Chex Muddy Buddies

Chex muddy buddies are something we used to make a lot. I would always stray from the directions a bit and add a lot more vanilla and powdered sugar than the recipe called for. You can find this recipe on pretty much any box of Chex cereal. I prefer to make it with the rice Chex.

Chex Muddy Buddies

1/4 C butter

1/2 C peanut butter

1 C chocolate chips

1 t vanilla

9 C Chex cereal

1 1/2 to 3 C powdered sugar

Place the Chex cereal into a large enough bowl. I used a 1.5 quart storage bowl (with a lid!). A lid is important.

Place the butter, peanut butter, and chocolate chips into a small sauce pan. Melt them together over medium heat, stirring frequently at first and constantly near the end. Don't burn the chocolate! 

Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla. I usually add double the amount of vanilla, but I rarely measure vanilla. Too much hasn't been a bad thing yet.

Pour this mixture onto the the cereal.

Stir it up a bit. Eventually get frustrated that you are breaking the cereal too much. Place the lid on the container and shake it for a bit. It is nearly impossible to get the cereal evenly coated, so don't worry about it. 

Remove the lid and pour the recommended 1 1/2 C powdered sugar on top of the coated cereal.

Replace the lid and shake for a bit. Flip the container upside-down in an attempt to evenly distribute the powdered sugar. This won't be coated enough. See? You can still see the chocolate coating; it's ridiculous.

Add some more powdered sugar and repeat the shaking process. Now it looks better.

Occasionally shake the container as the coated cereal cools to room temperature. You can eat this immediately after coating and continuously over the next few days. Everyone will be aware that you consumed some of this delicious mess, because spots of powdered sugar will be all over your shirt. 

Peanut Butter Brownies

This is possibly the best tasting peanut butter dessert I've ever had. These brownies have the flavor of a salty peanut butter cookie while being chewy and moist like a brownie. The only change I will suggest is to make this in a smaller pan so the brownies are thicker.

In addition to the amazing taste, these are very simple to make. I mixed everything in a medium sauce pan with a wooden spoon. Just be sure to have a sink full of hot soapy water to toss measuring cups and such in as you are finished. This will speed up the cleaning time!

Peanut Butter Brownies (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

1/2 C unsalted butter

2 C brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 C flour

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

1 t vanilla

3/4 C peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium sauce pan.

Remove the melted butter from the heat and stir in the brown sugar. Mix well.

Make sure the mixture is cool and then stir in the eggs. Just stir this until it seems combined.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir this into the sugary mixture.

Mix in the peanut butter and vanilla.

Spread the batter into a well greased 11x15 inch jelly roll pan.

Bake for 20 minutes or until done. If you are using a smaller pan, increase the bake time accordingly. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Enjoy!

PB Cookies

Peanut butter cookies were requested earlier this week, so I made them. This recipe is *almost* identical to the previously posted peanut butter cookie recipe, but it has some extra baking soda and a bit more flour (maybe). I'm going to go ahead and claim that the difference is enough to justify another recipe post!

Also, pretend that this was posted on Tuesday. It will probably be Sunday by the time I have this up. My week has been crazy and I haven't had much time to work on this. I had the pictures all edited and ready to go, but I never got around to typing this up. So here is a lazily typed up recipe. Good luck.

PB Cookies (Printer friendly PDF version)

1 C shortening

1 C white sugar

1 C brown sugar

1 C peanut butter

2 eggs

3 C sifted flour

2 t baking soda

1 t vanilla

Put the shortening, sugars, peanut butter, and eggs into a mixing bowl. Make it creaming and homogenous-ish. 

Add the vanilla, baking soda, and flour. Stir it up. Make sure you scrape the bowl or you might have dry crumblies at the bottom of the bowl. Those don't make good cookies. I wasted some dough.... sigh.

Form the dough into balls with your hands. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Press a criss-cross shape into them with a floured fork.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on the size of the dough disks.

Let cool on the cookie sheet for a minute and then remove the cookies to a cooling rack.

Eat lots of cookies.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies (chilled dough)

Joe's favorite type of cookie is peanut butter. Whenever I ask him what I should bake, he tells me to bake peanut butter cookies. I have made two types of peanut butter cookies for this blog already, so I haven't baked peanut butter cookies in a while. I recently found a new peanut butter cookie recipe in my mess of recipes. So he is lucky. Even though he has delicious peanut butter cookies to eat now, he is upset that these don't have the criss-cross pattern on them.

If you like brown sugar and you like peanut butter cookies, you will like these peanut butter cookies. It uses only brown sugar and no granulated sugar. I can taste the difference and it is a good difference! These cookies have a nice crunch to them and a crumbly texture. They also don't seem to get terribly hard or stale mushy if left uncovered.

