MINI PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKES

MINI PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKES

Best recipes ever CHEESECAKE RECIPES MINI RECIPES PEANUT BUTTER

Chocolate glazed, mini peanut butter cheesecakes, what could be better? My family loves cheesecake and I've made a bagillion of them over the years, but I've never quite mastered cutting them cleanly, especially when serving a crowd. These mini cheesecakes are the perfect solution for Easter this year.

CRUST
1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tablespoons sugar
¼ cup melted butter
pinch of cinnamon

Mix crust ingredients well, set aside

FILLING
(2) 8 ounce pkg. cream cheese room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup creamy style peanut butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 eggs

Line cupcake pan with paper liners (this recipe makes 18 cheesecakes). Spoon a little of the crust crumbs into each paper liner and press down. Set aside and preheat your oven to 350°F

In a large bowl, beat the room temperature cream cheese and granulated sugar until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add the peanut butter and vanilla and beat until smooth.

While beating, sprinkle in the flour and then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth.

Fill the paper liners almost full (I use an ice cream scoop for this).  Bake in 350°F oven for 20-23 minutes. My electric oven took 23 minutes.

Cool to room temperature, then top with chocolate glaze.

CHOCOLATE GLAZE
6 tablespoons melted butter
6 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
6 tablespoons boiling water
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix the cocoa into the butter until smooth. Add the boiling water and mix well. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whisk till smooth.  Pour over the cooled cheesecakes and put in the fridge to help the glaze "set".

Store cheesecakes, covered, in the refrigerator until time to serve. best recipes ever

PEANUT BUTTER SNACK CAKE

PEANUT BUTTER SNACK CAKE

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Are you old enough to remember the snack cake craze? Simple sweet cakes made for no special occasion, other than to just "snack on"; they were great. I don't  know when, or why, they faded from the scene, but I've decided to bring them back into my kitchen as a welcome change from the ever present cookie jar. Peanut butter cake, studded with mini-chocolate chips and frosted with a peanut butter and honey frosting...what's not to love?! best recipes ever

This cake is delicious and, if kept covered, stays moist for several days. The recipe ingredients listed here are for a 10" round cake, but you can double the ingredients and bake it in a 9"x13" pan as well.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the flour, sugar, peanut butter and butter until it is crumbly.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the chocolate chips) and mix on low speed until everything is well combined, then mix on med-high speed for three minutes.

Dust the mini-chocolate chips with a tablespoon of flour and then shake off the excess (this will keep them from sinking in the batter as they bake). Stir chips into the batter.

Bake in a greased and floured 10" round pan at 350° fir 35-40 minutes or until toothpick tests clean (my electric oven took 35 minutes).

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto serving plate.

FROST THIS CAKE WHILE STILL HOT!!

PEANUT BUTTER AND HONEY FROSTING

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

4 to 5 tablespoons milk

Warm the peanut butter and honey in the microwave until it is soft but not melted. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat with electric mixer until smooth and creamy.  FROST CAKE WHILE STILL HOT.

NOTE:  If you double this recipe for a 9"x13" cake, 

make sure you double the frosting as well.



PEANUT BUTTER CREAM BARS

PEANUT BUTTER CREAM BARS

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I've been making these bars since my kids were little; now I make them for my grandchildren. I think that is the mark of a great recipe, don't you? 

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This cookie bar has a creamy (peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk) layer between two chewy oatmeal cookie layers. As if that wasn't enough, the finished bars are drizzled with a peanut butter frosting glaze. They are SO GOOD and they make a great bake sale item.

 2 cups raw quick oats
1¾ cups brown sugar
1½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
2 cups chocolate chips (or 1 cup mini chocolate chips)
1 beaten egg
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl and then cut in the butter (like you would for a pie crust). I do this step with an electric mixer, but don't do it with a food processor because it will chop the oatmeal to finely.

Remove 1¾ cups of these crumbs and put them in a small bowl with the chocolate chips and set it aside.

Mix the beaten egg into the remaining crumb mixture (not the part with the chocolate chips) and mix well. Press this mixture into a greased (I use parchment paper instead of grease) 10" x 15" x 2" baking pan and bake in preheated  350 oven for 15 minutes.

While the base is in the oven, whisk the sweetened condensed milk together with the creamy peanut butter and set aside.

When the partially baked crust comes out of the oven, drizzle the milk-peanut butter mixture evenly over the crust. Sprinkle evenly with the reserved crumb-chocolate chip mixture and bake, at 350, for another 15 minutes.

Drizzle the baked bars with peanut butter frosting while they are still warm. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares.



NOTE: For ease of cutting, I line the pan with parchment paper and leave the sides a little long, so I can grab the COOLED bars and lift them out of the pan for slicing.

PEANUT BUTTER GLAZE

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tablespoons butter soft

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons milk

Now keep in mind, I NEVER, and I mean NEVER measure ingredients for a cake glaze, so I'm hoping these amounts work for you.  Heat the peanut butter and butter in the microwave until it is nice and soft.  Add the vanilla, milk and sugar and whisk till smooth.  If it seems a little dry, just add another tablespoon or so of milk. If it seems too soupy, add a tablespoon or so more powdered sugar.  When the glaze is nice and smooth, drizzle it over the warm bars.

PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES with CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES with CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

BAKE SALE RECIPES Best recipes ever CHOCOLATE DESSERTS COOKIE RECIPES PEANUT BUTTER

We are huge fans of peanut butter and chocolate together, are you? This peanut butter brownie has peanut butter and miniature chocolate chips in the batter and a peanut butter - chocolate frosting on top...oh my, it was good!!!

