Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you...Buckeyes!

Well hello there, kind and wonderful followers! It's Cara. Yes, I'm still alive after all this time. I'll spare you the details but just want to say that I've missed posting and hearing from people, particularly on Facebook where we get most of our activity.

As Mel mentioned last year, I host a Christmas Baking Day every year and have done so since college.  I love this tradition, particularly since there are some friends that I unfortunately only see at Baking Day! Mel had to miss it this year which made both of us very sad but we've got plenty of years to make up for it!

A long, long, long time ago, one of my college roommates contributed the recipe for Buckeyes. WTHeck are Buckeyes? Aren't they a college mascot? Ohio's nickname? A nut? All of the above. Oddly enough, the buckeye nut is poisonous in its raw state. I'm not sure who thought this would be a good mascot but what I do know is that this little chocolate and peanut butter treat in honor of the buckeye nut is out of this world. It has become a regular item we make at Baking Day. And of course, any time a group of girls get together and have to form little balls, there are sure to be some comedic exchanges. Oh, and the wine probably comes into play, too.

Enjoy and happy holidays!!! 

Buckeyes

Recipe adapted from An Alli Event

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 lb. powdered sugar
• 1-1/4 cups peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 block paraffin
• 12 oz chocolate chips (whatever kind suits your taste - semi-sweet, milk, dark)

1. Mix butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Form into 1" balls and place on a cookie sheet. Chill balls for about 15 minutes. 
2. While the balls are chilling, melt paraffin and chocolate chips in a double boiler (I started with the wax first since it takes longer to melt). 
3. Using a toothpick, dip the balls in the chocolate, coating about 3/4 of the ball. Place them on wax paper until firm. If you are picky like me, I use my fingertip to close the hole the toothpick makes. I personally think they look a little weird with the hole.
4. Chill and keep refrigerated until ready to serve - the texture is best if you let them warm up a bit prior to serving.

Chippy Bars with Peanut Butter Frosting & Chocolate Drizzle

I have a sweet tooth. I think it's safe to say a lot of people do. Life is just more fun with sweets. Plain and simple. 

I love making these bars. They are easy and always a crowd pleaser. By adding a peanut butter frosting and chocolate drizzle, you can knock some socks off with tastiness and eye appeal. The platter will be empty before the party even starts.

Cookies (Tollhouse recipe):

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla 
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Frosting:

6 oz Reese's Peanut Butter Chips

6 tbsp butter
1 tbsp light corn syrup 

Chocolate Drizzle:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 tbsp shortening

For cookies:

In a bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add chips and mix just until chips are evenly distributed.

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray or rub olive oil on bottom and sides. 

Bake for about 25 minutes or until a knife stuck in the middle of the bars comes out clean.

For Frosting:

Melt together chips and butter, once smooth add in corn syrup and mix well. Pour over cooled chippy bars. Let the bars cool on the counter until frosting has set then chill in fridge for 2 hours. 

For Drizzle:

Melt together chips and shortening in microwave for 45 seconds or so. Careful not to burn. Stir well and drizzle over bars. 

Enjoy!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars

Last week Cara shared Hugs and Cookies xoxo's cheesecake bars on our Facebook page.

I knew I had to have them. ASAP. I didn't want to be a total copycat so I changed it up a little. Check it out:

Cookie Crust (original recipe calls for Oreo cookies, which I'm sure would be awesome)

1 row Fudge Stripes Original (6 cookies)

1 row Fudge Stripes Dark Chocolate (8 cookies)

6 tbsp butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar

Dash of salt

Prepare an 8x8 pan with nonstick foil. Crush the cookies, add sugar and salt. Pour in melted butter and stir. 

Pour into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Let cool.

Cheesecake with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

8oz cream cheese, softened

½ cup sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp flour

8 oz bag of mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup

Mix cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and mix until smooth. Add egg and flour. Mix well. Pour in the bag of Reese’s. Gently stir them into the cheesecake.  

Pour cheesecake over cooled cookie crust.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven once the cheesecake begins to slightly turn brown. Cool to room temperature. I sped up the cooling process, just as Hugs and Cookies xoxo did, in the freezer.

Chocolate glaze

6 oz milk chocolate

8 tbsp butter (next time I will use 6 tbsp, my glaze came out thinner than I would have liked)

1 tbsp light corn syrup

Melt together the butter and milk chocolate. Once smooth stir in corn syrup. Pour over cheesecake. Smooth the top to disperse evenly. Let cheesecake sit on counter until the chocolate glaze has cooled then chill the bars for a couple of hours. Use a sharp knife to cut these delicious bars into squares.

Peanut Butter Drizzle

½ cup peanut butter baking chips

1 tbsp shortening

Melt ingredients together in microwave for 45 seconds or so. Careful not to burn. Stir well and drizzle over bars.

Refrigerate leftovers.

Peanut Butter S'More Pizza

Continuing the peanut butter love, I'm sharing a recipe that I have made since I was little. I have no idea where I found this recipe when I was a young squire but it is definitely a keeper if you love peanut butter and chocolate...which we do. Peanut Butter S'more Pizza is made with a peanut butter cookie crust with marshmallow and chocolate chip toppings. It is so simple...nothing gourmet going on here...but it is oh so good. You'll see my 6 yr old helper in the pics and it warms my heart to think that perhaps she will someday share this easy recipe with her children.