Peanut Butter Cookies (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

1 1/4 C flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/3 C shortening

1 C brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 C peanut butter

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Place the brown sugar and shortening in the mixer. Cream them together. The mixture won't be creamy, but it will be well mixed and soft.

Add the egg and mix well.

Slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until well combined.

Add the glob of peanut butter and blend. The dough will look kind of crumbly and dry, but it is supposed to.

Form the dough into a log shape and wrap with cling wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and slice into cookies. My slices were approximately 1/4 of an inch. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. The cookies will start to brown.

This makes almost 3 dozen cookies. Feel free to double or triple the recipe to make more!

Enjoy!

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Peanut Butter Kisses

These cookies are terribly addicting. Every time that Christmas baking comes around, I have to make two batches of these cookies. The first one tends to disappear too quickly! At least these are easy to make. 

Peanut Butter Kisses (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C brown sugar (packed)

1/2 C peanut butter

1/4 C butter (softened)

1/4 C shortening

1 egg

1 1/2 C flour

3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

sugar for rolling

Approximately 3 dozen unwrapped chocolate kisses

Unwrap all of the kisses and place them in a bowl or on a plate.

Place the sugars, peanut butter, butter, and shortening into a mixing bowl. Cream these ingredients together.

Add the egg and mix it in well.

Add the flour, soda, and powder. Stir these in until just blended.

Place some extra sugar into a small bowl. Roll the cookie dough into 1 inch balls. Roll the balls in the sugar. Place evenly spaced on a cookie sheet. These will spread some, but not a lot.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, or until the edges turn slightly brown. Remove from oven and place the kisses on top of each cookie. Let set on the cookie sheet for a minute or so. Remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

The kisses will take a long time to harden after they are placed on the cookies. To speed up this process, place the cookies in the refrigerator for a while.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Here marks recipe 2 in the "count down to Christmas baking" series of posts. Delicious peanut butter cookies. They are also known as "criss-cross cookies", in case you didn't know. At least they are according to my boyfriend. He sometimes is correct.

This is the peanut butter cookie recipe I grew up with. No other recipe can compare. If you over-bake them, however, they will get rock hard and hurt your teeth. Try to avoid doing that, okay? Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

1 C shortening

1 C granulated sugar

1 C brown sugar (packed)

1 C peanut butter

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

2 1/2 C flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

First, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together the shortening, sugars, and peanut butter.

Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix until just combined.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Repeat with the remaining half of the flour mixture.

Form the dough into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten the dough balls by pressing a criss-cross pattern into them with a fork dipped in flour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet a minute or two before placing the cookies on a cooling rack.

Makes 4 dozen cookies. 

Oh, Fudge: Peanut Butter Fudge

This marks fudge recipe #1 of 15 or so. I will be making at least one new fudge recipe per month.

I am highly amused by the plethora of fudge recipes that are in the cookbooks which I now own. The one cookbook alone has 13 different fudge recipes! I, personally, am not a huge fan of fudge. Before this post, I never once attempted to make it. Fortunately (or not) for everyone around me, I am going to be overdosing the world on fudge. By the end of this sugary adventure, I shall be a master at making this creamy candy.

The choice of peanut butter fudge for the first recipe to make was not made by me. I took a vote. A vote of one person. He chose peanut butter fudge. You are now at his mercy.

This fudge is very soft and creamy. The peanut butter flavor is not overwhelming. It is mostly perfect. I think I may have under-heated the sugar during the boiling process because the fudge is rather soft. However, it is possible that the fudge is supposed to be this way. We can assume that and pretend I did everything to 100% perfection.

Peanut Butter Fudge (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
2 C sugar
2/3 C milk
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow cream
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 t vanilla

The first thing to do is heat the milk and sugar over medium heat to boiling while stirring constantly. To ensure an even heating, you can use a heavy bottomed pot. I don't have one of those that aren't overly large for a single batch, so I just used a normal metal pot.

Once the milky sugar reaches a boil, cover it with a lid. Let it boil on its own for 2 minutes (no stirring!) and then uncover it. It will now look like a bubbly mess. It requires no more stirring.

Continue to boil the milk sugar until it reaches the soft ball stage; that is, 240 degrees F. There are two ways to determine if it has reached this stage. The first, obviously, is to use a candy thermometer. Alternatively, you can drop a small amount of the liquidy sugar into a glass of cold water. At the soft ball stage, the sugar will form a soft ball in the water. When removed from the water, the ball will flatten to a pancake shape.

When the boiling milky sugar has reached the soft ball stage, remove it from the heat. Add the marshmallow cream, peanut butter, and vanilla. Gently stir this mixture together until just combined. It is fine if it remains a bit marbled.

