Five-ingredient peanut butter and chocolate cookies

Sometimes I come across a recipe so simple and so easy that I can't understand why I haven't made it before. This is the case with these cookies. Five ingredients, naturally gluten free, no special techniques or tools needed, and totally delicious and cute looking. What was I waiting for?

Peanut Butter Rice Krispie-Topped Brownies

So I've moved halfway around the world, started pastry school...and baked nothing. We are supposed to begin the actual baking portion of the course today, with bread, so that should be interesting. And even though I haven't baked anything in the past week, as promised I am here to deliver on what I stand behind as the most delicious dessert of 2011 (still in competition with this key lime tart, but as they are so different I shall allow them to remain on a pedestal together). I present to you: Peanut Butter Rice Krispie-Topped Brownies. OK, so I'm not good at naming. 

Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Bars

Remember the Lime Strawberry Cheesecake I shared a few weeks ago. I teased then that it was not the only cheesecake I made for the holiday of Shavuot. And indeed it was not, because sharing the spotlight was this jam-packed, sinfully delicious slab of cheesecake. That's right: cookie dough, peanut butter cup cheesecake bars.

Chocolate-Filled Peanut Butter Cookies

One of my favorite cookie recipes on this site are the chocolate peanut butter surprise cookies - a rich, chewy chocolate cookie surrounding a hidden center of creamy peanut butter. A few weeks ago, the idea hit me: why not try them in reverse?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

Have you ever had about 8 hours free? No? OK, then you might want to skip this one. Well, perhaps not 8 hours, after all I did somehow get a haircut and watch a fair amount of television in the middle of all this kitchen activity. So set aside a Sunday or snow day (just kidding, no more!) or a day when you play hooky to create these chocolate and peanut butter filled pretzels.

Peanut Butter, Jelly and Chocolate Bars

Since it's been well-documented here that I like to eat with my hands, it should come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of the sandwich. Endlessly adaptable, the sandwich has an infinite variation - but there is one that has attained almost iconic status. Yes, I'm talking about the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Peanut Butter Swirled Brownies

Oh, friends. If heaven is a dessert, I have found it. These dense, fudgy brownies are spectacular themselves, but when paired with a peanut butter swirl? I've achieved nirvana.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have more summer fruit desserts to share with you soon, but let me start with a dessert that has been sitting unposted for too long, and for no good reason.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

I've got a secret.....well these cookies do. Cleverly disguised as a run of the mill chocolate cookies, they hide a deep, dark secret. Actually it's a sweet, orange-colored secret: a peanut butter filling!
Despite the fact that I claim to almost never repeat a recipe, I've made these cookies twice in the past month. The first was for my friend Sharon, who has asked me for months to make something chocolate and peanut buttery. And I don't know what took me this long. Then I made a batch to take across the world with me to my Aunt Ann, who prefers to go by the moniker "Doda Matbea," since she thinks Aunt Ann makes her sound like "an ancient spinster." Which she is not.
I digress. These cookies make a great impression I think, and though they look like they took hours they're really not too time consuming.
They start with the peanut butter filling, which I roll into balls and flash freeze. The freezing doesn't make any difference in the cookie, it just makes the cookies 1000 time easier to form.
Because after you create the filling you take each ball and form the chocolate dough around it. Then you give them a good smashing with the bottom of a glass (OK, be gentle) and bake them up. Delicious! And let everyone enjoy the hidden surprise inside. Although perhaps warn anyone with allergies. Baking and Mistaking: not killing anyone since 2009. With the exception of death shards.
Tip of the Day: If you bake two trays of cookies in the oven at one time, they may not bake exactly the same, so when you check in, make sure to check the top and bottom racks for done-ness. Generally the top rack bakes quicker since heat rises.

Recipe: (from Allrecipes)
Filling:
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter

Cookie:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

For the centers, mix the peanut butter and sugar together (you may need to use your hands). Form into approximately 30 balls and flash freeze on a baking sheet.

