Peanut Butter Apple Crumble

 

 So, I was recently cleaning out my pantry, and I discovered a forgotten half jar of peanut butter. Just sitting all the way in the back, thinking no one loved it anymore.  Of course, I instantly thought "what can I make with this?" Yes, I could absolutely do something with chocolate. That's a no brainer, but not exactly ground breaking. Then I thought, how about something apple? A crisp, maybe? Yes, that's exactly the right note I want to hit. But, to me, a crisp has an oat topping, and I was out of oats. I did, however, have a can of slightly salted peanuts. What if I swap out the oats for peanuts and call it a crumble?  THERE's the A HA moment! Then I found a recipe on a blog called Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt. (This is my tweaked version.) A little bit of peeling and coring and mixing, and the next thing I knew I was smelling the heavenly scent of apples baking. YUM. It really is one of life's simple pleasures, you know. So there we have it. Apples and peanut butter, with a peanut crumble topping. Add a little vanilla ice cream on top, and you're having a party! Definitely a keeper. Absolutely delicious!

 

 
Filling:
6 apples
1/2 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs flour
pinch salt

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped peanuts
3/4 cup flour
4 tsp butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
pinch salt

Heat over to 350ºF.

For the filling:
Peel, core, and slice apples set aside.
In a large bowl, combine remaining filling ingredients. Tossing filling with apples. Place in a large baking dish.

For the topping:
In the same bowl as you tossed the apples, (no need to wash), combine all topping ingredients. Pour topping all over apples in an even layer. Place in oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes. You MUST serve this with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. I'm pretty sure it's a law.

Tips:
The usual “baking” apple is the Granny Smith. It’s tart so it stands up to the sweetness of the sugar, and it doesn’t turn to mush while it bakes. But I like Honeycrisp apples better, so that’s what I used. Use what you like!
If you’re using salted peanuts, omit the pinches of salt.
If you want your apples to be a little bit more saucy, sprinkle them with the sugar, and let them sit for a while until the juices form, then toss with the remaining filling ingredients.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

  Recently, my niece Casey Case with the Pretty Face celebrated a milestone birthday, so of course I offered my baking skills for the party effort. I asked what her favorites are, and I was told that she love love LOVES peanut butter. OK, I can work with this! How 'bout if I make Peanut Butter Cupcakes? "Perfect! She'll love 'em!" But wait... then I realized.. I have no peanut butter cupcakes on my website. WHAT?? How is that even possible?? Well, we must find a go-to recipe right away!

 It didn't take me long to find just the perfect recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Sally's Baking Addiction. I don't think there is even ONE recipe I've tried from Sally's blog that wasn't absolutely perfect. And these cupcakes turned out perfectly! So there we have it. I did, however, make one slight change. Not to the cupcake recipe, but for this occasion, I decided to do a Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Buttercream instead of the peanut butter icing that Sally posted. Honestly, the results were life changing. I don't even know how else to describe them. If you've ever made Swiss Meringue Buttercream, the recipe was the same, only I swapped out some of the butter for peanut butter. Sheer peanut butter heaven! And as My Kristin always says "the peanut butterier, the better."

 At the party, the cupcakes were a huge hit, and Casey loved them! I'd say that's a solid mission accomplished right there. And if you're also a peanut butter fanatic, you'll definitely want to make these. I'm telling you... LIFE CHANGING. Not even kidding.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1/3 cup sour cream

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup whole milk

1/3 cup very finely crushed or chopped peanuts

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Line a second pan with 2-3 liners because this recipe yields 14-15 cupcakes. Set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Using a handheld mixer, stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, or a whisk, mix the oil, peanut butter, brown sugar, egg, sour cream, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients, milk, and peanuts and whisk or beat together until completely combined. Avoid overmixing. Batter will be slightly thick. Pour/spoon the batter into the liners, filling only 2/3 full to avoid baking over the sides. Bake for 21-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched.

For around 35 mini cupcakes, bake for about 11-13 minutes, same oven temperature. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Tips:

It should be noted that the original recipe suggested that all ingredients should be at room temperature for better mixing. I didn't have time, so a few of my ingredients were straight from the fridge. Sorry Sally.

I also didn't have any peanuts to finely chop or crush, so I just left them out. I did, however, add an extra pinch of salt, just to drive home that salty peanutty flavor. Turned out great!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

 Whenever my friend Katie comes over, I always try to find a new and yummy peanut butter recipe to make for her. I swear to you, I don't know of another human being on the planet who loves peanut butter as much as Katie does. Not even kidding. Anyway,  I wanted something that was an easy picky-uppy dessert (that's an official culinary term, btw), so I thought of maybe doing something PB&J. It didn't take me long to find this recipe from Martha Stewart, so I decided to go with it since I already had just about all the ingredients on hand. Perfect!
 They're simple to make, they're absolutely delish, and they SCREAM for an ice cold glass of milk. And best of all, they're Katie-approved! You should definitely make 'em!


1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor

2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped 

 

 

Heat oven to 350ºF. 

Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces. 

 

Tips:

Instead of greasing and flouring the pan, I just sprayed the pan with cooking spray, lined it with parchment, then sprayed the parchment with baking spray (which is cooking spray with flour in it). It's much easier and quicker!

The key to any peanut butter recipe (in my humble opinion) is the addition of salt. Make sure you don't forget it! It's the combination of salty and sweet that makes all the difference!

I used grape jelly because I just happened to have some homemade jars in my pantry, but use whichever kind of jelly you like! Also, I think I might add a little extra jelly next time. Just sayin!

Oh, and one other thing.. the recipe says to cut into 36 pieces, but I cut mine into 24 brownie-sized squares. More is more!

 

 

Slow Cooker Chocolate Candy

  Here's an easy and yummy do-ahead recipe that falls squarely into a category that I like to call "stupid simple." I'm not even kidding. If you're not usually one to cook, then this is the recipe for you. It's about as easy as it gets! You just throw everything into a crock pot and then in about 3 hours you give it a stir. That's all there is to it! See what I mean? Simple!! When I saw Trisha Yearwood making this on her show, I knew this would be a perfect recipe to share around the holidays, just because everyone is in such a rush with shopping and cooking and decorating and baking. But with this recipe, you can start your crock pot on a Sunday morning, put on a load of laundry, go finish running your errands, then by the afternoon, you're ready to stir everything together and fill your candy cups. You'll be finished in no time at all! You could even put the cups in decorative tins and give them as gifts. And everyone will be SO impressed that you made your own candy! It's so much more personal than just buying a box of candy, dontcha think? So give it a try! And just think, maybe this will be the recipe that you become famous for making every year! It could happen!!

2 pounds salted dry-roasted peanuts
4 ounces German's sweet chocolate (about 4 squares)

1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
2 1/2 pounds white almond bark

Put the peanuts in the bottom of a 4-quart slow cooker. Layer the chocolate over the peanuts, beginning with the sweet chocolate, followed by the chocolate chips and then the almond bark. Set the temperature on low and cook for 3 hours. Do not stir the mixture. After 3 hours, stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until smooth. Drop the candy into cupcake pan liners using about 2 tablespoons per liner.* Allow the candy to cool completely before removing the cupcake liners.

Tips:
 *I decided to use mini cupcake tins instead of the regular ones. I wanted smaller bites, and I also like how they dress up a plate of cookies. No mini cupcake tins? No problem!!  Just place the mini cupcake paper liners in empty egg cartons to help them hold their shape while they set! Easy!
Btw, be sure to use salted nuts. The salt is key! Just sayin!

Not a fan of peanuts? Use any kind that you like! Cashews, pecans, and macadamia nuts would be high on my list. I think I'll try them next time!
This recipe makes quite a few mini candy cups, probably 100-110 depending on how full you make them. I'm not seeing this as a problem, but if you don't want that many, it seems to me that cutting the recipe in half would work just as well.

I also decided to use a small ice cream scoop to portion each one, just to make it easier. Turns out this was a really good idea!

Peanut Brittle

I recently saw Trisha Yearwood making this and it looked so yummy and caramelly that I thought "Hmm..I'm gonna have to try this.." (caramelly?) Then I saw on FB that my friend Abbe was about to make peanut brittle so I texted her that Trisha Yearwood has a good recipe, and she responded "That's the one I'm making!" Great minds, huh? So of course, I asked her to take a picture of her final product, and here we are!
 Just like I said, it's yummy and caramelly and so festive! But you don't have to wait until the holidays to make it. Make it any time!
Thanx Abbe!

1 tbs vanilla extract
1 tbs baking soda
1 tbs salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
3 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
3 cups shelled raw peanuts

 Measure the vanilla into a small bowl and set aside. Combine the baking soda and salt in another small bowl and set aside. Butter 2 cookie sheets with sides or jelly roll pan liberally with 1/2 stick of the butter. Set aside.

Combine the sugar, corn syrup and 1/2 cup water in a large saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, attach a candy thermometer and cook over medium-high heat until the syrup spins a thread when poured from a spoon or reaches 240 degrees F on the thermometer. Stir in the peanuts and continue cooking and stirring until the candy becomes golden brown or reaches 300 degrees F.
Remove from the heat immediately and quickly add the remaining 1 stick butter and the vanilla, baking soda and salt. Stir only until the butter melts, and then quickly pour the brittle onto the cookie sheets, spreading the mixture thinly. When the brittle has completely cooled, break the candy into pieces and store in a tightly covered container.

Tips:
Instead of buttering the baking sheets, you can also use silicone baking mats. Nothing sticks to 'em!
Be sure to take the time to measure out the ingredients and put them in small bowls before you start, just as the recipe directs. Once you reach 240 degrees, things go very quickly and you don't want to spend the time measuring things.
 And one other thing... I know I don't have to say it, but I'll say it anyway. This gets VERY hot so PLEASE be careful and make sure your little ones aren't around when you make this! There. I feel better now.