Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Cream Pie....oh yes, you read that correctly.

ACK!!! Be careful when you make this dessert, people may attack in order to get it away from you. Dangerous stuff!!  Also DO NOT, under any circumstances, make this while you are alone!!!  You WILL attempt to eat it all!!  I made this for a potluck dinner and just like the apple crisp it went FAST.... so AGAIN, this bad picture taker only got a pic of what was leftover.  SIGH!!! and I did such a good job on decorating it!! Oh well, it really only matters how it tasted and that was OMG.... yup, OMG, not sure what else to say....OMG  did I say that yet?

Found this recipe on the good old Kraftrecipes.com site.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients:

35 vanilla wafers, finely crushed (about 1 cup)  (I used Nilla cookies)

1/4 cup butter melted

2 oz bakers semi sweet chocolate, divided (I used a handful of chocolate chips)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, (I used natural peanut butter just to take down the sugar content a bit)

2 bananas cut in half length-wise (I used 4 to make sure it covered the crust)

2 pkg (102g) vanilla instant pudding

2 cups cold milk

2 cups Cool Whip, thawed, divided

2 Tbsp salted peanuts coarsely chopped

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F

Mix wafer crumbs (I crushed them in a ziplock bag by rolling over them with a rolling pin) and butter until blended and press into a 9 inch pie pan, bake 5-8 min, or until golden brown. Cool completely.  Meanwhile, make chocolate curls from 1/2 oz chocolate.

Microwave remaining 1 1/2oz chocolate and PB 30 seconds, stir if not smooth repeat for another 30 seconds until mixture is smooth.  Place bananas in crust; drizzle with melted chocolate.

Beat pudding mixes and milk in a large bowl with whisk for 2 mins.  Stir in 1 cup Cool Whip.  Spread over bananas; top with remaining cool whip.

Refrigerate (IF you can fight off the masses that long) 3 hours.  Top with chocolate curls and chopped peanuts just before serving.

I highly suggest wearing riot gear while serving, it can get violent!!

Excuse the pic it WAS pretty, but this was all that was left!! lol!

Auntie Joyce's Brownies

At my wedding shower, the guests each brought a recipe to share.  It took me 14.5 years to try this one...I don't know why.  LOL  Maybe it's because I'm not a huge brownie fan.  :)

1.5 cups sifted all purpose flour (i cheated and didn't sift)
1 tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup cocoa ( 8 tablespoons)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 or more of chopped walnuts ( I skipped the nuts)
Mix all together and beat until smooth. Do not overbeat.  Turn batter into 13x9x2 greased pan and bake at 350F for 30 minutes (no longer).  Cool & ice.

Frosting:
Melt 2 squares unsweetened chocolate in top of double boiler, stir in 1 cup icing sugar, one egg (beaten), 2T butter and 1 tsp vanilla.  Cool a bit before spreading on the cake.

These make a very moist and fudgie brownie.  I brought these to work and the brownie lovers went crazy and couldn't stop eating them.  LOL  If you love brownies - you should try these.  I prefer cake brownies but these were very decadent and the rest of the family loved them.  I will make these again...and not wait another 14 years.  :)

Banana Choc Chip Cookies

When Tamara post THIS recipe, I knew that I had to try it.  I'm a sucker for a good cookie and her declaration that they were delicious was too tempting not to bake this.

I even packaged some up and fed them to the work vultures.  The kids both really liked these.  Husband of Cheerios liked them too but we both felt that they were less like a cookie and more like a loaf in cookie form.  :)  

While I would not say that they are the best cookies in the world (choc chip) or even the second best cookies in the world (oatmeal raisin)...they were pretty tasty.  A great way to use up bananas turning brown on your counter top!

Delicious Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

Ok so as I sit here licking my lips waiting for my cookies to bake I realized it's been a while since I posted here so I'll let you in on a most delicious recipe.

2/3 cup butter (152 g)
1 cup sugar (201 g)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour (288 g)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 pkg chocolate chips

Directions

cream butter until it's nice and smooth, add sugar, eggs and vanilla and mix well.  In a small bowl mix dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt then add to wet ingredients and mix well.  Then add mashed bananas and chocolate chips.  Drop by spoonful onto baking sheet, I covered my baking sheets in parchment paper but that's not usually a necessity but it sure helps with the dishes!