While they're chilling, make the cookie dough:
Beat the butter, sugars and peanut butter together until mixed.
Add in the vanilla and egg and beat to combine.
Gradually add in the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda until blended.
Remove the peanut butter centers from the freezer, and shape the cookie dough around the ball until completely covered.
Flatten the cookies with a sugar-dipped glass.
Bake on 375 F for 7 to 9 minutes, until tops of cookies just begin to crack.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake Collapse

Before our short Chanukah interlude, I was discussing bundts, and how they often have some difficulty dropping out of the pan. Well, that was nothing compared to this cake. Though perhaps, this was my fault.

I set out to make a chocolate peanut butter bundt cake. But, as I am super human (duh), I decided not to follow a specific recipe, but to mix and match several recipes and create my own, supercalafragilisticexpialidocious chocolate peanut butter cake.

That didn't go so well.

I made the chocolate batter, and made the peanut butter filling. After putting about half the batter in, I piped the peanut butter filling and covered it with the rest of the batter.
I assumed it would sink a little, but I didn't know it would make it all the way through and stick to the bottom of my pan.
So I was nervous from the start about it coming out, despite the fact that I greased it well.
I tried my best to loosen it with a knife, running it around the edge. I then flipped it over, holding my breath, hoping for the best.
The best did not happen. This is the bottom half of the cake.

And never the twain shall meet.

Well...not on my watch.
So after I managed to reassemble the Frankenstein cake, I still knew I couldn't serve it like this.

But, with a little frosting....
Ok a lot of frosting...
...I had a masterpiece! Ok, well, a somewhat presentable cake. That still tasted delicious.

Now, I'm definitely not going to give you the recipe I followed, here are some you can try yourself if this gives you a hankering for a chocolate peanut butter cake:

Culinary in the Desert
Smitten Kitchen
Smells Like Home

Good luck!

New Cookbook and Reese's Peanut Butter Cake

I love peanut butter. Though I've mentioned how much I dislike nuts in baked goods (and peanuts are included in that), I still love peanut butter. But if you search on this website, you'll only find a handful of PB recipes. I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps because many of my close friends (with the documented exception of my friend Esti), and one of my brothers, doesn't like peanut butter, and when baking for groups I'm always mindful of allergies.

Well, when I got the opportunity to test out a recipe from America's Most Wanted Recipes - which recreates recipes from famous restaurants - and I was flipping through the book to select a dish to try, I immediately bookmarked Romanos Macaroni Grill's Reeses Peanut Butter Cake. Since I recently celebrated a birthday, I figured I deserved something I really liked.
Like many cakes that seem daunting, this one is really just a simple combination of three parts. The peanut butter cake, the peanut butter filling, and the chocolate topping.
This recipe created two 9-inch-layers which can either be left separate or combined into a layer cake.
To my surprise, this recipe was lacking in one thing: sugar. The filling has two ingredients, peanut butter and cream cheese. When mixed together, it is creamy and a little bit tangy but not very sweet, and I don't think I would have liked biting into it very much in the middle of my cake. So I added around 1/4 cup of sugar, perhaps a little less. I did it gradually, and you can adjust it to your tastes.

So I sandwiched the cakes together with the peanut butter and cream cheese filling, and then spread the rest of it on top.

Next came the frosting. Again, I felt it lacked a little sweetness, and added in a couple tablespoons of confectioner's sugar to get the right taste.

The chocolate glaze was also pretty...liquidy. I may have made a little bit of a mess.

I think it's smiling at me though.
In the end, I wanted a little neater look for the cake, so I filled it all in with more frosting, and did a little chocolate drizzel on the top. Perfect for every dessert, remember?
Overall the cake was pretty good, but really heavy. The cake itself was very dense - almost like the filling of a peanut butter cup - hard to eat a whole lot at a time. I also spent a while cleaning up after the glaze.

