Peanut Butter S'more Truffles

 

I know it’s hot out. I know none of you want to turn on the oven and make your 90 degree kitchen reach 100. This is why I’m giving you a nice cool treat. No it’s not ice cream (boy oh boy do I wish I had an ice cream maker!). Today I bring you Peanut Butter S’more Truffles.

I’m going to diverge a little here. Ever wonder why s’more are enjoyed during the summer? This thought just popped into my head like two seconds ago. But seriously, who wants to start a fire in the middle of July/August when it’s a bajillion degrees outside? Wouldn’t it be more practical to make s’mores during the winter? You know then you can snuggle up to the cozy fire during those cold winter nights and eat piping hot and melty deliciousness. It’s just something to think about.

So, back to truffles. These definitely have more of a peanut butter taste than and s’more taste, I won’t try to deceive you on that. But it really is a delicious combo, peanut butter, dark chocolate, and melted marshmallows.

 

Melted butter and marshmallows are swirled into the peanut butter dough giving a little bit of chew when you bite into the chilled truffle.

I’m pretty sure my dad ate the majority of these. Every time I looked over into the kitchen, there he was, popping another truffle into his mouth.

And in other news: my house has been sold. This means I have exactly 10 days (including the rest of today) left in Colorado. Things re already being stored into boxes and food items are being trashed. I have managed to convince my dad to keep all of my baking stuff, you know, just in case. This means I have to find ways to use up the chocolate chips, marshmallows, butter, flour and everything else I know won’t last. This should be fun!

 

Peanut Butter S’more Truffles
From Fabtastic Eats
Makes 2 dozen truffles

Ingredients
1 cup (256 g) creamy peanut butter
¾ cup (76 g) powdered sugar  
2 cups (90 g) mini marshmallows
2/3 cup crushed graham crackers (about 5 full sheets)
¾ cup (185 g) dark chocolate chips
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temp. and divided
4-6 tbsp. milk

Directions
Line a large baking sheet with tin foil, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter with 2 tbsp. of butter. Mix until the butter has disappeared into the peanut butter. Stir in the powdered sugar. Do this gently as to now have the powdered sugar go all over the place. Fold in the crushed graham crackers.

In a sauce pan set over low heat, melt together the marshmallows and 2 tbsp. of butter. Once fully melted measure out about 1/3 cup. Keep the remaining melted marshmallow in the pan to reheat for later. Allow the 1/3 cup of marshmallow mixture to cool before folding gently into the peanut butter mixture.

Spray a medium-small cookie scoop with cooking spray. This will help release the dough easier. Scoop out portions and place them on the foil lined baking sheet. Freeze the balls while you make the chocolate coating.

In a double boiler or a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate chips with the remaining 2 tbsp. of butter. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted. Stir in milk 1 tbsp. at a time until the chocolate reaches a good dipping or pouring consistency.

Roll or dip the chilled peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate. I just poured the chocolate over the dough balls because I found it too hard to roll them. Place the chocolate coated balls back on the foil-lined tray and freeze for about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, reheat the remaining marshmallow that’s in the pan. Drizzle some of the melted marshmallow mixture into every truffle for a final finish.

Peanut Butter Filled Brownies

 

I am probably one of the clumsiest person in the world. I once told one of my teachers all the accidents I had involving me going to the hospital and getting stitches before I was even six years old and she was shocked. She joked to the class that if the B Team (the emergency team at school) was ever called look around to see if I was there, because if not, it’s probably me.

A few weeks ago I was straightening my hair, and I told control of the flatiron. My reflexes kicked in and I grabbed the hot metal plates, which caused me to drop the thing onto my foot. Then the next day I was on my way inside the airport (I was still in the parking lot area) and I did a total face plant onto the scratchiest rug ever. I skinned both hands so I couldn’t use them, I skinned my elbow so bad I couldn’t bend it, and I skinned my knee so bad I couldn’t walk properly. My dad said I looked like I had a wooden leg.

 

Not only was I just a mess, I couldn’t find Neosporin or bandaids ANYWHERE in the freaking airport, so I went for about four or five hours without anything to protect my new wounds. Then, when my dad and I finally found bandaids, we couldn’t find anything to disinfect them except for some hand sanitizer. Let me tell you this now, never ever in a million years put hand sanitizer on a wound larger than a nickel. You will buckle down and cry.

Anyways, I made these brownies the day before my little airport fiasco. And I’m so sad I did because that meant I only got to eat one of these marvelous creations. I know for a fact that as soon as I get back from my little vacation I will be making these ASAP.

