Peanut Butter Candy Bar Brownies

Add this to your holiday baking. It is delicious and easy. Everyone who love peanut butter will love this. They are very rich so make sure you have a glass of milk handy. I left out the coconut because I made these for our youth group and most kids are not coconut fans.

I found this recipe at myrecipes.

Yield

28 small bars or 18 large bars

Ingredients

• 1 (16-oz.) package peanut-shaped peanut butter sandwich cookies, crushed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 5 (1.5-oz.) packages chocolate-covered peanut butter cup candies, coarsely chopped
• 2 (2.1-oz.) chocolate-covered crispy peanut buttery candy bars, coarsely chopped (we tested with Butterfinger)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup honey-roasted peanuts
• 1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Preparation

Combine crushed cookies and butter in a medium bowl. Press crumb mixture into bottom of a greased aluminum foil-lined 13" x 9" pan, allowing foil to extend over ends of pan. Bake at 350° for 6 to 8 minutes.

Combine condensed milk, peanut butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl, stirring until smooth.

Sprinkle chopped candy bars, chocolate morsels, peanuts, and coconut over crust. Drizzle condensed milk mixture over coconut.

Bake at 350° for 27 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in pan. Use foil to lift uncut brownies out of pan. Peel foil away from sides of uncut brownies, and cut into bars.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

This weekend was Bible School at our church. I signed up to make cookies. The next question was then, what kind of cookies would go over well with the kids? Of course chocolate chip was the first to come to mind, but since I didn't know what everyone else was making, I figured there would some chocolate chip cookies made by someone else. (And there was) My next favorite cookie is peanut butter so those would be it. Of course I had to figure out a way to make plain old peanut butter cookies more fun. Thanks to a bag of hershey kisses, I knew peanut butter blossoms would be it.

Here is the recipe I used, it was on the back of a bag of unwrapped hershey kisses. Boy I'm glad I didn't have to unwrap all those kisses. I made a double batch of these cookies and they were almost all eaten. The kids and the adults seemed to love them.


Peanut Butter KISSed Peanut Blossoms
Ingredients:

* 48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates filled with Peanut Butter
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Granulated sugar



Instructions:

1. Remove wrappers from peanut butter filled chocolates; place in freezer overnight.

2. Heat oven to 375°F. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape dough into 48 balls (about 1-inch each). Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 3 to 4 minutes. Press frozen peanut butter filled chocolate piece into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove cookies from sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. 48 cookies.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

I'd never had anything Vietnamese until a few years ago. We were living in San Antonio and our neighbors were Thai. I learned about and tasted a lot of wonderful homemade Thai food during those couple of years they were our neighbors. They also took us to different restaurants. One of our favorites was a Vietnamese place where we fell in love with summer rolls. I found a recipe online and decided to give it a try. They were good and they really are a great summer meal.

Since these turned out, I'm excited to try more new recipes, both Vietnamese and Thai.

I found this recipe at Chow.

INGREDIENTS

* 12 medium shrimp in their shells
* 2 ounces dried rice sticks or rice vermicelli
* 8 (8-1/4-inch) round rice paper wrappers
* 1/2 cup mung bean sprouts, rinsed
* 24 small mint leaves (from 1 small bunch)
* 16 basil or Thai basil leaves
* 8 small sprigs cilantro
* 1 Thai hot pepper, serrano pepper, or other small hot chile pepper, seeds removed and sliced into very thin matchsticks
* 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-by-1/4-by-2-inch sticks
* 2 large scallions, trimmed, halved, and sliced into 3-inch lengths
* 4 Boston lettuce leaves, cut in half
* Peanut Sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add shrimp and cook for about 1 1/2 minutes, or until they are bright orange and just cooked. Drain shrimp in a colander and run cold water over them until they are cool. Peel shrimp and halve them lengthwise down the center. Cover and refrigerate.
2. Cook the rice sticks according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
3. Clear a work surface, such as a large wooden cutting board, for rolling the summer rolls and prepare a pan that is roomy enough to hold the finished rolls in a single layer. Place all filling ingredients in separate containers, and arrange them in the following order around the board: rice paper wrappers, shrimp, rice noodles, bean sprouts, mint, basil, cilantro, hot pepper, cucumber, scallions, and lettuce.
4. Fill a wide, shallow dish, large enough to hold the rice paper wrappers, with hot water. Evenly submerge one rice paper in the water for about 30 seconds, or until it is soft and pliable. Remove from the water and place on the work surface.
5. Working quickly, lay three shrimp halves in a row, cut side up, just above the center of the wrapper. Layer a scant 1/4 cup of noodles over the shrimp, followed by a few bean sprouts, 3 mint leaves, 2 basil leaves, 1 sprig of cilantro, and 2 pieces of the hot pepper (if using). Place 3 to 4 cucumber sticks and 3 to 4 scallion pieces on either side of the noodle pile. Roll one piece of lettuce into a cigar shape, and place it on top of the noodle pile.
6. Fold the bottom half of the rice paper wrapper over the filling. Holding it firmly in place, fold the sides of the wrapper in. Then, pressing firmly down to hold the folds in place, roll the entire pile up to close the top. (Don’t despair, this takes some practice!)
7. Turn each roll so that the rice paper seam faces downward and the row of shrimp faces up. Place in the prepared container.
8. Serve summer rolls with Peanut Sauce.

Peanut Sauce:

INGREDIENTS

* 1/2 cup natural-style creamy peanut butter
* 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1 small garlic clove, mashed to a paste
* 1 teaspoon chile-garlic paste
* 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
* Juice of 1 lime
* 1/4 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Stir until well combined, adding more water to thin the sauce if necessary.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Peanut Butter Jelly. Peanut Butter Jelly. Peanut Butter Jelly. Peanut Butter Jelly Time.


Now that you hate me for putting that earworm up there, I'll tell you this entry is really about Martha Stewart's Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. See, now you can't hate me because they sound too good. Right?

They really are scrumptious. It takes the childhood favorites of PB&J and turns it into dessert. The bars are rich, so cut them small. And have a glass of milk handy.



Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen.

* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
* 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor
* 2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped


Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.
2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts.
3. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces.

No Bake Cookies

These are one of my favorite childhood cookies. They have so many different names. I've heard them called Carolina Delights (I'm a tarheel, it's to be expected we would name them for ourselves), No Bake Cookies, Boiled Cookies, etc. If you were taking them some where or serving them to guests, we called them Carolina Delights. If you were making them for a snack at home, they are boiled cookies.

I usually called them Boiled Cookies because that is how they are made. I made them for friends when we lived in New Jersey and told them they were Boiled Cookies. They had a big laugh and I could not figure out why. Keep in mind, I have a very southern accent so they thought I was saying "Bull Cookies".

I guess considering what they look like, Bull Cookies work.



You decide what you want to call them, other than delicious.

Ingredients:
2 Cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1 stick butter
1 pinch salt
3 cups oatmeal (quick cooking)

Mix sugar, cocoa, milk and butter together in a pot. Melt on medium. Heat until it comes to a full boil. Boil for 1 minute without stirring. Remove from heat. Add vanilla, salt, peanut butter and oatmeal. Stir well. Drop on wax paper. Let cool. Eat.