Peanut Butter S'More Pizza

1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. peanut butter (either creamy or chunky)
1/2 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. mini marshmallows
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine sugar, brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, vanilla, and egg in bowl and blend well. Add flour and mix. Spread on pizza pan - we used my Pampered Chef stone.

 

The thicker you leave the dough, the thicker the "crust" will be. Try to spread the dough evenly so it cooks evenly. Form a rim on the edge and bake for approximately 9-10 minutes. Do not brown. Take the crust out of the oven and carefully sprinkle the marshmallows and chocolate chips on the crust.

Bake 5-8 minutes more until the marshmallows are puffed and lightly browned. Cool, cut just like a pizza, and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Our family, with the exception of Boy2, loves the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. We're tempted to test the DNA of Boy2 due to the fact that he despises peanut butter. Pretty sure we could have a real life "switched at birth" story. At school one day, the class made no-cook peanut butter cookies. I received a note, which included a smiley face, from the teacher. Boy2 told the class: "My mom made these and I don't like them". Great... the kid is giving the impression that I'm horrible in the kitchen.

Darling has a mad obsession with it. She'll eat peanut butter straight from the jar. But who am I kidding... most of us do that. Right?

Today I'm bringing you peanut butter & chocolate chip muffins with a chocolate drizzle. These muffins will quiet the peanut butter beast within anyone. Well, for a few minutes anyway. Just until you realize you must eat another one before someone else nabs it.

Muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup chocolate chips

For drizzle:

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tbsp shortening

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine egg, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix well. Add peanut butter and mix well again. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Add chocolate chips and stir.

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a muffin pan with olive oil or cooking spray. Pour muffin mix into pan (about 3/4 full). (You could also use a loaf pan and make a bread loaf. I'm guessing: preheat 350 and bake for 1 hour.)

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

While the muffins cool, melt together chocolate chips and shortening. About 50-60 seconds in the microwave. Stir until smooth.

Drizzle chocolate on top of cooled muffins. Adding drizzle is like bedazzling your muffin! Transforms it from "looks good" to "looks irresistible".

Enjoy!

Heart Shaped Biscuits w/filling

I have a special treat for everyone this Valentine’s Day.  It’s a mouthwatering, delicious treat. I’ve had this idea for a while but just hadn’t found time to make it. With my heart shaped cookie cutter in hand, I finally MADE time to bake up some Peanut Butter and Jelly Biscuits & Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscuits. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

PB&J Biscuits

1 tube of Pillsbury biscuits (each biscuit cut in half, horizontal)

Peanut Butter

Jelly (any flavor)

Cooking spray (ONLY if your biscuit instructions call for it)

PB & Chocolate Biscuits

1 tube of Pillsbury biscuits (each biscuits cut in half, horizontal)

Peanut Butter

Chocolate kisses or stars or chocolate chips or Hersey’s chocolate bar or Nutella – any kind of chocolate that will melt nicely.

Cooking spray (ONLY if your biscuit instructions call for it)

Preheat oven to 375° or whatever the biscuit instructions tell you. Prepare a baking pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray, parchment paper or a baking mat.

Roll out the cut biscuits (by cut, I mean the biscuits sliced horizontally), just big enough to make a heart with your cookie cutter (we don’t want to waste too much of the biscuit). This recipe works well without the cutter too… just roll out to the thickness you desire. 

Carefully apply a spoonful of peanut butter to the biscuits. Repeat this step with jelly or if you’re going with chocolate, add as much or as little as you’d like. Take another heart shaped biscuit, place it on top of the filling and gently press the two biscuits together along the sides. This helps keep the filling inside the biscuit. 

Bake for about 10 minutes. 

With my scraps I made heart shaped biscuits without filling. 

The options are endless. You can get crazy creative with biscuits. I have tons of other ideas that I will be sharing with you over the course of this year. Eventually I plan to use homemade biscuits and what a delight it will be.

Leftover melted chocolate?

We recently had a snow day so I had to quickly come up with activities for my daycare kids. You have to understand, these kids will hang me by my feet if they get bored enough.

After they played in the snow, we decided to make chocolate covered marshmallows. Each kid decorated one with their choice of sprinkles. It was great, the kiddos had a blast.

This post isn't about chocolate covered marshmallows though. I think you smarties can easily figure out how to construct a c/c marshmallow. This post is about the leftover chocolate I had.

I decided to make club crackers with peanut butter slathered in the middle. At first I thought about dunking the whole peanut butter sandwich in the chocolate, but quickly thought it might be fun and more appealing to drizzle the chocolate on top. Fun and appealing it was. They turned out pretty cute too. I made about 10-12 sandwiches and they were gone by bedtime. And no, I didn't eat them all! I'd call that success.

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Club Crackers*

*M&M's have nothing to do with this concoction. They were just conveniently hanging out in my kitchen so I used them. Also, please don't be jealous of my fancy paper plate. 