I think the idea of this cake is definitely one I'll try to perfect in the future,

Tip of the Day: Fillings and frostings will have very different consistencies at different temperatures. For most, room temperature will be ideal for spreading. Refrigerating will often make them much thicker and sometimes solid. When heated, many frostings will be pourable. Make sure yours is at the right temperature for your needs.

Recipe: (from America's Most Wanted Recipes)
Cake:
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Filling:
1 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
sugar, to taste

Glaze:
1/2 cup water
4 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat the butter and peanut butter together.
Mix in the brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well.
Add in the flour, baking powder and salt gradually, then the milk and vanilla.
Pour into two greased 9-inch pans. Bake on 350 F for 35 to 40 minutes.
Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack. Cool completely.

Mix the cream cheese and peanut butter together. Add sugar to taste.
Spread over both cakes, and sandwich together. Refrigerate.

Bring the butter and water to a boil. Add the cocoa, sugar and vanilla.
Mix until smooth. Spread over top and sides of cake.

Twenty-Five Years

Twenty-five years ago, these two got married. Yesterday, they ate cookies.
I've mentioned before how much I dislike nuts in my baked goods. But my parents, who celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary yesterday, love them. Walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews - they can't get enough.

So they really miss out when it comes to my baking, as I omit nuts from every recipe I find. So this week, I decided it was time to make something nut-filled, and after some intense googling, I created Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies.They were a pretty easy cookie - I mixed up the peanut butter and butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, flour and baking soda.
Then I stopped for a minute to clean up the sugar that fell when I dropped the bag on the floor.
I was very happy to have a vacuum at this moment.
Then came the add-ins. Walnuts. Ick. The things I do.
I used a cookie scoop to measure these out nice and evenly (which they still weren't, since I didn't really pack the scoop right each time), which was probably a little bigger than a tablespoon.
This is also the time that I found out that if I put a full cookie sheet in the middle rack of my tiny Manhattan oven, the door won't close.
Snack time!
Since I was licking the bowl after these went in the oven, I'm sure they were delicious, though I can't attest personally to that. Hmmm. I think I'm going to have to make these again without the walnuts.

Tip of the Day: If you need the same measuring cup for several ingredients, measure out the dry ingredients first, then the wet, so you don't need to wash it before using it again. When measuring something sticky like peanut butter or honey, coating the cup in cooking spray helps it slide out easier.

Recipe:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Beat the butter and peanut butter together. Mix in the sugars
Beat in the egg and the vanilla.
Add in the flour and baking soda.
Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper or foil lined baking sheets.
Bake at 350 F for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes approximately 36 cookies.

Peanut Butter Fudge Bars

All the no-bake recipes I have seem kind of similar: rice krispies, peanut butter, chocolate. So while these peanut butter fudge bars aren't all that revolutionary, they were in fact delicious. And still a little different than these.
This recipe, which came from cookiemadness.net, makes bars that have three distinct layers, but each layer still has all of the great flavors throughout.

The bottom layer, has chocolate and peanut butter and rice krispies. The trifecta, if you will.
Mix that up together over heat with some butter, and press it into the bottom of the pan.

Next up is a layer that has butter, peanut butter and icing sugar. Why icing sugar? No idea. But it works. Trust me. Spread that evenly over the bottom layer.
After that, sprinkle some more rice krispies on top - why on top instead of mixing them in? Got me again! I wouldn't question this recipe though.
After that is the final step, which involves a chocolate and peanut butter coating for the top. This one is a little more tricky to spread, since the rice krispies you just sprinkled on top really want to mix in with the chocolate. But you can do it.
After that, just pop in into the fridge for a little while to chill, and voila, you have crispy peanut butter fudge bars. What a treat.
They were really delicious, and I happen to like mine chilled, but you could eat them at room temperature as well. A few of them separated their layers a little, and lost their tops or bottoms, but most of them stuck together pretty well. I used a 9x5" loaf pan and cut them up pretty small into little bites, but because there is no baking time to adjust, you could really use whatever pan you want - you'll just have different thicknesses of the layers.
I like mine just the way they are.

