Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

Ok, So I shouldn't even be posting these right now, cuz I can't even eat them right now!  But my cord that transfers my pics from my camera to my computer is broken so I can't post any of my new recipes that are super yummy and healthy!  I actually made these months ago and just haven't posted them yet.  But now that fall is coming on strong right now, these cookies are perfect to post, and perfect to eat!  Peanut Butter, need I say more?  A peanut Butter cookie with  chocolate chips AND Reese's Pieces all in one..... Heaven!  I seriously died over these!  So please enjoy them for me while I am once again in a Diet Challenge trying to get my self back in check like I do just about quarterly!  

And to be honest, I usually play with recipes and make them healthier by using whole wheat flour, and coconut oil, and all that good stuff.  But these, I just left alone, and ate them with no guilt, just cuz....

YIELD: about 26-28 medium-small cookies
PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOK TIME: 8 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 18 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

1 large egg
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use homemade or natural peanut butter; use Jif, Skippy, or similar)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup Reese's Pieces
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Cream together the first 5 ingredients (through vanilla) on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
2.  Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, baking soda, optional salt, and mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute; don't overmix.
3.  Add the Reese's Pieces, chocolate chips, and blend until just incorporated.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
4.  Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Spoon 2 Tblsp mounds onto baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not bake longer than 10 minutes because cookies will firm up as they cool. They have slightly chewy edges with soft, pillowy centers). Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
5.  Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dream Bars

Oh Me.  Oh My.  There. Is. No. Words.  I think I finally found the mother of all peanut butter desserts.  No Lie.  This will be my new go to recipe for anyone requesting a dessert!  Of course I found this floating around Pinterest hiding away in my Dessert Board drooling over it for months.  But I try not to make desserts too often, because I'm the one sitting at home trying to hide them from myself all day.  But my friend was having a charity bake sale, so heck it was worth every calorie!  I have something similar posted in my Dessert section called PATCH BROWNIES,  that are super good.  But when you combine Sweetened condensed milk and chocolate, that's a lot of SWEET, which the Patch brownies do!  But these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dream Bars combine Sweetened Condensed milk and Peanut Butter, oh wow!  That was the ticket.  Then it's crumbled with Reeses Peanut Butter cups & Chocolate Chips.  I highly recommend buying the King size Peanut Butter cup package, or the holiday Peanut Butter Cups such as the reeses eggs that are out right now, because there is a much higher peanut butter to chocolate ratio that makes it that much more better!  Did that sentence make sense?  Any who....

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dream Bars:

1 Cup Melted Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 1/4 Cup Quick Cooking Oatmeal
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 King Size Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Candy Bar
1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Line a 9×13 pan with tin foil and spray lighlty with PAM.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together melted butter, sugar, soda, oatmeal, flour & salt until it’s crumbly.

Set aside about 1 cup or a little more.

Press the rest of the crust into prepared pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes. 

While crust is cooking, in a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk.

Once crust has baked, evenly pour and spread peanut butter filling over the baked crust. Be gentle so you don’t pull up the warm crust while you spread the filling. 

Evenly sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top of the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk mixture. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle the chopped candy bars and chocolate chips evenly over the top. Return to oven to bake for another 5-10 minutes or until topping is light golden brown and candy bars/chips are melting.

Allow to cool to make cutting and serving easier. 

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake Brownies

 Can you say YUM??  Ok, we all know I have a peanut butter obsession, but I can honestly say even if you don't, you will LOVE these!!  Just look at how ooey gooey these things are!  And it doesn't have that dry, stick to the top of your mouth peanut butter, it is a really smooth and  melt in your mouth texture!  A must try!  I brought these to a ward party and then to a BBQ and had many people asking for the recipe,  so here goes.  And the sad thing is, I've had this recipe hanging out on my email that my sister sent me months ago to try and it took me this long to get to them!!  There is also another recipe floating around pinterest, but after looking at the ingredients of them both, this one  won my heart!!

Cake:
1/4 Cup creamy peanut butter
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Brown sugar
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 Cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
3/4 Cup butter
6 TBLSP buttermilk
1/2 Cup peanut butter
3 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
1 TBLSP vanilla

Preheat Oven to 375*,  In a medium pot add the Peanut butter, water and butter and bring to a boil..  Remove from heat.  In a seperate mixing bowl, mix the sugars, flour, salt and baking soda.  Add the peanut butter mixture to it and mix well.  Add in the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and mix well.
Pour into a gread cookie sheet pan with an edge.  Bake for 15 minutes.