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes (my oven was 12 minutes exactly) or until golden brown. Makes about 3 dozen or so.

Last time I made these, they never even made it off the cooling racks before they were gone, definitely a hit!!

Oh yeah I know you wanna get in there and eat that cookie dough, come on you KNOW you want to...but I would never do that...no no, someone told me that was bad for me so I never did it again...nope nope never again....ya ok so I lied, cookie dough is one of the best parts of life!!  I've eaten cookie dough since I was a kid and never once did I get sick except of course when I ate too much!! heehee!!

BEEP!! There goes the oven timer, just in time... cookies are DONE YAY!!!!  Who wants one???

Chocolate Scones

eat well

LOSE WEIGHT

That certainly got my attention at the grocery store magazine rack. Sounded like a good idea so I picked it up and did a quick flip through and there were enough enticing pictures to get me to purchase it. I do have say though that I do buy a lot of the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications books. They have such great pictures and I am a sucker for cook books with pictures.

CHOCOLATE SCONES

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp cold butter, cut into chunks

3/4 cup light sour cream

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks

In a medium bowl combine flours, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center; set aside.

In a separate medium bowl combine sour cream and egg white. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chunks. Add to flour mixture all at once. Using a fork, stir until just moistened.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 - 12 strokes, or until dough is nearly smooth. Pat into a 10-inch circle. Cut into 12 wedges. (I only cut it into 8)

Place wedges 1 inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 18 to 20 minutes or just until edges are starting to brown.

Meanwhile, melt remaining chocolate. Drizzle over warm scones.

RATINGS:

Heather - 9 - "I like chocolate and oats together"

Brad, Herb & Donna - 9 - "Yum"

NOTES:

I hate recipes that don't tell you that a quantity will need to be divided. I know that I should just read the recipe better, but I want easy to follow.

These were a bit dry. I think that they were baked too long. In the future I would increase the heat and decrease the time (more like the rest of my scone recipes). That said, I will definitely add these into the rotation.

Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Banana bread and muffins are high up on my list of favorites. I also love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Not sure why I never thought to put the two together?!?!

Another recipe I found this on Pinterest. The picture is absolutely drool worthy and I could hardly wait to make it. I bought the peanut butter cups on my next trip to the grocery store and stuck a "Do not eat" label on them in the pantry so that they would be there when I had the time to make this. (If I hadn't they would have disappeared before I got home from work that night, they are also one of Brad's faves.)

REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER BANANA BREAD

http://cookiesandcups.com/reeses-peanut-butter-banana-bread/

 RATINGS:

Heather - 9 - "Great flavor, but pretty sweet"

Brad - 10 - "Wow"

NOTES:

I wondered in the peanut butter cups would sink, and they did. I like things a bit more spread out. Next time I would cut them in half so that they aren't so heavy and maybe layer them in instead of mixing them in. I would also maybe not use the whole bag and save some for eating. It is a great recipe though and it will win the heart of any peanut butter and chocolate fan.

OREO Truffles

I first saw this recipe on Pinterest before I became a member (HUGE thanks to Melanie I am now completely addicted). I printed it off for my 4-H foods group to make during our Christmas Treats evening in December.

This was a huge hit, not really a surprise, who doesn't love OREO's?

As I sat down to type this I couldn't find my copy of the recipe so I figured I would google it. This term got 1,470,000 IMAGE results in 0.12 seconds!!! OMG. To say that this is a popular recipe may be a bit of an understatement. It turns out there are lots of ways to decorate these and lots of people have blogged about it. So I am just adding to that list. When you google it there should now be 1,470,001 image results!

OREO TRUFFLES

The link that we used: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/candy/oreo-truffles/

RATINGS:

Everyone in the group - 10 - "Easy and delicious"



An introduction........and SCRUNCHIES!!

Hello everyone! My name is Tess and I am honored to have been made an honorary cousin by Melanie and am excited to blog here with you all!! I have been reading your blog from the start and have tried several of your recipes out...not to mention drooled over everything else that has been posted!

I have known Melanie for about 5 years now, and she is one of my favorite peeps on the planet! I don't get to see her nearly as much as I would like, but I sure do love our crafty time together when we do connect.........AND I love eating popcorn with her on our movie dates too :)

Today I have decided to share with you a recipe that is simple, easy and deeeeeeeeeelish!! In our house, they are known as SCRUNCHIES. Perhaps you will know them by another name, but they are a wonderfully sweet, salty & crunchy treat that I only ever remember to make during the holidays!