1½ cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, room temperature

½ cup smooth peanut butter

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 8" x 11" baking dish with vegetable spray.

After you measure the flour, remove a tablespoon of it and toss it with the miniature chocolate chips...set aside (this will keep the chocolate chips from sinking in the batter as they bake).

Cream the peanut butter and room temperature butter until smooth.  Add the sugars, vanilla and eggs and beat until smooth with electric mixer.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat on low until combined (don't over-beat). Stir in the flour coated miniature chocolate chips.

Spread in the prepared baking dish and bake 35-40 minutes. NOTE: At 35 minutes, my brownies looked a little dark, so I just shut the oven off and let them sit in there for another few minutes. Use toothpick to test for done-ness.

Remove from oven and place pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes or so before frosting. 

If you let these frosted brownies cool completely, they will cut cleanly like this.  

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PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

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Picky picky husband loves anything peanut butter and I love anything chocolate; so I combined two of our favorite recipes and this cookie "was born".  It is a GREAT lunch box or picnic cookie, as they travel well and stay soft if you keep them in a lidded cookie jar.

1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco  (see note below)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I use Jiff)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream the butter flavored Crisco, peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add the sugars and mix well.

Add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix well. Stir in the miniature chocolate chips and pecans.

Roll into balls about the size of a walnut and bake on parchment paper lined baking sheet for 10-12 minutes (at 375 degrees) until they are very light golden around the edges. best recipes ever

They won't look quite "done" in the center, but trust me...they are.

NOTE: Some people freak out about using Crisco in cookies, however, 99.9% of the reports show that there is virtually zero difference between Crisco and butter when it comes to saturated fat, not to mention there is zero cholesterol in Crisco (something you can not say about butter).  Just make sure (for flavor sake) you use butter flavored Crisco.

I have no idea how these cookies turn out if you use all butter... I just know that in classic chocolate chip cookies, you get a super thin misshapen cookie if you use butter... but if you use butter flavored Crisco in that same recipe, you get a nice thick, perfectly round cookie.

NOTE: I like to use miniature chocolate chips in my cookies because they distribute in the batter well, however, regular size chocolate chips would work too.

PEANUT BUTTER PUDDING

PEANUT BUTTER PUDDING

MY ORIGINAL RECIPE PEANUT BUTTER PUDDING

Last week I got a weird idea for peanut butter pudding; the process was a lot more complicated than I thought it was going to be. I tried several Internet recipes and none of them were exactly what I was looking for. Picky-picky husband was my Guinea pig taste tester and the first spoon full of each new recipe elicited those serious "brow furrows" that make all cooks cringe.

I didn't let that slow me down in my quest for a great "kid pudding". My next move was to start combining and tweaking recipes... the richness from this one ...the consistency from that one ... the sweet-factor from another one. The final result brought a "pudding face smile" to old Picky-picky AND the grand kids. This one IS a keeper!!!

I layered this recipe with sliced bananas and Hershey chocolate syrup, but next time I think I'll try layering it with crushed chocolate wafers ... Yummm!!!

This pudding is rich, creamy, peanut butter-y and oh so easy to make!!

2/3 cup dark brown sugar (light brown is OK, but dark brown is better)

2 level tablespoons of corn starch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1¾ cups whole milk (I've used 2% in a pinch)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a saucepan that has a heavy bottom, whisk together the brown sugar, corn starch and salt. This step helps the cornstarch from clumping-lumping when you add the liquid.

After the sugar, cornstarch and salt are whisked together, slowly add the milk and cream. Stir to make sure everything is mixed well.

Bring to a boil, over medium high heat, stirring constantly. When this mixture gets nice and thick, add the peanut butter and whisk until it is totally melted and pudding just starts to boil again, (takes about 30 more seconds). Remove from heat and add vanilla extract, mix well.

Pour into a pretty serving dish (or individual dishes) and lay plastic wrap directly on top of the hot pudding (make sure the plastic is actually touching the pudding) so a "skin" doesn't form on the pudding as it cools.  Chill for 2-3 hours or overnight.

What a great recipe for ANY kids birthday party!!

PEANUT BUTTER KRISPIE TREATS

PEANUT BUTTER KRISPIE TREATS

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This recipe has been around forever; it is one of those classic sweet treats from our childhood.  Picky-picky husband is a big fan of the old fashioned Rice Krispie treats made with melted marshmallows, so he initially resisted this peanut butter version (he resists change).  However, this evening, I noticed that the pan of treats, on the kitchen counter, had been seriously noshed upon.

This recipe is SUPER easy and uses all pantry ingredients, which is a good thing.  It goes together in just minutes (the longest part of this recipe is the cool down time). They cut beautifully if you let them cool all the way down and they travel well.

1 cup light Karo syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Krispie cereal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips (see note)

Mix the syrup and granulated sugar in a heavy saucepan, over medium heat (stirring). Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat; stir in peanut butter until smooth and well mixed.

Pour over Rice Krispie cereal and stir to coat evenly.  Press into a lightly greased 11" x 7" pan (see note) and press down evenly with slightly damp hands.

Melt the chocolate chips and stir until smooth (I melted mine in my microwave at 60% power for about 1½ minutes).  Spread evenly over bars.  Cool about an hour before cutting.

NOTE: This recipe calls for half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half peanut butter chips, but any combo would work well.  I found a similar recipe that used half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half butterscotch chips for the frosting (they called them Scotcheroo's).

NOTE: The size of the pan is not really important. Just remember that the smaller the pan is, the thicker the treats will be and the bigger the pan is the thinner they will be.