Erin, over at Texanerin Baking, makes unhealthy treats a little more healthy, but you can’t taste the health. I have made quite a few of her recipes, and each one was a success. These are by far my absolute favorite though!

The brownie part is sooooo fudgy and chocolatey. It really is amazing. Although I don’t think it would be nearly as amazing without the peanut butter middle. The recipe calls for homemade peanut butter (just pulverizing peanuts in a food processor until it reaches peanut butter consistency) but I didn’t have that. Instead I bought some natural peanut butter at the store. The only brand I could find that had peanuts as the only ingredient was Krema. Dear god this stuff was so good and it even smelled like regular peanut butter. The only thing about it was its loose consistency, which probably caused the filling to be more of a batter than a thick filling. The brownies still baked up perfectly though. The peanut butter filling was not nearly as thick as Erin’s was, but since when does appearance affect awesome flavor?

 

Peanut Butter Filled Brownies

Slightly adapted from Texanerin Baking
Makes one 8x8 inch pan

Ingredients
Peanut Butter Filling
1 cup natural peanut butter (I used Krema)
1/3 cup honey
¼ cup coconut oil

Brownies
¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with foil. Grease foil with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, honey, and oil. If your coconut oil isn’t soft, let it sit out at room temperature before mixing with the peanut butter and honey. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator while you make the brownie batter.

Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding one as soon as the previous has disappeared into the mixture. Stir in the vanilla. Add all of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold to combine (the mixture will be thick and dark).

Spread half of the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Pour the peanut butter filling over the brownie batter. Spread the peanut butter filling towards the edges. A bit of brownie batter may get swirled in, that is totally fine, they will just become peanut butter swirl brownies! Cover the filling with the remaining brownie batter.

 

 

Place pan on the center rack and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out mostly clean with the exception of a few moist crumbs and a bit of peanut butter filling. Allow the brownies to cool in the pan for at least 30-45 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, slice and serve.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Shortbread

I’ve been back at my apartment for almost a week now, and let me tell you, it has been bor-ing! Seriously. My roommates didn’t get back until Saturday and I’ve been here since Wednesday afternoon. And since I don’t really know anyone because I’m basically antisocial/shut-in I haven’t gone much anywhere except to get groceries and pick up text books. So because there is no way I’m going to put myself out there, I fill my time with baking.

I went through a few of my cookbooks I brought with me to college to get some ideas on something quick and easy to bake. Then I happened upon these peanut butter and jelly bars in Martha Stewart’s cookie book and I had a hankering for peanut butter and jelly bars.

I looked at a few different recipes other than Martha’s and then I found Peabody’s Peanut Butter and Jelly Shortbread recipe in my “To Bake” list. They looked so good I just had to make them.

These shortbread wedges are really nice. The peanut butter flavor comes in in a subtle way, but it’s very nice. The wedges are crunchy and kind of chewy thanks to the baked jelly on the top. I really liked these with some milk. The pointed edge of the wedge makes it easy to dunk in the glass. The milk makes the shortbread kind of soggy and crumbly, but that’s fine with me.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Shortbread

From Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Makes one 9-inch round

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ cup (64 g) creamy peanut butter

½ cup (96 g) sugar

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 ¼ cup (150 g) unbleached all-purpose flour 

1/3 cup (100 g) grape jelly (or jelly of your choice)

Directions

Grease the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray.

Beat the butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Gently pour in the sugar and salt. Cream the mixture until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently add the flour and mix until completely incorporated. The dough should be soft.

Shape 1/3 of the dough into a thick disk. Place in plastic wrap and freeze until hard, about one hour. Press the remaining dough evenly along the bottom of the greased pan. Spread the jelly on top of the dough, leaving a small border around the edge. Set the pan in the fridge until the dough in the freezer has hardened.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Take the pan out of the fridge and take the dough out of the freezer. Grate the frozen dough over the jelly (chopping or breaking it up works too). Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the shortbread has become a golden brown. Cut into wedges and enjoy.   

Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting

So… you know how I said I was so excited about finals coming up and going home? Well that nostalgia has worn off. I’m freaking out over calculus (I spent 3 ½ hour reviewing on Saturday and about 5 on Sunday!) and chemistry (something I haven’t even glanced at because of how much I’ve been reviewing calculus). College is stressful… and I know I’m not being cheery right now, and it’s sad because it’s finally December: the most amazing holiday month ever!