I will have you know that it is 6:49AM and I just whipped a batch of these bad boys up.....just to testify to their simplicity :)

Start by combining equal amounts of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips into a microwave safe dish of some sort, and heat until melted. Or, if you prefer, melt them over low heat in a pot on your stove as I do!

In this case, I have used one package of each type of "chips" which is a perfect sized batch for our small family of three.

Once you have your chips melted, mix in your peanuts and crunchy chow mein noodles and stir until well blended.....and coated in the gooey melted mess!

In this case, I have used aprox. 1 1/2 cups of peanuts.......and 2 1/2 cups of noodles. Some of the peanuts may or may not have been eaten during this process. Er.....I mean, they may have fallen on the floor. Yes. That's it...

Once you are satisfied that your nuts & noodles are covered tastefully, the fun part starts! I always use 2 tablespoons so that I can shape the mounds as I slide them onto the pan. But whatever method you prefer to use, to get the gooey sticky bowl full of crunch into bite sized mounds of heaven on your cookie sheet, will be just fine.

I set mine into the fridge to set, for about 20 minutes before placing them into freezer safe containers where I will hope that I can hide them from my two men until Christmas.

In this case, however, a few samples fell right off the pan and onto a plate for a great photo opp of completed mounds.......and some enjoyable sampling. Later. When it is NOT 7:00AM. This batch made about 30 cookies, which is too many for us really, but I will include some of them into the tins of treats I am making for a select few special people this year.

Hope you will give these cookies a chance, and let me know what you think of them if you do!!

Signing off for now..... Tess :)

pear and chocolate bread pudding

Beautiful BC pears are in season right now and couldn't be tastier. I bought a box full at the Co-Op the other day and while we have eaten a few, they are now all ripe need to be used up. For a roast beef family dinner on Friday night we made this for dessert. It is in the October 2011 issue of Everyday Food Magazine in the "In Season" section.

PEAR AND CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

7 ounces brioche (or other rustic white bread**) cut into 1/2" slices, halved diagonally

1 1/2 lbs firm but ripe pears, very thinly sliced

3 large eggs PLUS 3 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups whole milk*

1 1/4 cups heavy cream*

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp fine salt

Preheat oven to 325. Butter a shallow 2-quart baking dish and sprinkle (I love the word sprinkle;) bottom evenly with chocolate. Arrange bread in dish, alternating each slice with 3 or 4 pear slices.

In a large bowl gently whisk together eggs, egg yolks, milk, cream, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pour mixture evenly over bread and let sit 5 minutes.

Bake until bread is puffed and custard is just set, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool slightly.

RATINGS:

3 of 5 diners - 8.5 - "Would be better without chocolate"

2 of 5 diners - 9 - "The chocolate is what makes it better"

NOTE:

* I hadn't check the recipe before I started so I had to work with what I had on hand, half and half cream. So I just used 2 3/4 cups of it instead of combing milk and cream. I don't think there would have been any difference.

FUNNY:

** I picked up the bread at Superstore. I couldn't find brioche, so I asked the bakery manager. He said he had never heard of it and he has been a baker for 25 years! I think he needs to go back to school. I ended up using a regular French Loaf.

Also funny. This ended up kind of looking like a ham breakfast strata which I think turned us off a little bit.

mini triple-treat cupcakes

It is my theory that a well stocked kitchen is essential. That way when you decide you want to make Halloween cupcakes you have the perfect wrappers and toppings on hand and you don't have to run around hoping that you can find what you want (because when it is critical, you can never find exactly what you are looking for, or at least that has been my experience). This recipe is from the October 2011 Everyday Food Magazine.

MINI TRIPLE-TREAT CUPCAKES

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup peanut butter

6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg PLUS 1 egg yolk

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

48 miniature peanut butter cups

48 candy decorations

Preheat oven to 350, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line 48 mini muffin cups with paper liners (aren't these one with skulls on them great?).

In medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl beat together peanut butter, butter and brown sugar on high until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and egg yolk. With mixer on low beat in flour mixture, buttermilk and vanilla until combined.