For the Frosting:  in a small pot bring the butter, buttermilk and peanut butter to a boil.  Remove from heat and add the powdered sugar and vanilla.  Whip it really good and fast to make it creamy rather than runny..  Let the cake rest for about 15 minutes, then pour the frosting over the warm cake and spread.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Biscoff Cookies

Well I didn't think I would post another pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookie recipe on here again because I already have 2 recipes I love!  BUT. I. LOVE. THESE. COOKIES.  The combination of the pumpkin and the Biscoff is sooo smooth and creamy!  They are probably the most moist pumpkin cookies ever!!!  I've had Biscoff spread sitting in my cupboard for probably 6 months not knowing what to do it with it, so when I  stumbled across this recipe on pinterest, I knew I had to try it!

1/2 Cup unsalted butter - room temperature
1/2 Cup Biscoff spread
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 Cup Libby's Pumpkin Puree (not the pumpkin pie mix)
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 Cups - Flour ( I did 1 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Cups Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat your oven to 350*.  Lightly spray your cookie sheet with Pam.  Cream your butter, Biscoff spread and sugars in a mixing bowl.  Add in your egg, & vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.  Add in your pumpkin and mix well, then scrape down sides.  Add in your spices, soda and salt.  Then last, slowly add your flour until just mixed ( you don't want to over mix the flour in)  Then add in your chocolate chips.  Drop by spoonfuls on your cookie sheet and cook for 10-12 min or until set up.  Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack!
Enjoy!!!

Fruit Pizza

So you gotta love Fruit Pizza.  Everyone days.  And there is sooo many different ways to make it.  And this is my favorite way!  Just don't mess up like I did on this last one.  I used too much cookie dough, and too small of a cookie sheet and came up with a tall cakey type texture for my crust.  No, no, no.  Not what I like.  So do what I say, and not what I did!  Some people like to use 2 Pillsbury sugar cookie dough tubes.  But I like to use homemade cookie dough!  Yum!!!

Just a tip:  First Frost the crust...

Then, cut the crust into your squares...

Then add your toppings so that it comes out nice and even for you OCD folk out there.  (me included)

I also saw this image on Pinterest that I thought was an awesome idea!!!  Sooooo, I'm going to try this next time!!

 I recipe Sugar Cookie Dough
Or:
2 rolls pillsbury sugar cookie dough.

Spread it evenly over a large cookie sheet.  Bake in the oven at 350* for 14-16 min.  You seriously don't even want it to brown on the top.  So if you think it's not done, it probably is.  Otherwise you will get the cakey crust instead of the soft chewy crust.  Once it's cooled add the following frosting:

Frosting:
1 tub light cool whip
1 tub WHIPPED cream cheese
2/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Start with blending the cream cheese until it's light and fluffy.  Then add in your Powdered sugar, vanilla and lemon juice.  Blend some more.  Last fold in your cool whip and blend with blender until just mixed.  Spread evenly over your crust then cut into large squares.  If you cut them too small you can't fit all the wonderful fruit choices on top.  My favorite that gives it a fun color variety is:
Strawberries
Kiwi
banana
black berries
rasberries

White Cake Cupcakes & Sugar Cone Trees

So I REALLY never should have learned how to make cupcakes other than out of the box. Because I did NOT like cupcakes out of a box. But now when I get all fancy and add stuff to the box, I literally crave them, just like when I posted these Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes. They just make them soooooooo moist and rich and thick like you were buying them from one of those fancy places like Temptations!!! Anyways, my Uncle Rick got married last night and my mom and I were in charge of the cupcakes. My Uncle is a simple man, who got married in a nice humble cabin and his wedding wasn't all about the ribbon and fancy stuff. So these Pine trees worked perfect for him. All it is, is the Sugar Cone Ice cream Cones, and you make homemade frosting like this one. (Store bought frosting doesn't harden up like homemade, and you need these to harden.) And you get a star shaped frosting tip and start at the bottom and work your way up, round and round! And yes, your hand gets tired!!! But super fun Idea!!!
You can give your cupcakes a big swirl, or...
A pretty ribbon effect...
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/05/easy-white-cake/

Peppermint Bark

This my friends, is soooooo delicious. And once again, very easy! Are you seeing a pattern with me? I strive for easiness when it comes to cooking/baking because I love to cook but I don't have tons of time! This is a fun treat to give away in a Christmas Basket to a neighbor or friend. Or I gave it to the gals I visit teach this year! Yum! If you don't have a double broiler then just take a look at my make-shift double broiler, and it works perfectly! Just put an 8x8 glass pan over a pot of boiling water and your set!

