Random Recipe Saturday Afternoon: Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats.

I was talking with a friend last week about Rice Krispies Treats. She mentioned she made them recently, and I thought, “Well, gee, I haven’t; maybe I should make some Rice Krispies Treats. Maybe I should make some Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats. Maybe I should make some Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats!!” And so it was.

Whenever I make Rice Krispies Treats, I think of my mom – not because we made them all the time – but because we made them once, and either used way too many marshmallows or way too small of a saucepan. I don’t remember which is was now, but let’s just suffice it to say that marshmallows were all over the place. We laughed then, and both still laugh to this day when we think about it. I’m even laughing now.

Anyway for these, I started off with this recipe, but made a few minor modifications (and used a very large saucepan). My version is below. Enjoy!

don’t you know how sweet and wonderful life can be?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats.

What you’ll need:

3 TBSP unsalted butter

1 bag (10 oz) regular sized marshmallows

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

6 cups  Rice Krispies® cereal

1 bag (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

What you’ll do:

In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the entire bag of marshmallows, and stir until they’re completely melted. Remove from heat, and add the peanut butter, mixing thoroughly. Add the Rice Krispies, and stir until evenly coated. Spray or grease a 9″ x 13″ inch pan, and press the mixture into the pan, with a greased spatula or your (clean) hands. Put it aside. In a medium saucepan, melt the entire bag of chocolate chips. Spread the melted chocolate evenly on top of the treats in the pan. Let cool for about 10 minutes, then refrigerate until the chocolate sets completely - I gave it an hour. Let them warm to room temperature before serving – otherwise the chocolate will be too hard!

 

Recipe Sunday: Reese’s Pieces Cookie Cake.

I used to eat Reese’s Pieces for lunch. Yep, that’s right – the same girl who now counts every calorie, reads the ingredients on everything, and runs 6 miles every other day, used to sit down at her desk at work for lunch with a bag of Reese’s Pieces and a smoothie/milk shake/other type of frothy fattening drink and eat half the bag. And I wondered why I felt sick all the time.

lunch of champions.

Anyway, I still love these little pieces of chocolate and peanut butter heaven, but I rarely eat them these days, since the major diet overhaul of 2010, which included a huge cutback on candy. But last week, I was out shopping, and there they were, just sitting there, as always, mixed in with all the other candy I never get to enjoy anymore…and before I knew what happened, I grabbed the bag, and threw it in the cart, and headed straight for the checkout before I could change my mind. The problem then became that I was eating them. And because I still count calories, it was torture - 51 Reese’s Pieces sounds like a lot, but it’s really hardly making a dent. I had to do something, quick. It was my friend’s birthday, and he loves cookies, so I was going to make him a cookie cake anyway, and as I assembled the ingredients on the table, there they were again, right in front of me. It was an “Aha!” moment – I’ll make a Reese’s Pieces Cookie Cake and decorate it with Peanut Butter Buttercream! so that’s exactly what I did.

And now, I’ll share the recipe with you.

reese’s make a birthday happier.

Reese’s Pieces Cookie Cake.

What you’ll need:

5 oz. shortening

8 oz.   sugar

.25 oz.  salt

3 oz. (about 2)  eggs

.25 oz.  vanilla

10 oz.  flour

.25 oz.  baking soda

7 oz. Reese’s Pieces

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs and vanilla, and add to the shortening/sugar.  In another bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Fold that mixture into the other ingredients until evenly mixed. Fold in the Reese’s Pieces. You will be very tempted to eat the dough – do so at your own risk. I have built up a tolerance for raw dough/batter over the years, so I enjoy it freely with no consequences. I’m still not sure if this is a good thing.

just when you thought cookie dough couldn’t get any better.

Spray a 10″ round cake pan. Take 2/3 of the dough, and press it evenly into the bottom of the cake pan. It should be about an inch high. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Note that you still have 1/3 of unbaked dough – do with it what you wish! I’m saving it for another project, which I’ll post later this week!

I decorated it with a complimentary Peanut Butter Buttercream – the recipe of which you can find here, under a previous Recipe Sunday for White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.

 

Recipe Monday Night: Peanut Butter Chip Cookies/Cookie Cake.

Wanna hear the cutest thing ever? I haven’t blogged in a week, and my mom called because she was worried that something happened to me, due of the lack of posts. It’s nice to be loved.

Anyway, she was right – I haven’t posted in a longer than usual amount of time. But now I’m back, from outer space, and ready to share my latest creation with all of you!

What’s great about this recipe is that it’s multi-functional.  Last week was my friend’s birthday, and I knew he really likes chocolate chip cookies, and I also knew he likes peanut butter, so I opted for a Peanut Butter Chip Cookie Cake. I didn’t want to make the cake too large – sometimes a giant cookie cake can be a bit overwhelming. So I wound up using half the dough for the cake, and briefly considered just eating the other half raw, but then decided (thankfully) against that, so I put the dough in the fridge and made cookies the next day to share with friends. Sharing is caring, people. So without further adieu, I give you one recipe to rule them all – do with it as you see fit.

have your cake...

...and cookies too!

Peanut Butter Chip Cookies/Cookie Cake.

What you’ll need:

5 oz.   shortening

8 oz.   sugar

.25 oz.  salt

3 oz. (about 2)  eggs

.25 oz.  vanilla

10 oz.  flour

.25 oz.  baking soda

8 oz. peanut butter chips

2 oz. butterscotch chips

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 375° F.  In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs and vanilla, and add to the shortening/sugar.  In another bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Fold that mixture into the other ingredients until evenly mixed. Fold in the chips. Divide the dough in half.

For the cake: spray an 8″ round cake pan. Take 1/2 of the dough, and press it evenly into the bottom of the cake pan. It should be no more than 2″ high. Bake for 10-14 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Note: this makes a pretty thick cookie cake, which I prefer. If you want your cake thinner, use less dough, and bake for less time). I decorated with a simple buttercream You can use whatever you like, however I do recommend using an icing that’s not super sweet, and the cake is giant cookie, thus it’s pretty sweet on it’s own.

For the cookies: take the other half of the dough, scoop into tablespoon-sized balls and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet, at least an inch apart. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden-brown. Share them with friends!

 

 

Two great tastes.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter.

You might say these two were made for each other. There’s really no better pairing – the sweet, seductiveness of the chocolate compliments the salty, smoothness of the peanut butter perfectly. When someone asks me what my favorite candy is, to this day I still say Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

But in reality, as wonderful as chocolate and peanut butter are together, it’s just not something one can eat all the time. It’s almost too good – and as people, we are taught that we can’t have what’s too good for too long or too often. That’s not the way the world is, baby. 

Peanut butter finds a nice relationship with jelly – one that can be enjoyed every day forever. A PB&J sandwich makes perfect sense as a daily lunch choice. Not too overpowering, yet still quite tasty. As for chocolate, it’s a sexy snack all on its own. It pretty much pleases everyone most of the time, and can be fully enjoyed by itself, and often.

But, every so often, the two collide, causing a delicious taste explosion, like no other. We all need chocolate and peanut butter now and then. We all deserve it. Be thankful for the truly great experiences in your lives – they make it all worthwhile, even if they can’t be enjoyed all the time. We always know that it’s there.

I was made for you.