I go to Target for groceries and out of the hour I spent at target, about 25 minutes was spent actually grocery shopping. The other 35 minutes were spent skinning around the Christmas isle all giddy like. I have a sickness, but I don’t care. I love Christmas!

So I know I’m supposed to be making Christmassy things like gingerbread men, molasses cookies, sugar cookies, and all the like, but I just don’t have the time. I will be baking a lot during the winter break, so hopefully I’ll knock a bunch of stuff off my various baking lists.

So what I have for you are peanut butter blondies with milk chocolate frosting. I know I’ve said I’m not much of a peanut butter and chocolate fan… but I think I’m only a non-peanut butter-chocolate fan when it comes to Reese’s. There’s something just not right about that stuff.

The whole apartment smelled like peanut butter as these were baking in the oven. It was simply heaven. And the milk chocolate frosting is so soft and not cloyingly sweet (something I’ve always had trouble with when making frosting). I actually think it could have used a little more milk chocolate flavor, but it was good nonetheless.

I cut the pan into sixteen portions and in less than 12 hours all but two and a half squares were gone. I might have over-baked them slightly though as they were not as chewy as I would have liked them to be. Other than that small detail, these were lovely.

So tell me, what are you guys making this holiday season?

Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting

Slight adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes one 9-inch square pan

Ingredients

Blondies

1 cup (120 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder 

¼ tsp. salt

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed

1 cup (192 g) dark brown sugar

½ cup (128 g) creamy peanut butter

1 egg, room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Milk Chocolate Frosting

3 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 tsp. salt

¾ cup powdered sugar

1-1  ½ tsp. milk

¼ cup (60 g) milk chocolate, melted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a square baking pan with tin foil. Grease the foil with cooking spray; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside. Melt the butter and sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until butter and sugar have melted into each other. Stir in the peanut butter. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for several minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well incorporated. Gently add in the flour, careful not to over mix it. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread. (My batter was pretty thick, but I had used the whisk melted butter and dry sugar method.)

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. Allow the blondies to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting: beat the butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed. Sift the cocoa powder, salt, and the powdered sugar into the bowl in small increments, you don’t want cocoa and sugar all over your floors. Add the milk, ½ tbsp. at a time. Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl and beat until fully incorporated. Frost the cooled blondies and cut into servings. 

Cookie Sticks

I really don’t have much to say in this post. Usually I can find something to comment on, but today I don’t.  So I’m going to ramble on about the difference between cookies and cookie sticks. Sound good, good; if not then just scroll through the pretty pictures, ok?

When I think of cookies, I think little delights of gooey centers, crisp edges, and metly chocolate shavings evenly dispersed throughout. Ok well that’s the short version of my perfect chocolate chip cookie heaven, but I won’t go into full detail about that, unless you want to read an essay.

Cookie sticks are different because they are sticks. Yeah, I know, terrific reasoning, right? Well, when I think of sticks I think of hard things with a great snap. Biscotti are stick cookies. They are hard and have a great snap to them without being bricks. They also absorb milk beautifully yet hold their integrity nicely. Lets face it, it’s a sad day when you leave a cookie dunked in milk too long, and when you go to take a bite, it plops off right into the milk, splashing it everywhere. Then you have to look like a total fool while digging around in your cup for your missing cookie.

Like Biscotti, these cookie sticks are crisp and soak up milk like a dream. I usually don’t like dunking my cookies in milk because of the reasons listed above (broken cookie and spilled milk). However, when it comes to harder cookies, I love dunking them in milk because it makes them so soft and tender and spongy? Yeah, sort of spongy… but better tasting than a sponge.

Anyways, these are perfect little sticks for dunking. I may or may not have had more than my fair share of them. Whoops.

Cookie Sticks

Slightly adapted from My Baking Addiction

Makes 2 ½ dozen sticks

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (180g) unbleached all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 egg, room temperature

½ cup (96g) sugar

½ cup (96g) dark brown sugar

½ cup canola oil

¼ cup (64g) creamy peanut butter

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup (83g) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the egg and sugars together until smooth, creamy, and light in color. Beat in the oil and peanut butter until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, making sure not to over-mix.

Divide the dough into two equal portions (I used a scale because I’m OCD). Form each portion into a 15x3 inch rectangle and set on the prepared baking sheet about 3 inches apart from each other. Note: the dough will be kind of greasy and hard to handle at first, but if you keep working it, it will eventually form into a rectangle.

