Peanut Butter Pie

I'm a teeny bit obsessed with peanut butter pie at the moment. It started when we grabbed some for dessert at one of our favorite restaurants a couple weeks ago. Since then I have been scouring the interwebs for recipes, below you will find my fave which is a mish mash of a couple recipes I have found and enjoyed!

For Crust:
8 ounces chocolate cookies
4 tablespoons butter, melted

For Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese (I used 1/3 fat cream cheese, because the heavy whipping cream makes me feel guilty)
1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice


First, add the cookies to the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs (I used dark chocolate Fudge Stripe cookies-yum!). Combine melted butter and cookie crumbs in a small bowl, and stir with a fork to mix well. Press mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. I decided I wanted to make 3 smaller dishes of this pie, so I distributed my crust evenly between 3 ramekins about 5 inches in diameter. I still had plenty of filling for all three!

Next, pour the heavy cream into a bowl and beat using a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form. I put my bowl in the refrigerator as I find this helps speed up the process a little bit. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Place the cream cheese and peanut butter in a deep bowl, beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar. Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Increase speed to medium and beat until all the ingredients are combined and filling is smooth.

4) Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture (helps lighten the batter, making it easier to fold in the remaining whipped cream). Fold in the remaining whipped cream. Pour the filling into the prepared pie pan. Top with a drizzle of melted chocolate on top (or if you are like me put more cookie crumbs or pieces of these cupcakes leftover from Husband's birthday on top), and refrigerate for three hours or overnight before serving.

Holiday Treat Roundup

It's no secret that I have a heck of a sweet tooth. What better excuse than the holidays to whip up bunches of sweet treats to share with everyone you know? Below you will find some of my all time favorite recipes for making up cookie plates for the holiday season!.

I replaced half the chocolate chips in these cookies with red and green M&M's for a more festive look.

If chocolate and peanut butter are your style, whip up these quick bars that my sister and I lovingly dubbed "Sugar Shock" bars, due to their super sweet richness!

You can't go wrong with these soft double ginger cookies!

We begged my mom every year to make Mounds Bars for the Christmas cookie tray. Add some colorful sprinkles for an extra fancy touch!

Almost nothing is easier than a batch of these Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles. Put them on the cookie tray or give them as gifts!


What are your favorite holiday treats?

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

I'm making a package of goodies to send to my cousins in celebration of their dog, Tottie's, new found viral internet fame. How could that package be complete without some treats for Tottie herself (and her furry siblings)? This is a quick easy recipe for some dog treats you can make for the pups in your life! There are no preservatives, and you can substitute ingredients based on your dog's dietary needs.

To make these treats at home you will need (makes 30-40 treats):

2 cups whole wheat flour*
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats*
2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup peanut butter

*If your dog is on a grain free diet, you may omit the rolled oats and substitute coconut flour, or a mixture of grain free flours. You could also add carob chips to these if you feel like spoiling your pup (dogs should never, ever eat chocolate).

Start by whisking together your dry ingredients in a bowl to evenly combine them. Next, I put my peanut butter and water together in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 1 minute (two 30 second intervals) and stir them together into a melted mixture (this makes stirring the peanut butter into the dough much easier).

Add the wet ingredients into the dry and stir together to form the dough. You may need to add a bit more water if your dough is too dry (I add an extra teaspoon at a time). Once the wet mixture is mostly incorporated, I usually start kneading the dough with my hands to bring it together. You will end up with a dough that is very dense, and resembles a bread dough more than a cookie dough.

Pinch off small pieces of the dough and roll them into balls with your hands. Place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, about one inch apart and flatten with a fork. Bake at 325 degrees F for about 15 minutes, then turn off the oven and allow to cool inside the oven (this will aid in keeping the treats from gaining moisture while they cool and you will end up with nice crispy crunchy dog treats).

These treats will keep in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 4 weeks. To elongate the shelf life, you can keep a few treats at room temp and put the rest in the freezer (in an air tight container) for up to 6 months- just allow the treats to thaw about 20 minutes before giving them to your dog.

You can change these up in lots of ways, substitute low sodium chicken broth or sugar free applesauce for the water (you could also add a thumbprint and give these to your dog with a little sugar free jam or preserves in the center for a special treat!

Package some up for the furry friends in your neighborhood for Halloween!

Fluffer Nutter Cookie Sandwich

Have you ever had a Fluffer Nutter (a peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich)? I was never really into them as a kid, but I've been on a real S'mores kick lately. S0 when I made some more of my awesome Peanut Butter Cookies for my husband the other day, I decided to slap a "roasted" marshmallow between a couple of them and it was pretty fantastic.

To make these for a crowd you will need:

My Peanut Butter cookies (recipe makes 4 dozen cookies)
1 bag of marshmallows
a campfire or microwave (for roasting or heating up your marshmallows


I popped my marshmallows in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds to get them ooey and gooey, but I really wish I had been camping. Nothing beats roasting marshmallows over a campfire. Put two cookies around your marshmallow and YUM! Fluffer nutter cookie sandwiches. You could always add chocolate for an extra S'moresey experience, I wouldn't hold that against you.

Hope you are enjoying the last days of Summer!

Friday Food Craft: Peanut Butter Cookies

Another Friday, another food craft. This week we are going back to the sweet side of things with a recipe for peanut butter cookies. I kind of mashed together a couple different recipes I had to come up with this batch, which is probably the best one I've ever made. They were a great way to brighten up a rainy day. I recommend them warm with a glass of milk :) Try them yourself and let me know what you think!



You will need:

1/2 cups butter, softened*
1/4 cup margarine, softened*
3/4 cups Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 cups Sugar
2 whole Eggs (room temperature)
1 cup Peanut Butter Creamy Or Crunchy ( like to use natural peanut butter as it has a very intense peanut flavor)
1.5 tsp vanilla flavoring
2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

*you will need an additional 1/4 cup of granulated sugar for rolling your cookies in prior to baking.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and margarine (I use both butter and margarine because I have found that butter gives a better taste, but margarine typically allows your cookies to become fluffier and not fall flat). Add the brown sugar and sugar and cream together. Beat in the peanut butter, then add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined. Mix in the vanilla extract.

In a small mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well.

Pour 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Take a heaping tablespoon of dough and form into a ball. Coat the ball in sugar by rolling it around in the bowl. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Press the tines of a fork into the balls to create the criss-cross pattern on the top and to flatten the dough a bit. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set and lightly brown around the bottom edges.

As you can see from the pictures, I also opted to add some chocolate chips to half of my cookies (the husband requested his be plain peanut butter--but I like a little something extra).

*I use both butter and margarine in this recipe as I find I enjoy the taste of butter in the cookies, but the cookies tend to rise and be a little fluffier with margarine.