Tip of the Day: Though most recipes will call for you to melt your butter, chocolate, peanut butter - you name it - in a saucepan or in a double boiler (meaning a bowl over your saucepan), if you're careful and do it in short sessions your microwave will work just fine for this.

Recipe: (from Cookie Madness)

3.5 ounces chocolate (about a heaping 1/2 cup of chocolate chips), divided
1/2 tbsp butter plus 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup peanut butter, divided
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup powdered sugar (to taste)

Line a 9×5 inch loaf pan with non-stick foil.

Melt 1 1/2 oz chocolate with 1/2 tablespoon of butter.

Stir in 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Add in 1 cup cereal.

Spread in bottom of lined pan and chill for 15 minutes.

Melt the remaining 1 stick of butter and salt together.

Stir in remaining 1/2 cup peanut butter. Stir in powdered sugar to taste.

Pour a little less than half of the peanut butter mixture over the chocolate crispy mixture. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of cereal on top, pressing it gently into mixture.

Melt remaining 2 oz chocolate. Add to remaining peanut butter mixture and carefully spread over Rice Krispies.

Chill until firm, then cut into cubes.

No-Bake Deliciousness

My friend Sarah studied abroad this past semester, and she's been bugging me the whole time to do a recipe that requires no baking, as she's limited to a toaster oven.
(Which reminds me of the year I lived with only a toaster oven and a communal microwave, but that's another post.)
So now that she's about to leave, I finally got around to making my favorite no bake recipe, that I got from my Aunt Ann a couple of years ago, and have been making ever since. But Sarah doesn't really like peanut butter anyway, so maybe she'll be less mad. Or more mad.

Anyway, these are peanut butter chocolate rice krispie bars, and they are delicious, and so, so easy. Seriously, these can be done in ten minutes, and there are only 5 ingredients, that you probably already have in your pantry.
First, you dump the peanut butter, sugar and honey together in a bowl. It should look like this.
Then, microwave it at intervals of 25 seconds, until you can mix it together easily and it looks like this. It should take about 3 bouts of microwaving.
Once it's well mixed, you're going to pour in the rice krispies - so you should start this recipe out in a big enough bowl to mix. Otherwise you'll end up like I did, with a few stray rice krispies on the counter and floor.

Quickly work the rice krispies into the peanut butter mix until they are all coated, and there is no more mixture stuck to the bottom of the bowl. When I gave this recipe to my friend Tali, she was so concerned about working quickly that she made a friend measure the rice krispies while she mixed the peanut butter and honey. I wouldn't worry that much, but I also wouldn't answer the phone while you're doing this. Only because if the mixture cools down too much, it'll make it much harder to mix.

When all the rice krispies are coated, press the mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9x13" inch pan.
Then its time to melt the chocolate, and spread it over the base. This helps them stay together when you cut them up, and of course adds chocolate! I used a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips, but you can use less or more depending on how much chocolate you want. The 12 ounces just about covers the pan well.
Spread it carefully, so that you don't disturb the rice krispies underneath. You could always stick the pan in the fridge or freezer for a little before adding the chocolate, but I certainly don't have that much patience.
Once you've spread the chocolate, stick it in the fridge or freezer to firm up. I like to leave it there, and enjoy my treats cold, but you can leave it in the fridge or at room temperature as well - it'll just be a little softer.
Cut them into squares, or rectangles, or triangles, or whatever your heart desires.