12 oz white chocolate Bakers squares (You can use chips if in a crunch)

12 oz semi sweet chocolate Bakers squares

2 tsp vegetable oil (or flavorless oil) - divided

1/4 tsp peppermint extract (it will still taste good without it, but better with)

4 Crushed Candy canes (a guess)

Start with putting your brown chocolate in the "double broiler", with 1 tsp of oil and let it slowly melt, stirring occasionally. Once completely melted pour into a lined with parchment paper 9x13 cake pan, and stick in the freezer for 10 min or until hardened. Repeat with the white chocolate and 1 tsp of oil after you have given the brown chocolate enough time to harden. But after the white chocolate is completely melted take off of the heat and let it cool down to about room temperature. Then stir in your peppermint extract and about 1/3 of your candy canes. Pour over your brown chocolate then sprinkle the rest of your candy canes and lightly press down on them so that they get stuck in the white chocolate. Put in the freezer again and let harden, then take out and break apart! I like to keep mine in the refrigerator when I don't have them out for display!

Banana Cream Pie

For Thanksgiving this year I was in charge of a Banana Cream Pie and Rolls. I put myself in charge of the Banana Cream Pie because I had a FABULOUS recipe I made from scratch that was to die for. Then when it came time to make it, I couldn't find the recipe anywhere!!!! (Hence, the whole reason why I am making this blog!!) So I hurried and stalked my favorite food blogs and came across this one. It wasn't from scratch, but had rave reviews about how good it was and how easy it was. So I made it, and LOVED it! So I guess I now have a new favorite Banana Cream Pie!http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/03/banana-cream-pie/

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins -Weight Watchers

So I know this recipe is floating out there for cookies and they are good, but I personally think they are way better presented as a muffin! They just have a more "cakier" texture than cookies, so when I try to eat them as a cookie I get slightly dissapointed. But when I eat them as a muffin, I am drooling over them, weird? Yes, Weird. Anyways, these bad boys score a 1 point on the weight watchers scale if you don't have any chocolate chips in them. I put in mini chocolate chips so I would figure they only score a 1.25. They are awesome, and you don't feel guilty eating them! Let me tell you I've been stressing about which pumpkin chocolate chip COOKIES to blog about, and I just can't decide, so you are going to get both versions that are both to die for. And one of them is a whole wheat flour recipe and you can't even tell! So enjoy my pumpkin recipes this week!!!

2 Spice Cake Mixes (Duncan Hines preferably)
30 oz can Pumpkin Puree

1 12 oz bag mini chocolate chips

That's it my friends, 3 ingredients. I have halfed this recipe and it turned out great! Preheat your oven to 350*. Mix the cake mix and pumpkin really well, then fold in the chocoalte chips (using mini's keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin). These muffins don't rise much, so fill the muffin tins almost to the top, and put in the oven for 22-25 min. As you can see above I also did a pan of mini muffins that my kids just gobbled up and you cook them for about 11-13 min. Just watch them and when your toothpick comes out clean you want to take them out.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Spice Cake / Cupcakes

So Sunday was my boy Cords birthday and he turned 7! Wow! I can't believe it. Anyways, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, a cake or cupcakes and he said Icecream Sandwiches! So I let him have that, and I chose pumpkin Chocolate Chip Spice Cake to serve to the adults, and I'm sooo glad I did! This recipe is sooooooo moist, and soooooo good! I obviously ate way more than I should have, but splurged anyways. I figure I can eat what ever I want on everyones birthday, not just my own!! And by the way, I used a can of Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting instead of making my own and it turned out Fabulous!

Here is the link:

http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2010/10/pumpkin-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting.html

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Can this picture get any cheesier? But I guess I looked exactly the way I felt when I ate these yummy cupcakes. Can I just say, I don't like cupcakes? I don't. When ever I'm at a party and cupcakes are offered, I skip them and go straight to the icecream. But when I saw these bad boys posted on Our Best Bites, I knew without a doubt that I wanted these for my birthday! And so I made myself cupcakes, on MY birthday! Is that lame? O well, These are to DIE for! I'm not kidding! When I eat these I want to eat 2 at a time, not just one! And I don't like cupcakes! They are sooo moist, because they are a cake mix plus sour cream and peanut butter! Somebody please make these and tell me they are as good as I think they are!!!!!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cup-cupcakes-2/

Patch Brownies

These babies come from my SIL Jodi, and they are divine! They are soooo rich and sooo addicting. Just add this to the list of naughty foods you enjoy, because you will love them!!! Start with the sauce so it can slowly heat up while you are making the dough.
Sauce:

12 oz chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet this time and they turned out yummy)

1 can sweet & condensed milk

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tblsp. buter

Add everything to a medium sauce pan on low heat. Stir Often. When completely melted add your vanilla.

