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Tag Archive: Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Written on November 25, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Everyone says it’s better to give than to receive. And I think that’s true; but getting gifts feels pretty awesome, too, right?

I saw a couple coworkers earlier this month enjoying Peanut Butter & Co peanut butter, so I tweeted them since they’re a company I love and have blogged for in the past. Not only did they tweet back but they were nice enough to give the office a bunch of jars to sample.

Since then, my coworkers have all been trying new flavors by the spoonful and finding new favorites that none of us want to share. I took a jar of Mighty Maple from our stash but plan on giving back by bringing these brownies into the office to share with everyone.

I made these with Mighty Maple peanut butter. You can make it using any flavor or brand of peanut butter(though Dark Chocolate Dreams certainly wouldn’t be a bad choice).

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 16 servings):

For the brownies:

4oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour OR all-purpose gluten-free flour
2 eggs

For the swirl:

1/3 cup peanut butter
2 Tablespoons milk or cream

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In the microwave or over the stove, melt the chocolate, butter, peanut butter, and milk together into a smooth sauce.
Gently add in the sugar, flour, and cocoa powder and begin beating.
While beating, add in the eggs and beat well until the batter is smooth and silky.
Pour the batter into a 9-inch cake pan or similarly sized baking pan.
In a small bowl, melt the peanut butter and butter.
Beat the butter and peanut butter until smooth.
Pour the peanut butter sauce across the top of the brownies and swirl in using a fork or knife.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the batter has set.
Remove from the oven and let cool before cutting.

And if you’re also a peanut butter fanatic, There’s still time to vote on the National Peanut Board’s app and be entered to win a peanut butter prize pack.

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Maple Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bread

Written on November 1, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Breakfast

Do you know what November is? ~~Besides depressingly cold.~~ It’s national peanut butter month! And to stir things up, the National Peanut Board invited bloggers to come up with a new peanut butter recipe to post and spread the love.

At this point, there are few recipes that I haven’t made with peanut butter. It’s something I eat daily—usually in the morning with oatmeal and a sweetener like maple syrup. But oatmeal can be messy and hard to have on the go, so there had to be an easy, portable way to have that delicious flavor combination.

For my entry I made a peanut butter quick bread sweetened with maple syrup. It’s healthy and amazingly delicious warmed up on a cold November morning.

To vote in the recipe, you can go to the Peanut Board’s Facebook page after 12pm on November 1st and use the contest’s tab app to vote before November 30th. Besides a prize for the winning blogger, they’re giving away 15 peanut butter prize packs with $25 gift cards to voters, so vote!

Maple Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bread

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Ingredients(Makes one loaf):

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup peanut butter, gently melted
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Maple Peanut Butter Quickbread Loaf

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl mix together the oats and flour.
Add in the syrup, peanut butter, oil, eggs, and water and beat well.
Add in the rest of the ingredients and continue mixing until it forms a batter.
Lightly grease a 9-inch loaf pan with oil.
Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle some extra oats on the top.
Bake for 50 minutes or until the bread rises and sets.
Remove from the oven and let cool before slicing. Store in a cool place when not enjoying.

Maple Peanut Butter Quickbread Loaf 2

Be sure to check out the other bloggers’ recipes as well! Jennifer, Laurie, Nick, Tina, and Rachel all cooked up something delicious, too.

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Thai Reese’s Puffs Peanut Butter Sauce

Written on October 28, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Entree, Sauce

When I was at the Wine & Food festival, I was lucky enough to meet Justin Warner after his demo. Justin has made a number of sweet and savory recipes for General Mills using their Big G cereals in unexpected ways(here’s the blog post featuring those).

Jason from General Mills sent me some of their cereals along with some unusual ingredients Justin would go crazy with. At first I wasn’t sure how to use some of them(a pestle and mortar? sriracha sauce?), but then it hit me: A Thai sauce with Reese’s Puffs.

It’s not as crazy as it sounds; a lot of the ingredients in Reese’s Puffs are found in regular sauces: Corn starch is a common thickening agent; sugar can be just as important as salt for bringing out flavor profiles; even chocolate is used to add a richness and depth to tomato sauce.

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As with any sauce you should taste as you go along and add salt and seasoning to adjust it to your taste. For a lower-fat version, use cartoned coconut milk or almond milk.

Thai Reese’s Puffs Peanut Butter Sauce

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes enough for 2 servings):

3/4 cup Reese’s Puffs cereal
1/3 cup soy sauce or gluten-free tamari
1 Tablespoon sriracha
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
1/3 cup coconut milk

Method:

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor or high-speed blender.
Blend until smooth.
Add to sautéed vegetables and tofu or chicken.
Heat the pre-cooked vegetables, chicken, or tofu in the sauce until it is warmed through.
Serve hot.

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Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie Sandwiches

Written on September 6, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie Sandwiches

Turns out peanut butter and caramel comes a close second to coconut and caramel.