Cookie exchange

Last weekend, Cara hosted a “baking day”. She has hosted this day for many years. There are usually at least 4 people. This means… lots of goodies!!

We all bring 2 or 3 pre-made treats and make 1 more at the actual exchange. I have never left a “baking day” and felt disappointed. I guess that’s not true. I’m disappointed that I have to share the goodies with my family. My family turns into leeches as soon as I walk through the door. Their eyes grow twice the size and they begin to drool like they have a hole in their lip. All for good reason.

Here are just some of the cookies and goodies…

Almond Sugar Cookies:

I found this recipe on this blog. I wanted something different and more… sophisticated, if you will. I absolutely love a good sugar cookie. It’s probably my favorite. They must be soft though. These cookies meet my requirements. They are soft and delicious with a flare of almond flavoring. 

1 1/2 C white sugar
2/3 C unsalted butter (cold)
2/3 C shortening (room temp)
2 eggs
2 tsp almond extract
2 3/4 C cake flour
1 C all purpose flour
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
sugar in the raw (*My thought… I used regular sugar. A course sugar would have made it better. Hindsight… wish I would have used colored sugar*)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking mat.
• Cream sugar, butter and shortening. Stir in eggs and almond extract.
• Combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Add to butter/egg mixture.
• Use electric mixture to ensure dough is thoroughly combined.
• Chill dough in fridge for 30 minutes.
• Roll about 2 tsp of dough into a ball and roll in raw sugar. Place on prepared pan.
• Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes. Remove from oven and gently press the tops of the cookies flat with the back of a spoon while they are still warm and pliable (not totally necessary).
• Return bowl of dough to fridge in between baking batches.
• Move cookies from cookie sheet to cooling rack.  Allow to cool completely.
• A tip: DO NOT bake cookies longer than 7-8 minutes (*Mel’s thought: I baked mine for about 10 minutes because my oven must be different than the original blogger’s. Use your own discretion. You do want the cookies to appear slightly under baked. This is true for most cookies, IMO. They will firm up as they cool). 

Almond Sugar Cookies

Holiday Cake Cookies

These cookies looked yummy and very kid friendly! I could tell as I was mixing the ingredients together this would be a very rich cookie. I was right. Too rich for my taste buds. I was not a fan. My kids… not a fan either. The recipe calls for an entire box of cake mix. IF I was to make these cookies again I would use about half of the box and substitute flour for the other half.

You are probably wondering why I am posting this if I didn’t like them. Even if I didn’t enjoy them, maybe a reader will. With the half box/extra flour adjustment, I think they might be pretty good. 

Original recipe: here

1 box (18.25 oz) vanilla/white cake mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sprinkles

• Preheat oven to 350F. Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and baking powder. Set aside. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla by hand. Add the egg mixture to the cake mixture and stir to form a dough- stir vigorously until all of the pockets of dry cake mix are gone.  Gently mix in the sprinkles – you do not want to dye the cookie dough by over stirring the sprinkles.
• Drop rounded 1-inch balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet.  
• Bake for 9 minutes – do not let the cookies get brown.  Allow to cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes; they will be very soft at first. As they cool, the tops will settle down so you will not have to press the cookies down yourself. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Holiday Cake Cookies

 

Saltine Toffee:

These were all the rage at my son’s school fundraiser (bake sale) back in October. Chocolate, saltine crackers and homemade toffee. Hmmm… I was quite intrigued. I knew it would make my Christmas baking list. This goodie is pretty tasty. One thing I would do differently is boil the brown sugar/butter mixture a bit longer (until sugar dissolved more). 

1 cup butter (no margarine)
1 cup brown sugar
Enough crackers to fill a cookie sheet
1 bag of chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray then cover with foil. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray.
• Spread saltines on cookie sheet, creating a flat layer.
• Mix brown sugar and butter together in a saucepan, stir frequently, once the mixture begins to boil reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until mixture has reached a nice thick consistency.
• Pour thickened mixture over saltines.
• Spread toffee evenly over crackers.
• Bake until toffee becomes bubbly (about 5-10 minutes).  
• Remove from oven and let it sit for 5 minutes.  
• Shake chocolate chips on top and let them melt.  
• Spread chocolate evenly over crackers/toffee.  
• Let cool or put in the fridge to harden.  
• After about an hour, break off a piece and taste. Yum!
• Break into a bunch of pieces. Some small, some large, it’s up to you.
• Freeze or refrigerate leftovers… if there are any

Saltine Toffee

 
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheese Crackers

Yum, yum and yum! I didn't make these at the exchange, but I feel the need to share them. These are so kid (and adult) friendly. They are also very cute!

Box of cheese crackers (Cheese Its, Cheese Nips)

Peanut Butter

Chocolate chips 

Sprinkles

• Prepare parchment paper on table or cookie sheet.
• Spread PB on crackers and top each one with another cracker (sandwich... cracker, PB, cracker).
• Melt chips in a double boiler.
• Dip cheese cracker sandwich into melted chocolate.
• Place chocolate covered sandwich on parchment paper and add sprinkles.
• Let sandwiches harden.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheese Crackers

MERRY CHRISTMAS!