Peanut Butter Pie

Happy Nom Nom Monday! I wanted a dessert, and it being summer I didn't want to bake. Dessert for me usually involves either chocolate or peanut butter.  This delectable treat has both! AND, it's extra easy to make!  I love a good Peanut Butter Pie, and Baked Bree's recipe is fantastic.  Eat-the-whole-pie-at-once kind of yumminess.  

Ingredients:

crust--

- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

- 1/3 cup sugar

- 6 tablespoons of melted butter

filling--

- 2 cups heavy cream

- 1 cup peanut butter

- 4 ounces of cream cheese

- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Heat the oven to 375ºF.  I know I said no baking, but sticking a pie crust in the oven for a few minutes doesn't count, does it?  Melt your butter, and mix it with the sugar and graham cracker crumbs.  Press into a pie pan.  Stick in the oven for 7 minutes, and let cool before pouring in the filling.  

Whip the heavy cream, and set in the 'fridge.  Don't worry about cleaning out the mixer, and dump the peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar in mixing throughly.  Once doughy add the vanilla.  Then slowly add in the heaving whipping cream that we set aside in the refrigerator.  It will become similar to thick pudding when completely mixed together.  Finally hand stir in the chocolate chips, and pour mixture into the cooled pie crust.  

Sprinkle a few chocolate chips over the top, or if you have extra heavy cream, you could mix up some whipped cream.  No extra heavy cream here, so no whipped cream.  Let pie setup in the refrigerator for at least an hour, but best overnight.  

Scoop out and enjoy!  We were overly excited and tried to serve ourselves too early.  The pie didn't appear to be jiggly, but as soon as we tried to pull a piece out it started to run down the spatula.  We gently placed it back into the pie, and impatiently stuck it back in the ice box.  Then I watched the clock waiting for my slice.  

Taa-dah!  It was well worth the wait!  Hope you're having a fantastic Monday, and happy DIYing, chris!

Mini Pastel Cupcakes

Happy Nom Nom Monday!  Yesterday for Easter I made some mini pastel cupcakes.  I used dollar store yellow cake box mix.  I know making from scratch is nicer, but man, a dollar for cake mix is hard to beat.  To make the cheap cake mix more moist I used milk instead of water, but otherwise I followed the box instructions.  I'm not a fan of dry cake, and I definitely H.A.T.E. store bought icing.  I used to think I didn't like cake either, until I met Aaron's mom!!  That lady knows how to bake a cake!  :)  

For the icing I mixed up a simple buttercream recipe.  I used 1 cup unsalted soft butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons whole milk, and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extra, and a pinch of salt.  Begin by lightly beating the butter, then slowly add in the confectioner's sugar.  Then mix in the milk, vanilla, and salt.  Once fully mixed, you should have about 3 cups of icing.  I wanted to make four colors, so I separated the icing into four 3/4 cup batches.  

For the mint colored icing I used just one drop of blue, and one drop of green liquid food coloring.  I used a metal spatula to apply the icing to the mini cupcakes.  For these guys, after I had fully covered the cupcake I would pat the icing with the spatula, to create these fun spikes all over.  

For the orange I used one drop of red, and two drops of yellow.  For this color I left the icing smooth.  

For the blue icing I used two drops of blue dye, and again I went for the spiky look.  

To mix the pink up I used two drops of red.

I am so please with how lovely all the colors turned out.  This recipe makes plenty of icing for one box of cake mix.  I made 44 mini cupcakes, and there was more than plenty of icing.  So don't be stingy with the icing, and spread it on thick!  Oh, and don't mind the cupcake wrappers, they were the only mini ones we had in the house.  They're Halloween themed, my favorite holiday!  :)

Happy DIYing, chris

Strawberry Cream Muffins

Last week we celebrated my brother getting engaged!  We had dinner at our house, and I made Strawberry and Cream Muffins.  Not sure how I found this on the internet, probably pinterest.  They didn't turn out as pretty as Jane's Sweets.  Her food photos are definitely drool worthy.  Even though they weren't all that pretty, they tasted fantastic.  I'll try this again, and maybe next time they'll come out prettier!  

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

*for the muffin mix (will make about 12 - 14 regular sized muffins)

-  1 cup of whole milk (we didn't have any so I used 2/3 cup of 2% milk and 1/3 cup of half-and-half)

- 1/2 cup unsalted soft butter

- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract

- 2 large eggs

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 3/4 Cup granulated sugar

- 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1 cup strawberries (the redder the better!) diced into tiny pieces

*for the cream cheese layer

- 4 ounces of cream cheese softened

- 1 1/2 tablespoon of an egg that has been lightly beaten

- 1/3 cup granulated sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Begin by heating your oven up to 400º F.  Line your muffin pan with paper liners.  Clean and cut up your fresh strawberries;  set them aside.  

Now mix together the ingredients for the cream cheese layer in a small bowl.  Don't worry if it's a little lumpy, set aside but do not refrigerate.  

Next mix together the muffin batter.  Start with a saucepan on low heat and melt the butter down.  Then add the vanilla and almond extracts, and the milk.  Stir until throughly mixed together.  Remove from heat and let cool, then stir in the eggs.  In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Then make a well in the center of the dry mixture, and pour the ingredients from the saucepan in.  Mix together, but be sure not to over mix.  Again it's okay to have some lumps.  

This is the tricky part.  I always have a hard time with portion, and I think that's why my muffin's aren't as photogenic.  Fill the muffin cups ONLY half way with the muffin batter.  It's better to be a little under halfway then over!  Then drop in a few strawberries.  Now add a tablespoon and a half of the cream cheese mixture.  Top off with the remaining muffin batter and a few more strawberries, but be sure not to overfill!  

Generously sprinkle sugar over the tops just before you stick them in the oven. 

Cook for 15 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned on the tops, a toothpick through the middle should come out (mostly) clean.  I think I could have left my muffins in for slightly longer, but they were still very tasty.  We ate them straight out of the oven, and the muffins stuck to the paper a bit.  I think some people ate their's with a fork.  

There were a couple left over, and I ate one the next day.  I think it may tasted even better the next day!  Plus, the muffin was no longer sticking to the paper.  

These would be a great thing to make on the weekends, and to take to work for a quick morning breakfast.  Plus your left with a bunch of fresh strawberries, because this recipe barely uses half a pint of strawberries.  I'll have a great suggestion for your left over strawberries in tomorrow's post!