Peanut butter cookies for work friends

I promised a coworker something with peanut butter and chocolate.  I think this will work...

Peanut Butter Hershey Kiss Cookies with Sea Salt
Recipe adapted from Knead To Cook

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter at room temp
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter 
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup of light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• About 20 or so Hershey Kisses
• Sea Salt for sprinkling on top

Method:  

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix flours, b soda, b powder, and salt in small bowl.  In bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy.  Mix in egg and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture.  Make walnut-sized balls out of the batter and place on cookie sheet.  Press one hershey kiss face-down into each cookie and then sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake for 14 minutes or until they are as golden as you like them.  I like them pretty golden around the edges.  

Baking with Maxine

Oh my lord these cookies are good. I haven't made peanut butter cookies for a long time but Maxine really wanted to try them out. The whole wheat flour really makes this recipe. The flavor is so intense and rich.  We subbed more butter for the yogurt because I didn't have any yogurt left in the fridge, and again I used egg yolks instead of whole eggs. The batter was a little crumbly but once we got them baked and cooled they held together nicely.

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe adapted from Cait's Plate

Ingredients:

• 9 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup natural peanut butter
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix flour, b soda, and salt in small bowl, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer cream butter and sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix.
Add peanut butter and mix.
Add bowl of flour etc. to mixer and combine.
Make 2 tbsp sized balls, squish them flat with your hand or the bottom of a drinking glass and then make hatch-marks with a fork.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies are set.
Let them cool completely before handling too much, they are very crumbly before they cool, but they will set up nicely.

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins with Raspberry Jam

It's peanut buller jelly time!! So my friend's boyfriend takes peanut butter and jelly to work every day for lunch (yeah I know) and that was my inspiration for this muffin. If Joe was going to eat a muffin this would be it. I'm thinking about peanut butter jelly cupcakes for his birthday.

This recipe comes from lovefoodeat. It's pretty healthy. I didn't add any sugar because I put in extra banana and I backed off on the peanut butter a bit. It's all whole wheat flour and it's actually vegan because of the flax meal instead of eggs.

I experimented with a new baking technique on this recipe. I am now preheating the oven to 425 and baking the muffins for a few minutes to get a nice crust and a puffy muffin, then I turn it down to 400 or so and bake them the rest of the way. So far good results!! Really nice crusty top. Which I loooooove. This might be my new thing.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp ground flax seed + 4 tbsp water
3 mashed bananas
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 cup water

jelly of your choosing- I used raspberry

flax seeds (for sprinkling on top)

Method:

Preheat oven to 425
Mix flaxseed powder and water, keep it aside. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well (1st paragraph). In a separate bowl, mash bananas and add all other wet ingredients (2nd paragraph) and mix well. Pour the dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix till everything is combined. Do not over mix. Grease your 12 cup muffin tin and pour about 2 tbsp of batter into each cup. Then spoon in 1 tsp of jelly into each cup. Then with your remaining batter cover the jelly taking care to spread the batter evenly between each cup- don't run out. If you want bigger puffier muffins only use 9 cups. Sprinkle some whole flax seeds on top for looks. Bake the muffins for 3 minutes at 425 and then turn the temp town to 400 and bake for another 12 minutes or until they bounce back to the touch. Let them cool and enjoy!!

Coconut Banana Oatmeal Bars

I was feeling adventurous today... I took a simple bar recipe and made it into a delicious combination of natural sweetness with a butterscotch surprise.

So if you leave out the peanut butter and the butterscotch chips this recipe is crazy healthy- no added sugar, no gluten, no animal products. It's vegan, gluten-free, and sugar conscious. You can definitely add nuts, chocolate chips, any kind of seed or other fruit you want, a tbsp of molasses would make it darker and richer, I think the possibilities are endless. Next time I want to try baking it in a smaller pan so they come out thicker, because they don't rise they stay short and dense. It might be nice to have them thicker and crustier on the outside with a soft inside. Some sort of crusty top might be nice too, like coconut or oats on the top that will get toasted and brown. Hmmm...

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

2 large, ripe bananas
2 apples, peeled and grated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peanut butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 350
Line a 9x9 pan with tin foil and brush foil lightly with canola oil
In one bowl combine all dry ingredients- 1st paragraph
In another bowl combine all wet ingredients- 2nd paragraph
Combine wet and dry and pour into pan
With a fork press the mixture flat into the pan
Bake for about 35 mins or until the bars are brown and toasted on the edges
Let sit for a few minutes- they do taste really good warm so you can eat them right away
Keep in tupperware in fridge because of the fruit

Nora's Oatmeal

Nora is making her signature oatmeal:

1/2 C Regular cut oats
1/4 C Water
1/2 C Skim Milk
1 Tbsp Flax seed meal
1 Tbsp Peanut butter
1/2 Apple- cubed
Handful Raisins
1 Tsp Brown sugar
Dash Cinnamon

Note: Nora likes her oatmeal extra mushy so you can back off on the liquid if you like it more solid. We were thinking you could add a handful of chocolate chips and some nuts if you are feeling particularly sinful. All you have to do is heat the water, milk, oats, and flax seed until almost done then stir in the other ingredients. Stir your mixture or it will stick to the bottom and you'll be pissed off.

Nora and Phil decided- last night as we were hanging out with Maya and cousin Arthur- that peanut butter and banana oatmeal is the best thing ever. Unfortunately my bananas are black for baking and this creeped Nora out. So we tried the apples instead and it's a bangin substitute- although no match for the bananas.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are super easy and come out looking beautiful. They are quite rich because of the peanut butter but they answer the call if you are looking for a satisfying treat. The original recipe can be found at Katherine Martinelli.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8-9 ounces dark chocolate chips

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a nonstick baking sheet.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium-sized bowl.
Put the butter and sugars in a separate large bowl and beat until smooth and light in color (can be done by hand or with a stand mixer).
Add the peanut butter and mix to combine.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix to combine. Stir in the vanilla.
Slowly add the flour mixture in thirds until fully incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Using a spoon, scoop cookie dough into small balls and put on the prepared sheet (formed cookie dough can be frozen at this point – line a baking sheet with parchment, line up the cookie dough balls, and freeze until set. Then transfer to freezer bags. To enjoy simply transfer directly to preheated oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes).
Transfer cookies to the oven and bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until set but still soft.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving.

Photo Credit: Katherine Martinelli

Peanut Butter Crumble Topped Brownies

I made these the other day for my Bachelor-finale girls night. The original recipe can be found here at A Cook's Quest.

Basically you make the brownies and pour into the pan and then you make the peanut butter crumble and sprinkle on top, then you bake for 25 minutes to start and then just add 5 minutes and keep testing by touching the top to see if it springs back and then inserting your knife until it comes out clean, don't over-bake, it's better to have them underdone than over.

Here is the brownie recipe- however you need to cut this recipe in half in order to use a 9x9 pan, if you want to make the 9x13 size recipe you need to double the peanut butter topping portion of the recipe:

*Makes one 9X13-inch pan or CUT THE RECIPE IN HALF and bake in a 9X9 pan

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa
½ teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, stirring well to combine. Whisk in the vanilla and then the eggs. Blend well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour into the prepared pan, set aside and make the peanut butter topping.

Peanut butter topping:

Combine the following ingrediets until crumbly:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/8 tsp. salt until blended and crumbly.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the brownie and bake at 350 for about 25 mins to start, then test it and give it another 5 mins until done. Wait until they are cool to remove from pan, then cut into little squares and enjoy with your friends while watching trash like The Bachelor.

Photo Credit: A Cook's Quest