Bake in the middle rack for 8-10 minutes. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife cut the cookie logs into 1-inch sticks.

Cake Slice Bakers - September 2012: Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

Wow, I can’t believe it’s the 20^th again! I know I always say this, but time flies by so quickly and yet so slow. It seems like forever ago since I posted the Ultimate Lemon Roll Cake, but it seems like every week just goes by too fast.

This moth’s cake happens to be the second to last cake out of The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. Next month the Cake Slice members will be featuring a cake of our choice as a sort of last hoo-rah for finishing the book. 

I am not a big fan of peanut butter and chocolate. I know, shocking! I’m probably one of the 5% in the world that doesn’t like that combination. With that in mind, when I say I really, really, really enjoyed this mousse cake, it means the cake was seriously delightful. That’s the word I was looking for: delightful!

This cake is so light and creamy; I have never tasted anything with this kind of texture.

I decided to make cupcake mousse cakes because I didn’t think an apartment of four girls would be able to consume a full 9-inch mousse cake, but I think I like the presentation more than a slice anyways. The different layers look so pretty.

Now lets talk about taste. The crumb crust was sweet and a perfect contrast to the creamy peanut butter and chocolate layer, but lets face it; crumb crusts are never the stars of the show. The star here, for me at least, was definitely the peanut butter layer.

Usually peanut butter can have a very strong presence in desserts, which is why I prefer to get my peanut butter fix with my daily PB&GJ (grape jelly is the only way to go people). The peanut butter mousse layer was perfect! It was very light and was just peanut buttery enough to cease my peanut butter cravings. You can also taste just the slightest hint of cream cheesy goodness. I had a smidge-worth of trouble with the chocolate part, thought. The chocolate decided not to melt completely, but that did not stop me from enjoying the sweet and smooth layer. I actually thought the chocolate layer could have used a little more chocolate flavor, but it is still tasty nonetheless.

I took some over to my friend’s house on Monday for he and his roommates to share. 30 minutes after I left I got a text from him telling me that he and his roommates loved the little mousse cups. After just two days there are only three left in the freezer. I say this recipe is a success!

Oh and I forgot to mention something. Since we will be finishing The Cake Book next month, the Cake Slice Bakers are starting a new book in November and if you would like to join us in our year long devotion to cake, please email Paloma at love.for.coffee (at) gmail (dot) com with your name, blog name, and blog URL.

Also check out how the other members of the Cake Slice Bakers did here.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

Adapted from The Cake Book

Makes 12 mousse cups

Ingredients

Chocolate Wafer Crust

90g chocolate teddy grahams

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Peanut Butter Mousse

2 ½ oz. cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

1 tbsp. unsalted butter, soft

72g confectioners sugar

100g smooth peanut butter

Pinch of salt

1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream

Chocolate Mousse

2 ½ oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

50g milk chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp. milk

3 tbsp. (33g) sugar

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions

Place 12 cupcake liners in a standard muffin pan and set aside. Crush teddy grahams into fine crumbs with either a food processor or place in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Transfer crumbs to a medium bowl and add in melted butter. Stir until combined. Place about 1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. of the crumb mixture into each muffin cup. Pat the crust down with a shot glass or something heavy. Refrigerate while you make the peanut butter mousse.

Beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-low until creamy, about 1 minute. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar, you don’t want to get lost in a cloud of sugar. Mix until the sugar is well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the peanut butter and the salt. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed

In a separate bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream on high until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Gently fold in ½ cup of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture to lighten it up. Fold in another ¾ cup cream until light in color and airy in texture. Use a small cookie scoop (I believe mine was 1 oz.) and scoop two dollops on top of the crust. Smooth out the top. By the way, you may have extra peanut butter mousse; do what I did and top off the chocolate layer with some more peanut butter mousse. Refrigerate mousse as you make the chocolate layer.

Place chopped chocolate into a medium bowl. In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar and milk and heat over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and stir constantly until the chocolate has completely melted. Add vanilla extract and stir.

Fold in 1/3 of the remaining whipped cream to lighten the chocolate up. Fold in the rest of the cream and mix until light and airy. Dollop two 1 oz. portions of chocolate mousse on top of the peanut butter layer. If you have leftover peanut butter mousse, it’s a good idea to spread that on top of the chocolate, but only if you want.

Place muffin tin in the freezer for at least one hour to firm up. Take the mousse cups out of the tin a few minutes before serving. Store remaining mousse cups in the freezer until ready to be eaten.