Since I was moving and needed to use up all that caramel sauce, I needed something portable that it’d be good in. Well, sandwiches are portable. Cookie sandwiches? Even better.

Peanut butter cookies usually fall into two categories: Chewy and flavorful or soft with just a hint of peanut flavor. Using caramel sauce in place of sugar and butter bridges the gap and makes a cookie that’s very peanut butter(is that even a word?) but also soft at the same time—the kind of cookie that’s perfect for filling.

The ones I filled with straight caramel sauce were a little too loose so the peanut butter acts as a great binder. I’d definitely recommend filling these sandwiches with salted caramel buttercream if you happen to have a recipe for that handy or even vanilla ice cream and an extra drizzle of caramel sauce.

Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie Sandwiches

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 12 sandwiches):

1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon peanut butter, divided
1/2 cup + 1/3 cup caramel sauce, divided
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie Sandwiches Ingredients

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, beat together 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup of caramel sauce, sugar, flour, egg, and baking soda until it forms a dough. If the dough’s a little loose add flour by the tablespoon until it won’t stick to your hands.
Roll the dough into balls about 1-inch in diameter and place them on a non-stick baking tray.
Using a fork, make a criss-cross pattern on the top of each dough ball.
Bake for 15 minutes until the cookies have risen and spread.
Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely.
In a small bowl, beat together the remaining peanut butter and caramel sauce.
Scoop about 2 teaspoons of the peanut caramel sauce onto the bottom of one cookie and sandwich it with the bottom of an equally-sized cookie.
Refrigerate the cookies until the filling has set and it’s time to serve.

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Oatmeal Energy Bars

Written on August 13, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert, Snack

These bars were something of a fail, but definitely one worth sharing.

I love granola bars, prepackaged snack—basically anything from the grocery store that calls itself healthy and has too much sugar in it. They’re always delicious and the right portion but usually overpriced. Why not make your own?

Well, these taste much fresher than your typical grocery store splurge and that’s their only flaw. They’re somewhere between a chewy brownie and a granola bar which is a texture that takes some getting used to. Besides that the ingredients are simple and wholesome and full of fiber.

While the chocolate definitely makes this look like a dessert, it’s not that sweet and the texture is more chewy than cakey. It’s a great power snack or something to pack in a lunchbox that’s a little healthier than other desserts.

Oatmeal Energy Bars

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16 squares):

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour(whole grain or gluten-free are good substitutes)
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup peanut butter, separated
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl mix together the flour and the oats.
In a separate bowl, beat together 1/2 of cup peanut butter, oil, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, egg, and water until smooth.
Mix together the dry and wet ingredients until they form a batter.
Lightly oil an 8 x 8 pan and pour the batter in in an even level.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the center has set.
Melt the chocolate chips and remaining 1/4 cup of peanut butter together and mix until they make a ganache.
Pour the chocolate on top of the baked good and spread it out evenly.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour until the chocolate has set.
Slice into squares before serving.

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Reese’s Lover’s Bark

Written on July 16, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Reese’s Lover’s Bark Whole

This is it.

If I stopped blogging tomorrow and this was the last recipe I ever posted, I’d be more than happy with that.

It’s no secret I’m a Reese’s lover. This bark was bound to happen. And it’s one of my favorites—Scratch that. It is my favorite.

The sweet Reese’s pieces, dark chocolate, and smooth peanut butter cups go perfectly with a little crunch from the Reese’s puffs. You’d be hard-pressed to be disappointed with a bite of this bark.

You can use regular-sized Reese’s cups, Reese’s fun-sized candies, or even Reese’s miniatures for the peanut butter cups—whichever you have on hand.

Reese’s is in no way affiliated with this blog post; I’m just a lover.

Reese’s Lover’s Bark

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16-20 servings):

12oz milk or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup Reese’s Pieces
1/2 cup chopped Reese’s cups
1/2 cup Reese’s Puffs

Method:

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips until they are smooth and liquid.
Spread the chocolate out into a thin layer on a non-stick surface such as wax paper.
One at a time or all together, sprinkle the Reese’s toppings evenly over the melted chocolate.
Gently press the toppings into the chocolate to make sure as many as possible stick into the bark.
Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes until the chocolate is cold and set.
Break the bark into pieces with a knife or your hands while still cold. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

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Easy Reese’s Fudge

Written on July 9, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

On a trip to New York a couple weeks ago, I had an hour to kill in Times Square. It’s probably no surprise I made a beeline for the M&M store and then quickly followed over to the Hershey’s store. Anywhere that sells that much chocolate should be a tourist destination in itself.

I still had chocolate on the brain after getting home from that trip and had to make this fudge. Surprisingly I hadn’t made microwave fudge in about a year so this was long overdue. Adding a little bit of Reese’s peanut butter cups was the perfect touch to these; if anything deserves a pairing with chocolate it’s peanut butter.

