magazines. I also FINALLY moved the aluminum foil and plastic wrap into a different cabinet where hey can lay flat. They used to stand up on end and would fall down every time we opened the cabinet. Not good.

Ok, a commercial is on... time to get crackin'! :D