Place 2 tsp batter (I used my Pampered Chef small scoop and it was perfect) into each cup, then press a peanut butter cup into each center until batter aligns with top edge of candy. Bake until puffed and set, about 10 minutes, rotating pans half way through. Immediately place a piece of decorative candy on top of each cupcake; let cool completely in pans on wire racks.

RATINGS:

Heather - 9.5 - "I liked them, they just weren't perfect"

Brad - 9.5 - "I am a sucker for anything with peanut butter cups"

NOTE:

I think the cupcakes looked better without the decorative candies, but then they would have only been mini double-treat cupcakes.

It is important to let the cupcakes cook in the pans. I was impatient (no big surprise) and tried to take them out faster and I ended up breaking some.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Another Barefoot Contessa recipe from her book "How Easy is That?"

Makes 15 cupcakes

2.5 cups flour
1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1 T liquid red food coloring
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1.5 cups sugar
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed  for 1 minute, until light.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients alternately in 3 parts, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mix until combined.  Stir with a rubber spatula to be sure the batter is mixed.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups with a 2 3/4 inch ice cream scoop or large spoon.  Bake for 25-30min, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool completely in the pans and frost with Red Velvet Frosting.



Red Velvet Frosting
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
12T (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3.5 cups sifted icing sugar

Place the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on med speed just until combined.  Don't whip! Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

Yeah I took a bite before I took the picture.   I couldn't wait!  These were super yummy.  Everyone who tried one was a huge fan.  I brought these to work and they got good reviews there too.

I think the only downside of these is that the icing recipe could have been cut in half.  There was SOOO much icing.

In behind these cupcakes you can see a batch of Heather's Sugar cookies.  These are without a doubt the best sugar cookies in the world.  :)  I can't post the recipe here, because it's Heather's to share.  However, if you comment here and beg, she might give in eventually.

Chocolate Buttercrunch Coffeecake

I ripped this recipe (I think) out of a Robbin Hood Flour booklet about 3 years ago.

FILLING
1 pkg (200)g Chipits SKOR Toffee Bits
1 cup Chipits Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I omitted, I don't like nuts in cake)
2 tbsp packed brown sugar

CAKE
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups Robin Hood All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

COMBINE filling ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

BEAT butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. In separate bowl stir together dry ingredients. Stir into butter mixture alternating with buttermilk, making 3 additions of dry and 2 of buttermilk.

SPREAD 1/3 of batter into a 10" bundt pan (greased if not a non-stick pan). sprinkle with 1/3 of toffee bits mixture. Continue with 2 more layers of batter and filling, ending with filling.

BAKE in centre of 350 degree oven for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes.



RATING:
Heather - 10 (fresh) 8 (leftover) - "Warm chocolate and toffee, not much else to say"
Brad - 10 - "I ate 3 pieces"

NOTE: I was in a hurry and wasn't paying attention to my layering so mine all ended up in one spot. The picture on the page looked much better.

Frosted Irish Cream Brownies

as adapted from the 2010 Pillsbury Dessert Recipies Calendar - "March"

1 box (1 lb. 3.8 oz) fudge brownie mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur (I used Mint flavoured 'cause that's what I had)
2 eggs

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter/marg, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 T irish cream liqueur
1/2 tsp vanilla
2-3 tsp milk

Glaze:
1oz semisweet baking chocolate, chopped
1 tsp butter/margerine

Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottom of 13x9 pan. In medium bowl stir brownie mix, oil, 1/4 cup liqueur and the eggs with spoon until well blended. Spread batter in pan. Bake 28-30 min or until brownies are set and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do not overbake. Cool completely.

In small bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter until light and fluffy. Beat in all remaining frosting ingredients adding enough milk for desired spreading consistency. Spread over cooled brownies. In small microwavable bowl, microwave glaze ingredients in high 30 seconds; stir until melted and smooth.  Drizzle over frosted brownies. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

The brownie part of these was very tasty but I wasn't a huge fan of the icing.  I brought the pan into work with me today with only a couple of squares missing and the whole pan was eaten before 1pm so I think they went over well.  My husband thought they were really tasty without icing.  Mr. Picky said he liked his (a small piece)  but asked me not to make them again.  Miss Almost-Vegetarian who had about 1/3 of a square has a couple of nibbles before deciding she wanted to get down and read a book instead.  I think we'll give this recipe a pass in the future.