Now, you're probably wondering what those bars are sitting on in that first shot. I've shown you alot of counters and tabletops and strange places to leave your baked goods in the past couple months. In fact, so far you've seen my old table, my old table covered with a blue tablecloth, my new counter, the range on top of my new oven, the kitchen counter, dining room table and kitchen table of my family home, and even my desk at the office.
But this, well this is actually the ping-pong table in the basement of my parent's house. That, in the background? Those are my dad's weights. I feel like now I've led you on an true exploration of my life. Through baked goods. It's almost like those commercials, where the dad takes his daughter's stuffed animal on his business trip and photographs it in all the places he goes.
So, in that spirit, here are the peanut butter rice krispie bars in my freezer:
Yep, that's vegetable soup in the background. Mmmmm.

Tip of the Day: Always use a metal rack to place your cakes and cookies on after you pull them out of the oven - it can cut your cooling time in half. Don't have one? You can stick it on top of the stove in a pinch, but make sure you turn the oven off!

Recipe:
Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars (from Aunt Ann)

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
5.5 cups rice krispies
Approx 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate.

Place the peanut butter, honey and sugar in a large bowl.
Microwave together until easily mixed.
Quickly stir in the rice krispies until completely coated.
Press into the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Melt the chocolate and spread on top.
Refrigerate or freeze until firm.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Aren't they just beautiful? Cupcakes: food's miniature canvas.
Recently my friend Esti - for whom I made Peanut Butter Cookies a while back - had her birthday. What to make? Why peanut butter cupcakes of course! This recipe came from allrecipes.com, another good resource. It was pretty simple to make and they all came out nice and golden brown looking. Next of course, came the decorating. First I frosted these, using half chocolate and half vanilla, so everyone could have their preference. (Esti's is vanilla). Then of course, came those lovely fondant decorations. I had some fondant that i died the pale blue you see here, then I took some of that and added a little more blue to make the darker shade, kneading it in so it was all even and not marbleized. I cut out hearts in three different sizes, I have some fondant cutters but most cookie cutters will work as well, and arranged them in pretty patterns across the cupcakes. Voila!
I know, I know, you're going to tell me that why bother to put the fondant on when you're going to take it off before you eat anyway. Well, I think it looks pretty. Ok? I knew you'd see it my way eventually.

Tip of the Day: When frosting cupcakes without a piping bag, dollop some first in the middle and then use a flat edged knife to smooth it out in a circle motion.

Peanut Butter Bars

These were another product of my experimenting days, though its safe to say those days are far from over.In fact I hope they'll never be over. I definitely see things in cookbooks that I will never try, but I still like to keep a (somewhat) open mind and don't get too discouraged when things end up in the garbage.
Anyway on to today's recipe. These are Peanut Butter Bars, which came from the Good Housekeeping Great Baking book. (recipe at end of post)
This recipe was okay, I wish I could be more passionate about it either way, but it wasn't amazing and I didn't throw it away (the benchmarks by which all baked goods are measured).
They weren't super peanutbuttery, and they were a little dry and hard, but they still all got eaten. When I voiced my opinion to the people eating them I got alot of "no, they're good"s, but you can never believe those, right?
Anyway, as you can see in the picture, these bars were - my favorite word - drizzled in chocolate. Hmmmm. That generally ends up with chocolate on the walls, the floor, myself, sometimes even my hair. This was no exception. Because drizzling means flicking. And flicking...well you get the idea. Anyway, I think my hair stayed out of the line of fire. Seriously though, drizzling is dangerous. You've been warned.

Tip of the Day: Dress up almost any cookies and cakes with a decorative chocolate drizzle, or a simple glaze made out of powdered sugar, a liquid (milk, juice, drinks), and some vanilla or other essence.

Recipe:
Peanut Butter Bar Cookies

2 1/4 cups flolur
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup peanut butter (chunky or creamy depending on your preference)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
2 eggs

Beat butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and white sugar until fluffy.
Beat in extracts and eggs, one at a time.
Beat in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt).
Bake batter in greased 9x13 pan for 30 minutes at 350 F.
Drizzle melted chocolate over baked cake.