Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats... with Chocolate

Oh boy. Not healthy. Too easy. Really fast. At least they are perfect to share! There's not too much to say about these. If you like Rice Krispie Treats (and really, who doesn't?) and peanut butter, and chocolate, you'll dig these. Like a crispy peanut butter cup, but cut to your own specific size needs. That's about all you need to know. Make them. Love them. Enjoy treat karma and share them.

The base of this recipe is just straight up Rice Krispie Treats, but I decreased the butter, added peanut butter and on top, added quick melted chocolate that cools to a nice mess-free hardness. It's the same thing I like to do with these zucchini brownies.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispies Treats with Chocolate
Preheat oven to 200 degrees
Butter a 9x13 glass baking dish

6 cups Rice Krispies
40 large marshmallows (about 10oz or 4 cups)
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Measure out Rice Krispies and set aside in a large bowl. In a pot large enough to hold all of the ingredients, including the Rice Krispies, melt the butter and peanut butter. Add in the marshmallows and melt everything together stirring constantly.

When the marshmallows are nearly melted, add in all of the Rice Krispies and stir gently to combine.

When everything is evenly combined, pour everything into the prepared pan. I like to lightly spray my hands with cooking spray, or rub a little butter into my palms and then press down the cereal mixture to even it out a bit.

Sprinkle about a cup of chocolate chips on top of the cereal in the glass pan. Pop the pan into the warm oven for about 5 minutes. When the chips are soft and starting to melt, take the pan out and spread the chocolate over the top of the Rice Krispies treats. 

Let the treats cool completely and enjoy!!

Things made this time last year...

Charred Artichokes

 

Dijon Vinaigrette Potato Salad

Things made this time two years ago...

Pappardelle with White Truffle Butter

Pizza and Bread Sticks

Coconut Cookies with Chocolate Ganache

I am cookie challenged. I can bake up a storm, and I have a good handle on pie crust, but when it comes to cookies, I can make a disaster out of few good ingredients. These Twix cookies are a good exception to the rule, but when my son needed Valentine's Day treats, my poor husband ended up at the market close to 9pm as I scraped what looked like chocolate brittle off a baking pan. Anywho, these little gems are perfect and SO easy! Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. 5 ingredients and 30 minutes and voila - gorgeous little cookies!

Coconut Cookies with Chocolate Ganache - adapted from Donna Hay
Makes 12 cookies and 1/3 cup chocolate ganache
Preheat oven to 350

For the Cookies
1 7oz bag sweetened flake coconut
1/4 cup of sugar
1 egg white

For the Chocolate Ganache
1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy cream

In a medium sized bowl, mix all cookie ingredients. The coconut mixture will be loose and seem kind of dry. Roll a tablespoon at a time in your hands until the coconut sticks together. All of a sudden it will seem much more wet. Place the ball on a parchment or silpat covered baking pan and press the ball to flatten it. 

Bake cookies for 15 minutes and then flip carefully. Bake another 3-5 minutes until golden and toasty all over.

While cookies bake, make the Chocolate Ganache. In a small pan, heat 2 tablespoons of heavy cream until steaming, but not quite boiling. Turn off heat and add in chocolate chips. Let the chips sit in the hot cream for at least two minutes and then stir to melt. Let the chocolate cool until warm.

When the cookies have finished cooking, let them cool on the baking pan and dollop on the chocolate. Let the chocolate cool and enjoy!!

A few things about this recipe...
The original recipe calls these cookies macaroons - but I'm not able to make them thin enough sandwich. 
Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't! Some slivered almonds on top of the chocolate is amazing. 

Things made this time last year...
Pecan Crusted Salmon - oh my goodness this is good!

 

Bacon and Cheddar Quiche - breakfast, lunch or dinner - awesome!

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red velvet is the new trend in baking.  You can find everything from red velvet cookies to pancakes.  Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised when my best friend’s fiancé asked me to make red velvet cupcakes for her 30^th birthday party.  I was thrilled!  I love making people happy through my food J. 

After I stole her cupcake tower and pastry bags with decorating attachments, I got to work lol.  You would think I would have my own stash with all of the cooking and baking I do.  I digress… 

One of the reasons why I love cooking is because I often get to use my scientific mind to figure out why things work the way they do.  (I’m an engineer by trade).  Well, key ingredients in any red velvet baking dish are buttermilk, vinegar, cocoa and red food coloring.  The combination of buttermilk and vinegar bring out the anthocyanins (a fancy word for “pigments”) in the cocoa.   The Dutch processing that occurs with most cocoa nowadays adds alkalinity and therefore, reduces the appearance of the anthocyanins.  Red food coloring is added to overcome this and results in a brighter red color.

Cupcakes:

2 ½ c cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp cocoa powder

½ c unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ c sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1/8 c water

2 tsp red food coloring

1c buttermilk

1 tsp white vinegar

Frosting:

8oz cream cheese, softened

½ c butter, softened

3c powdered sugar

½ tsp salt

 1 tsp vanilla

Tip: In the winter months, it may take FOREVER for your butter to soften.  A trick I use is to put the stick of butter between two layers of plastic wrap.  Roll out butter using a rolling pin.  Voila!  Perfectly softened butter!

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.  This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

Sift flour, salt, and cocoa powder into a large bowl and set aside.  Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer over medium speed until fluffy.   

Crack eggs into a separate bowl and add vanilla.  Pour one egg into the butter mixture and mix until creamy.  Pour in the second egg and continue mixing until well combined.

Combine water, food coloring, and buttermilk.  Pour into mixing bowl and mix well.  Combine vinegar and baking soda.  It will foam.  Pour into mixing bowl and mix well.