Pour the blended mixture into a buttered 8 inch square pan. Place in a refrigerator until well chilled. Cut into pieces and serve. Be sure to serve the fudge to people with a sly grin on your face, because, clearly, you will be making each of these fudge recipes. They have no idea you intend to put them into a sugar coma. You are such a nice friend.

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Insomnia is for baking. At least, that is one of the few useful things I can do when I can't sleep at night. I can't really work on my thesis or think critically at this point in the night. The only reasonable thing to do at 2am is bake. It doesn't disturb anyone sleeping and it provides me with something creative to do. Oh, yeah... it also gives me something delicious to eat!

Tonight I wanted peanut butter. I usually just eat a spoonful of peanut butter or put it on a banana, but I was bored so I decided to make cookies. I did a search on Google for "soft peanut butter cookies" and this is the first recipe I read through that I liked the sound of. They turned out pretty well! Very soft with a nice peanut butter flavor that isn't too strong or too weak. The recipe is also very easy to follow.

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

Cream together the butters, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Add the baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until well combined.

Roll the dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet. The size of the dough balls depends on how big you want the cookies. I tend to make smaller cookies. Use a fork dipped in flour to make a criss-cross pattern on the cookie to press them down. This allows the cookie to bake evenly!

Bake the cookies at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. The edges didn't seem to brown for me, so I just baked them for 10 minutes. The cookie is fully baked when the bottom turns brown, but since the cookies are so soft, it is hard to check for browning.

Don't forget the milk!

Easy Easy No Baking

Once a week my grandmother would go to the salon to get her hair done. Almost weekly she would come home with a new recipe to try. This led me to believe that most salons just are a place for older ladies to get together and exchange recipes. I'm sure they talk about family and such things, but the recipe exchange is probably the highlight of that social event. Some of the recipes were amazing and some were not good enough to have a second time. The recipe for Easy Easy No Baking (also known as Special K Bars and Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars) is one of the amazing recipes that she acquired during her time at the salon.

As the name states, this recipe is easy to make and requires no baking. The most difficult part of the recipe is the frosting, which is melted chocolate chips. The bars taste wonderful and I haven't met a person yet who hasn't enjoyed them.

Easy Easy No Baking (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
3 C Special K cereal
3/4 C Plain or Crunchy Peanut Butter
1 t Vanilla
1/2 C Granulated Sugar
1/2 C White Syrup (such as Karo Syrup)

You will need a stove, a small sauce pan, a large mixing bowl, a glass pan (I used a 8x11 pan), and a spoon. I also recommend having a sink full of hot soapy water. Once you are finished with a bowl or pan, place it in the sink and let it soak. This will save you time when washing dishes since some of the ingredients harden.

Pour the cereal into the mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle of the cereal and place the peanut butter in the center. Set this aside.

Mix the sugar and white syrup in the small sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until it just reaches a boil; the sugar mixture will remain cloudy and start to quickly bubble. Once boiling, remove from heat, add the vanilla, and stir a few times. Adding the vanilla will cause the sugar mixture to bubble rapidly (sorry, no picture! I needed to use 2 hands at that point). Pour the sugar mixture over the peanut butter in the mixing bowl. Mix the sugar mixture, peanut butter, and cereal together until well blended. Place the cereal mixture into the glass pan.

You can either press the mixture down right away or let it chill a few minutes before pressing it down. Place the pan in the refrigerator. Use this time to wash the dishes you've accumulated (you need to use the small sauce pan in the next step).

Frosting:
1/2 C chocolate chips
1 C butterscotch chips

Place the chips in a small sauce pan. Heat the chips over LOW HEAT. You must use one of the lowest heat settings or your frosting mixture will most likely burn. The melting process can take up to 10 minutes, so be patient. At first, stir the mixture occasionally. Once the chips start to melt it will be kind of gross looking and a bit difficult to stir. After a few minutes the mixture will become creamier. At this point, you must start mixing constantly or the chocolate mixture will burn to the bottom of the pan. Once the melted chocolate mixture is smooth, remove it from the heat.

Take the cereal mixture out of the refrigerator and frost it with the chocolate mixture. Return the finished creation to the refrigerator until well chilled. This should take an hour or so, depending on the temperature of your refrigerator. You can also place it in the freezer if you are in a hurry.

Once the entire creation is chilled, cut it into bars using a warm sharp knife. Place the bars in a tightly sealing container and keep refrigerated until you are ready to serve them.

Approximate Nutrition Information (for each bar when batch is cut into 20 bars): 183 calories, 10 g fat, 3 protein, 23.5 g carbs, 92 mg sodium