I used dark chocolate chips which made the fudge a little less sweet but gave a good contrast to the peanut butter cups. Instead of the fun-sized Reese’s cups you could use full-sized ones cut into more pieces or the new unwrapped miniatures.

Easy Reese’s Fudge

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 20 servings):

1 10oz bag chocolate chips
1 4oz stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
10 fun-sized Reese’s, chopped into fourths

Method:

Melt together the chocolate chips and butter in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix together the milk and powdered sugar until the sugar dissolves.
Mix the milk in with the melted chocolate and butter and beat until smooth.
Pour the hot fudge into a greased 8-inch loaf pan. You can add wax paper as a liner to make the removal and clean up easier.
Sprinkle the chopped up Reese’s on top of the fudge and press it in gently with your hand.
Refrigerate the fudge until it hardens, about 2 hours.
With a sharp knife, slice the fudge into 1-inch squares. Keep it in the refrigerator when not enjoying.

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Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

Written on June 11, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Peanut butter cookies are one of my favorite desserts to keep around the house. That’s probably because I don’t just eat them for dessert; they’re also great as an afternoon snack, crumbled on top of yogurt, right before dinner when you’re feeling snackish—whenever. They’re just the right amount of sweet and nutty to satisfy.

I’m always trying different peanut butter cookies recipes to see how the texture and flavor compares. These are one of my new favorites. Once these cookies cool, they’re the thick and chewy kind. They’re perfect for filling with ice cream and making a cookie sandwich, covering in melted chocolate or filling with a little raspberry jam.

I used gluten-free all-purpose flour for these cookies and they came out perfectly. If you use a gluten-free flour I’d recommend a pre-mixed blend for the best consistency. Your cookies should be rollable when all the ingredients are mixed but if the batter is still too thick you can add milk by the Tablespoon until it softens up.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 18 cookies):

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour OR 1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour
3/4 cup cane sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon well.
In a separate bowl, beat the remaining ingredients until they make a homogenous liquid.
Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry until it forms a uniform dough.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place them on a lined baking tray.
Press down on each ball lightly with the tongs of a fork in a criss-cross pattern on top.
Bake for 18 minutes until the center of the cookies are firm and the outsides are golden.
Remove from the oven and let them cool completely before moving.
Store in a sealed container at room temperature.

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Peanut Butter Banana Granola

Written on June 4, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Breakfast

I’ve eaten yogurt, granola and a sliced banana for more meals this past month than I’m willing to admit. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s so good or so easy; it’s probably a bit of both. I never knew if you could cook the banana flavor into the granola until I saw this recipe. That gave me all the confidence I needed to try it out.

This is the kind of granola I have no trouble eating all by itself. It has every flavor and texture in it you could possibly want. The clusters are slightly softer than normal granola because of the bananas; it reminds me of the crusty outside of slightly overcooked banana bread. It’s great to eat with just about any flavor of yogurt, too.

This granola tasted fresher than any I’ve tried before. It’s great to make for yourself if you will eat it over the course of a week but might not be the best to give as a gift to someone. Make sure to refrigerate this to keep it its freshest.

Peanut Butter Banana Granola

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 3 cups)

1 banana, mashed
2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
2 Tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips(optional)
1/2 cup chopped nuts(optional)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the banana, oats, syrup, peanut butter, oil, cinnamon, vanilla and salt until evenly mixed.
Spread the oats out in a thin layer on a non-stick baking surface.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, breaking up the oats into clusters about 20 minutes into baking.
When the clusters are golden and firm, remove them from the oven and let them cool.
Once the granola has cooled, add chocolate chips or nuts if using. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator when not eating.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Written on May 13, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

It’s been a busy month. This blog(and cooking anything without a microwave in general) have taken a bit of a back seat. Hopefully someday soon I’ll have a more regular schedule and school off my shoulders but right now sporadic will have to do.

Thankfully you can make some pretty great things with a microwave and 5 minutes. I forgot about this recipe for almost a year and just thought of it again when I made a run to a mini-mart to stock up on chocolate and Reese’s cups. They’re probably much cheaper and more delicious than Reese’s cups. So far they’ve made a great study snack and given me something to stress eat at 2am.

This recipe is the same as the original post. I tried making it with cane sugar instead of powdered sugar because that’s what I had and—while still delicious—I think the powdered sugar has a much better texture to it. I would also try adding chopped salted peanuts on top of the chocolate if you like a little crunch.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars(adapted from Oh Baby Bars)

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 24 servings):

3/4 cup peanut butter, runny or no-stir
7 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
10oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

In a large bowl, melt 6 tablespoons of butter along with the peanut butter until completely liquid.
Add the powdered sugar into the peanut butter and butter mixture and beat until completely incorporated. Press the peanut butter mixture into a loaf pan or a 9 x 9 pan for smaller portions.
Melt the chocolate chips and remaining tablespoon of butter together and mix. Pour this over the peanut butter layer.
Refrigerate until the chocolate has set. Cut at room temperature into 1 x 1 square servings.

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