Friday Favorites: Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

You know how you get invited to things and you know you should bring something?

Or, you get invited and you are asked to bring something?
Confession time: 9 times out of 10 I ran by the grocery store on my way over...or....I showed up empty handed.

Gasp. Horrors.

The issue was that I would rack my brain trying to think of something extra fabulous to make and then run out of time or energy, or I didn't know what other food would be there, so I didn't want to make something that didn't "go".

Until now.

Just a note: if you know me in real life and invite me over, know that I will likely be bringing this.

I don't care if you are allergic to peanuts.

Note #2: I made this yesterday just for you. My blog readers. I had no other event to make this, I just knew it had to make it to one of my Friday Favorites posts.

Be impressed.

What? Nooooo...I didn't do it because I needed an excuse to eat the yummy goodness! Puhlease! What do you people take me for?!

Oh yeah. You're right. I'm a cow. It's cool.

***


1 cup heavy cream
9 pieces of pre-made peanut butter cookie dough*
6 ounces of cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tbls. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 pkg. of reeses' peanut butter cups

*you can make your own dough if you are an overachiever. I might make fun of you though.


1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray.
2. With an electric mixer, beat cream to stiff peaks. (careful you don't make butter!) Refrigerate.
3. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of wax paper in as big a circle as possible. Remove one of the sheets of wax paper and invert dough into pie plate. Press dough up sides of dish. If dough is sticky and paper difficult to remove, refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.



4. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven and press down center if puffy. Cool *completely* on a wire rack.

It aint pretty, but who cares? And if you do have friends that care about what your pie crusts look like...you need new friends.

5. In a large bowl, blend cream cheese and both sugars until smooth. Add peanut butter and vanilla, beat until light colored.
6. Fold in (that's fancy cook speak for "mix in gently") whipped cream until no streaks remain.Notice how I have 2 stand mixer bowls? Be jealous.

So I burned my crust a little. Sue me. Still tasted good going down my gullet.

7. Spoon peanut butter filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate at least one hour.
8. Chop up peanut butter cups and sprinkle on top of pie. Melt chocolate chips in a glass bowl in microwave. Drizzle (or pour, whichever) over pie.

Can't you just *taste* it??? mmmmmmm....

9. Serve in small slices because this is really rich. Or be a cow like me and serve yourself a giant slice and eat it until your tummy aches.



Surprise your family. Make this tonight. I mean really, why not?!?!

And without further ado, the winner of the Monkey Foot Designs Wetbag is:

CARRIE H.!!!

Happy FRIDAY!!!


(p.s. notice how crappy my pictures are? i'm pretty sure it's a sign i need a dslr...just sayin'...)

Friday Favorites: Best {ever} Sugar Cookies

I'm a sugar cookie snob.

It must be sugary and sweet.

It must be crispy...but only on the edges.

It must be soft...but only in the center.

BEHOLD!

My all-time fave sugar cookie recipe:

Before you begin, it is of *utmost* importance that you have the right sous-chefs. Sugar cookie making is tricky business without the right help.



2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together flour, baking powder & salt.
2. Cream butter and sugar using an electric or stand mixer. (and if you don't have a stand mixer by now...we. need. to. talk.)
3. Add egg & vanilla. Add dry ingredients from step 1.
4. Roll dough into little balls. Roll the balls in the extra sugar you have set aside (a cereal bowl works well).
5. Place your sugared balls (ok, kids...keep the jokes clean) on a baking sheet. Squish them down with the bottom of a glass cup. You may need to dip the bottom of the cup in sugar to keep it from sticking to the dough.
6. ***SPRINKLES***


7. Bake 10-11 minutes until golden brown.
8. Lick the dough right off the mixer blade...even if you know that your mother-in-law is having an ab.so.lute. COW right now...can you hear it???..."that's how you get salmonella!!!" :)


9. Eat in horrifying amounts.

Especially good dunked in hot coffee.

Yeah, for breakfast...before the kids get up of course. :)

(oh, and these are too sticky for cutting shapes with cookie cutters so don't try it.)

The winner of the Less Ordinary Designs Giveaway is:

Erin S.!!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Friday Favorites: Healthy Berry Crisp

There's this great, TOTALLY out of the way little restaurant in Morro Bay called the Bayside Cafe. When we lived in SLO, we drove out there *regularly* for no reason other than to have their famous Berry Crisps.

I know we're not the only ones who loved these things...you seriously would have to let the waitress know at the beginning of your meal that you intended to have them for dessert and to reserve them...or you risked them running out!

Over the years, we have since moved and it's now about 50 miles to our little Cafe.

So sad.

I've tried a bunch of different recipes...and after many tries and lots of fiddling, I think I got it. I haven't done a side by side comparison, but these are DARN good.

4 cups berries*
4 tbls. sugar
2 cups flour
2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup softened butter
1 tsp. cinammon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Whipping Cream

*(I usually buy the Marion Berries at the grocery store, but you can use any kind of dark berry...black, boysen, etc. Fresh is great if they are in season, but frozen works well too.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix berries and sugar in a bowl. (You don't have to defrost the berries if you don't want to...)
2. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients (except cream). You'll probably have to use your hands...the mixture should be crumbly.


3. Divide up the berries evenly into individual serving, oven safe dishes. You can use ramekins, bowls...those mini loaf dishes from Michael's are a perfect size...


4. Cover berries with oat mixture. GENEROUSLY. Think you put enough on? Put some more on there. Really. It sort of settles down into the cooked berries so you want to be sure there is enough to have a decent amount of topping. (Depending on how big your dishes are, you may have leftover so don't think you have to use all of the topping).


5. Bake 30-35 minutes.
6. Serve warm.


Okay, now this is the REALLY, REALLY, REALLY important part.

Vital.

The crisp will not be nearly half as good if you don't do this:


Before you bite into the yummy berry goodness...you have to pour some whipping cream on top.

Keep that cream handy.

You will re-apply.

Trust me.

Healthy?

Oh, that's right...

I put that in the title because I figure it's still January, so some of you may still be in New Year's Resolution mode...

::cough::lame::cough::

Well, let's see...berries are chock full of antioxidants, and they are a fruit...the oats are good for your cholesterol...and you got yourself some dairy in there too...

That screams healthy if you ask me...

(this is also coming from the girl who goes around wearing yoga pants and running shoes convinced that her body is somehow tricked into burning calories as a result...because it's not like I actually DO yoga or go running...pshaw....!)


***And dear readers, be sure to tune in on Monday...I have a surprise for y'all!!!***