Option:  You may add more food coloring if you like.  I’m not a fan of dyes in my food so I used as little as possible.  This resulted in a more red-brown color rather than bright red.  Some other recipes call for anywhere up to ¼ c of food coloring.

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture.  Scrape down sides when needed.  Mix until just combined.  Be sure not to over-mix the batter.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350F for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  Note: times may vary based on oven.

Clean out mixing bowl and paddle attachment.  Whip butter and cream cheese until creamed.  In a separate bowl, sift powdered sugar and salt.  Gradually, add the powdered sugar mixture to the cream cheese mixture and scrape down sides as needed.  Mix in vanilla.  Frost cooled cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

It's a cake! It's a brownie! It's a truffle (the chocolate kind!) It's flourless chocolate cake!! (Please read that in an "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Super Man!" voice.) This cake is really easy, it does take up a few pans, but the ingredients are minimal, the steps are easy, and the result is delicious and pretty - a great combo, especially as a company worthy dessert. I like this with a super quick raspberry sauce made from frozen (or fresh if it's summer) raspberries and sugar. The sauce looks great and tastes amazing. It's good over ice cream if you happen to run out of cake. 

Flourless Chocolate Cake - I don't know where I got this recipe... it's been years.
Serves 8
Preheat oven to 350

Cake
7 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons)
1 cup sugar, divided
4 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons butter - 9 1/2 go into the cake, 1/2 tablespoon greases the cake pan
Optional for decoration...
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

First thing to do is prep the cake pan. Spray the cake pan with oil, and then line with a circle of parchment. Generously butter the parchment paper in the pan and set aside.

Next, melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Chocolate is easier to melt with butter added to the mix, but don't over heat too quickly or it will turn into this weird drying-glue business and there is not recovering from that. So anyway, heat slowly and stir regularly.

Prep the eggs by separating them - yolks in a large bowl, with 1/2 cup of sugar, vanilla and salt. Whites in a separate bowl and set aside. When chocolate and butter is melted, take it off the heated water bowl to cool a bit and beat eggs and sugar until pale and smooth.

Temper the egg mixture with about a 1/4 cup of melted chocolate and start stirring the mixture together. Quickly stir the chocolate into the egg mixture and set aside.

Next beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Then add 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture. Fold gently to keep the egg whites frothy.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes, checking at 35 minutes. A toothpick or knife inserted in the middle should come out clean.

This cake will be puffy with a crispy shell that will start to fall in on itself as it cools. Press a cutting board over the top of the cake pan to smooth the edges.

When the cake is cool, flip onto a cake plate and dust with a mixture of powdered sugar and cocoa powder. It tastes good, it covers up any glitches and it looks so pretty!

Raspberry Sauce
1 cup raspberries - frozen or fresh
1/3 cup sugar

Simmer raspberries and sugar over low heat until the berries are all broken down and the sugar is melted. Keep simmering until the sauce has thickened to like maple syrup - about 5 minutes. 

With a mesh sieve, strain the sauce, pressing all the raspberry goodness out with a rubber spatula. Or, if you like seeds, keep them. In a pinch, heat a nice pre-made jam over low heat until it's saucy. 

Spoons sauce onto a plate and place the cake on the sauce. YUM!!

I had fun taking pictures of this cake. :)

Things made this time last year...
Creamy Polenta with Sausage and Mushroom Ragu - cold evening, 30 minutes, awesome.

 

Flavored Kale Chips

Chicken and Curry Kebabs and Carrot and Zucchini Fritters

Twix Cookies

I have a very hard time making drop cookies. I don't know what my problem is. Lack of a Sunset magazine looking, Bon Appetite magazine tasting cookie and I'm troubled. I tried again this week and while following the directions exactly, I ended up with definitely delicious, not quite as good looking cookies as I'd hoped to get. C'est la vie. 

These are chocked full of Twix candy bars and milk chocolate chips. They are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and honest to goodness rivers of caramel flow through these bad boys. They are good. And I think they would be great with any other fave candy bar... Butterfingers, I'm looking at you.

Twix Cookies - from Averie Cooks
Makes 24-30 cookies
Needs 2 hours for dough to cool - after cooling, preheat oven to 350

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt - about 1/4 teaspoon
4 Twix candy bars diced up (8 individual Twix bars)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Sorry my picture has two eggs. I was mistaken. 

In a stand mixer or with a hand beater, cream butter, eggs, sugars and vanilla. Beat until butter and sugar are light in color and fully incorporated - about 5 minutes. 

While the butter mixture creams, in a small bowl mix together flour, corn starch, baking soda and salt. Add flour to butter mixture and mix until just incorporated. I mixed this by hand to make sure I didn't over-mix the flour.

When flour is incorporated, mix in candy bar pieces and chocolate chips. I also folded these in by hand to avoid over-mixing. 

Line two baking pans with parchment paper and drop small balls of dough onto the paper. I used a 1.5 tablespoon ice cream scoop. Press the cookies down a bit to flatten them some. When cookies are flattened, place the baking pans in the fridge and let the dough cool for at least 2 hours. 

Pull baking pans out of the fridge and preheat oven to 350. Bake one pan at a time for 8 or 9 minutes. I liked the cookies better after 9 minutes. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

I really do think this would be great with all sorts of candy bars, but Butterfingers are high on my list of things to try.

Things made this time last year...
Pumpkin Spice Cookies - Antoinette has no problem making gorgeous cookies!



Husband Chili and Skillet Cornbread - nice for cold nights and busy days