Peanut Butter Melt Away's

Peanut Butter Melt Away's from Brielle Kennington

Note: Haven't made these, but they taste really good and are really easy to make.

1 lb bag vanilla melting chocolate
1 lb bag milk chocolate melting chocolate
1 cup peanut butter 

In a large bowl combine melting chocolate. Put in the microwave for 1
min and stir. Continue to put it in the microwave at 1 minute
intervals, stirring each time until the chocolate is completely melted
and blended together. Then add one cup of peanut butter. If you are
having trouble mixing in the peanut butter put it in the microwave an
additional 30 seconds and mix until well blended. Then pour the
mixture into a wax paper lined pan or baking dish with sides. Put it
in the fridge to cool and then leave it on the counter once hard
before cutting or it is very hard to cut. You can also cut out shapes
with a cookie cutter! 

Christmas Crunch

Christmas Crunch
1 24 oz. pkg. white bark coating (we use Kroger candy coating, but you can also use white chocolate)
1 box of corn chex
1 large bag of mini pretzels
1 large jar of salted dry roasted peanuts
1 package of plain M&Ms (you can use holiday varieties at any time of year
to make it holiday themed – Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.)

You can really use any size packages you want. It depends on how much of each you want in your mix.
Just have fun!

Cover a fairly large area of your counter space with wax paper and tape down.

In a very large bowl, combine the chex, pretzels, peanuts and M&Ms. You might have to work in smaller batches if you can’t fit everything in one bowl with room to mix. Dump the peanuts and M&Ms in last so they don’t all sink to the bottom.

In a smaller bowl, melt your bark coating in the microwave in 30 second intervals and stir in between. Don’t let it go for too long at once or it will scald and you will have to toss it out and start over.

When the bark coating is melted, gently pour into the larger bowl and toss with the dry ingredients. You can adjust the amount of coating you use based on your preference. I usually stir a little bit in, toss, stir some more in, toss again, etc. to make sure everything gets a little bark coating on it so it will stick together.

Working quickly, dump the mixture out on your wax paper and spread out in a thin layer to dry. Once it’s dry, break it apart into pieces and store in an airtight container or divide into decorative cello bags to give away.

Note: If you half your mix ingredients and bark coating, it will be a little easier to work with in two batches. Otherwise you will need a really large bowl and workspace to spread out on the counter.

Enjoy!

Boston Cream Pie

(from Teandra Pfiel/Food Network)

Link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/boston-cream-pie-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/4 cup cooking oil
* 2 egg yolks
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 egg whites
* 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
* Pastry cream, recipe follows
* Ganache, recipe follows

Pastry Cream Filling:

* 2 cups whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk
* 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out
* 6 egg yolks
* 2/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/4 cup cornstarch
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Ganache:

* 8 ounces semisweet chocolate
* 1 cup heavy cream, boiling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add milk, oil, egg yolks, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed until combined. Beat an additional 3 minutes on high speed and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on medium to high speed until soft peaks form. Pour the egg yolk mixture over the egg white mixture and fold in. Gently pour the batter into a 9-inch greased pie pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Invert the pan onto a wire rack. Cool completely.

Pastry Cream Filling: In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla bean to a boil over medium heat. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for 10 to 15 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the empty saucepan.

Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. (The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Refrigerate until 1 hour before using.)

Ganache: In a medium bowl, pour the boiling cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until melted.

To assemble pie, remove the cake from the pan. Cut the cake in half horizontally. Place bottom layer on a serving plate or board, and spread with the pastry cream. Top with second cake layer. Pour chocolate ganache over and down the sides of the cake. Store in refrigerator.

Walnut Brownies

Red book pg 179 ;)

1 c. flour
1 sm. pkg. instant jello chcolate fudge pudding mix
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 egg or egg substitute
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine flour, dry pudding mix, sugar, and baking powder. In a small bowl, combine applesauce, egg and vanilla. Add applesauce mixture to flour mixture. Mix well until mixture is smooth. Stir in walnuts. Spread batter into baking dish, and bake for 20 to 25 min. Cool. Cut into 16 bars.

Chocolate Zuchini Brownies

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. no fat sour cream
1/2 c. water
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. grated unpeeled zucchini
1/4 c. chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda. and sugar. Add sour cream, water and vanilla. Mix well to combine. Fold in zucchini and pecans. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 min. Cool. Cut into 16 bars.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup hershey's cocoa powder
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
powdered sugar

in a large mixing bowl, combine sugar & oil. add cocoa; blend well. beat in eggs and vanilla. combine flour, baking powder & salt; add to cocoa mixture blending well. cover; chill at least 6 hours. heat oven to 350. shape dough into 1 inch balls. roll in powdered sugar. place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. bake 12 to 14 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched. remove from cookie sheet; cool on wire rack. makes 4 dozen.

Chunky Monkey Muffins

1 1/4 c. whole-wheat flour
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp. ground flax seed
1 tbsp. 1 tsp. dark cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips
6 oz. low-fat vanilla yogurt
2 medium overripe bananas, mashed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 c. milk
1/3 c. natural smooth peanut butter (optional)
1 tbsp wheat germ

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Coat liners with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Measure out the flours, leveling with a knife, into a large mixing bowl along with the brown sugar, flax seed, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, baking soda salt, and chocolate chips. Whisk together until combined.

3. Combine the yogurt, bananas, egg, vanilla extract, oil, and milk in a separate bowl until thoroughly mixed (it's OK if there are chunks of banana)

4. Fold the banana mixture into the dry mixture just until combined. If using peanut butter, fill the prepared muffin cups 1/2 full with batter and then spoon 1 tsp peanut butter on top. Fill the cups with more batter until 3/4 full (if not using peanut butter simply fill the cups 3/4 full with batter). Sprinkle tops with wheat germ and put in the oven for 20 minutes or until the tops of the muffins look dry and spring back when touched in the center. Allow to cool on the stovetop.