Peanut Butter Cups

I found this recipe at Taste of Home and I'm glad I did!

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
• 4-1/2 teaspoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 milk chocolate candy bars (1.55 ounces each), coarsely chopped
• Colored sprinkles, optional

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup peanut butter, butter, confectioners' sugar and salt until smooth; set aside.
• In a microwave, melt the chocolate chips, candy bars and remaining peanut butter; stir until smooth.
• Drop teaspoonfuls of chocolate mixture into paper-lined miniature muffin cups. Top each with a scant teaspoonful of peanut butter mixture; top with another teaspoonful of chocolate mixture. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Refrigerate until set. Store in an airtight container.
  Yield: 3 dozen.

***Hubby and I made these together on Valentine's Day! Super easy, fun, and definitely delicious!***

Peanut Butter "Cheese" Ball

I found this amazing recipe HERE! (Slightly adapted to fit what we had at home)

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (not all-natural)
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup crushed toffee
Graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, and/or apple slices for dipping

Directions:
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until blended.

Spoon onto a large piece of plastic wrap; bring up all four corners and twist tightly forming into a ball shape.

Freeze for about 1 hour or until firm enough to keep its shape. Place toffee and chocolate chips in flat dish. Remove plastic wrap from ball and roll ball into morsels to completely cover, pressing morsels into the ball if necessary.

Place ball on serving dish; cover and freeze for 2 hours or until you can't stand it anymore and HAVE to eat it NOW!

Serve with graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, or apple slices for dipping or spreading.

***Super yummy snack. We ate this with apples to make it a little more healthy...and really, it isn't the worst thing you could eat anyway :-) Will definitely be making this for parties in the future!***

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Slightly adapted from HERE!

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe medium bananas
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour(I used GF)
  
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 10 tbsp peanut butter (divided into 8 tablespoons and 2 tablespoons)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°. Line a muffin tin with 12 liners.
Mash bananas in a bowl, set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.
In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
Add egg whites, bananas, apple sauce, vanilla, and 8 tablespoons peanut butter, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Add flour mixture, then blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix.

Pour batter into muffin tin halfway, then add 1/2 teaspoon of the remaining peanut butter into each muffin well.
Top off each muffin with remaining batter, and bake on the center rack for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

***Super yummy!!! "Healthy" snack...Hubs LOVED them!!!***

Peanut Butter Chicken

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken, cut in chunks *

1/2 cup natural peanut butter (creamy or chunky, your choice)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 lime, juiced

1/4 cup soy sauce (use gluten free--La Choy or Tamari wheat-free)

1/2 cup chicken broth

* If you are going to use quarters, or meat with bones, be aware that the meat will probably fall off the bone, and you'll need to fish out the bone pieces before serving. I've used this sauce with a whole chicken (I doubled the sauce ingredients for a 4.5-pound bird) and it was fantastic, but the bones were a bit of an issue.

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the chicken into the bottom of your pot and add the peanut butter. Toss in the vegetables and cumin. Squeeze in lime, and add soy sauce and chicken broth. Stir as well as you can to combine (the peanut butter will be clumpy, and that's just fine). Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for about 4 hours. Serve over rice or quinoa.

Found HERE!

***Good. Didn't taste too much like Peanut Butter! I think I will add more next time! And maybe a little less cumin. I also used slightly frozen chicken breast and just cut them in half, which helped the chicken stay moist.***

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Cupcake:

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 4 large Peanut Butter Cups, cut into small pieces (I used 16 mini)
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin cups with paper cupcake liners. In large bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla and then add the dry ingredients, alternating with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Gently fold in the peanut butter cup pieces. Spoon batter into cupcake liners, a little over 3/4 full. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool about 5 minutes; remove from pan and let cool completely. Then add the frosting:

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I used 2 1/2 cups)
• If you want a creamier frosting, add 2-3 Tbsp. milk to get the consistency you want. (I did)
• Mini Peanut Butter Cups, for garnish

Cream butter and peanut butter until well blended, then gradually add in the powdered sugar and blend well. (If creamier consistency is desired, add in some milk.)

Place a scoop of frosting on each cupcake–the scoop can be however large or small you want; you will have plenty of frosting to work with. Place a mini Peanut Butter Cup in the center of each scoop and press down slightly. Yum!

Found HERE!

***Today is hubby's birthday! He really enjoyed these, as did his family! We only had crunchy PB, hence the specks in the frosting. Definitely need to get some creamy, although they were still great! Mine cooked about 16 minutes and made 15 cupcakes. Plenty of leftover frosting!***

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup organic unsalted peanut butter

3/4 cup granulated cane sugar

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped

fine grain fleur de sel to finish cookies

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line the bottoms of two 12-by-18-inch sheet pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir the peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda and kosher salt until combined.

Stir in the chocolate and peanuts.

Using a small, greased ice cream scoop, measure out the dough in teaspoon sized balls.

Place the dough on the prepared pans, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Bake on the middle shelves of the oven, rotating the pans 180 degrees halfway through the baking time, until lightly golden and spread to a puffy mound, about 12 to 14 minutes.

Sprinkle lightly with fleur de sel.

Let cool completely on the pans on wire racks.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to week.

Found HERE!

***I cooked these for about 10 minutes and it was plenty...although I do like my cookies a little on the soft side! I used chocolate chips...I definitely recommend getting some good dark chocolate! And I used chunky peanut butter, so I left out the chopped peanuts. Yummy! Great flourless recipe!!!***

Triple Chocolate Scotcheroos

1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup Nutella
6 cups crisp chocolate-flavored rice cereal
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch-flavored chips
sea salt (optional)

1. Butter or spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
2. In a large saucepan (at least 6 quarts) over medium heat, bring the sugar and corn syrup to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and Nutella, then mix the rice cereal in until completely coated. Press the mixture into the greased pan, making sure the top is smooth.
3. Melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips together in a clean, dry bowl set over a double boiler or microwave, stirring gently until smooth and well-blended. Spread over the rice cereal mixture and cool until set. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.

Found HERE!

***I lined my dish with parchment, to avoid spraying the pan. I also only had plain crispy rice cereal, so sadly mine were only DOUBLE chocolate scotcheroos. Even so, they were AMAZING!!!***

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

Mix in pan and bring to a boil:
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter

Sift the following and add to the above mixture:
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cup flour (I have done GF and regular)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda

Mix and add to the above mixture:
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

Stir well and pour into greased or parchment lined cookie sheet pan (jellyroll pan). Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Frosting
Mix in pan and bring to a boil:
3/4 cup butter
6 Tbsp buttermilk
1/2 cup peanut butter
(I recommend melting PB and butter first, then adding buttermilk)
Take off stove and add:
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Pour over warm cake.

ummm...HEAVEN!!! Makes great cupcakes too!

This is a great site for more recipes: http://thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com/