2 tsp. vanilla

Dough:
Cream:

1 Cup softenend butter

2 Cups Brown Sugar

Add in 2 beaten eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Combine:

2 1/2 Cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 cup quick oatmeal

Combine the dry ingredients and add to the wet mixture. Spread 2/3 of the mixture onto a greased 9x13 cake pan and save the remaining 1/3. Pour the chocolate sauce over the mixture then with the remaining 1/3 mixture you will take peices and flatten them with your hand and place them over the chocolate sauce in Patches.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes

No-Bake Cookies

Cookies twice in a row?? I know, crazy! But guess what, they have Peanut Butter in them so I know you will just love them, like I do! This recipe goes way back to when my Mom made them for me! I absolutely LOVE them! And I have a few freinds and family tell me from time to time that they crave these babies! Sooooo good! I just don't love the no-bake cookies without peanut butter, the consistency is off, and definitley the flavor is off! So please, Enjoy!

4 Cups Sugar

1/4 Cup butter
1/4 Cup cocoa
1 Cup Milk

Bring these first four ingredients to a boil for 1 full minute in a medium to large sauce pan (Seriously my last batch overflowed during the boil and got all over my stove top, so maybe go large). After the boil, take pan off the heat and add the following ingredients in this order:

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 Cup Peanut Butter (mix in until smooth
4 Cups Oatmeal - Regular not quick

Stir and let cool until it's thick enough (but still warm) to drop spoonfuls onto wax paper. I like to refrigerate mine (they keep longer) but some people like them room temp.

Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe that you just keep coming back to? Well, this is mine. I'm sooo into trying new recipes these days, but Chris just always says he really just wants me to make these ones because they never fail, and they are THAT good! My roommate in college always made these and her Dad worked at Hershey's and I'm pretty sure that's where she got her recipe from. The only thing I tweaked and you WONT be surprised is that instead of using plain old milk chocolate chips, I use the mix bag of milk chocolate and PEANUT BUTTER chips! And Chris says I can't mess with that because that's what makes these cookies a little bit more unique than plain old chocolate chip cookies.
Ingredients:
Makes approx: 3 dozen cookies

2 sticks butter, softened
1 Cup Brown sugar
3/4 Cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs -beaten
3 1/4 Cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Cups Milk Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chips

Preheat oven to 370 and in a large bowl combine your butter, sugars & vanilla with a wooden spoon, and in your eggs and stir until well combined. In a separate bowl add all your dry ingredients and slowly add to your wet ingredients and stirring with your wooden spoon. Add your chips and mix in.  At this point, if you have time, chill your dough for an hour and it will totally be worth it, not absolutely necessary though.   Take a large spoon and drop (don't roll your dough) onto your un-greased cookie sheet and bake 9-10 min until the peaks of your cookies slightly brown. Cool and enjoy!

Sugar Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I had a few requests to post this recipe, here you go! Your probably thinking this blog is a total health nut recipe blog, but part of it has to do with me being on a diet challenge right now, and the other half is that my son Bridger is on a Sugar Free, Yeast Free, White flour free diet. So I have to be careful of what I make right now! But these cookies are really soft, almost like a really moist chocolate chip bread recipe which really makes Bridger love them because he loves bread and can't have it right now! Enjoy guilt free.... The only thing I did differently from this recipe was use 2 whole eggs instead of 3 egg whites, and I didn't add raisins. I used sugar free chocolate chips. Oh and that natural sugar listed you could use any kind of Natural Sweetner (I used xylo Sweet which is gluten free) But This isn't gluten free because it has oats in it, but you could replace the oats with another gluten free flour like Almond flour, or buckwheat, etc, to thicken the consistency. Next time I make them I will try it that way and see how they turn out. But good news, nutrition info is posted on this link!
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1583246

Peanut Butter Strawberry Bars

So this is actually a recipe I've been using for a couple years now. I found it in Better Homes & Gardens Magazine, and guess what it has in it, PEANUT BUTTER! Oh it just got better. And if you can't tell, I'm not a photographer, so not the prettiest picture in the bunch! But such a great recipe for July, just add blueberries and walah, Red, white & BLUE. The recipe is down below since it's not from another blog! 3/4 Cup butter softened
3/4 Cup Peanut Butter ( I use 1 cup & it's much more moist & peanut buttery!)
1 Cup Packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 Cup strawberry jam (optional)
small tub cool whip (optional)
4 Cups Strawberrie, quartered

Heat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 pan with foil. Beat the butter & Peanut Butter for 30 sec. Beat in
both sugars, b. powder & salt until combined. Add in eggs & vanilla until creamy. Stir in the flour. Spread dough in pan and bake 25 min or until top is slightly browned. Cool Completely. Spread jam over the top then add coolwhip, then top with berries. Yummy!