Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Apparently January is the month of peanut butter and chocolate over here at Nosh With Me. And why not, since that is one of the best flavor combinations around, right? These cookies are chewy in the center and crisp on the outside which in my opinion, makes for the perfect texture. And the extra sugar on the outside adds a nice touch.
I didn’t have any peanut butter chips in the house, so I replaced them with chocolate chips. While the cookie was good, I think the peanut butter chips would have definitely enhanced the flavor and I recommend using them. Fear not, even sans peanut butter chips, these are being gobbled up by coworkers as I write this.
It should also be noted that I just now discovered my camera has a macro setting (duh?) and now I can take somewhat close up pictures that won’t end up blurry. Speaking of photos, I’m kind of digging the one large photo with a link to the process photos. What do you think? Do you like it or do you prefer the old format? (Photos of the baking process here.)
Ingredients
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (for sprinkling) sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup peanut butter chips
½ cup chocolate chips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chips. Place sprinkling sugar on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Using a fork, lightly indent with a crissscross pattern (I used the back of a palette knife to keep it smooth on top), but do not overly flatten cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not.
Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
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In other food news, I’ve adopted a food blogger! Kristin at Dine and Dish thought up the brilliant idea and I decided I’d give it a whirl. So, without further ado, let me introduce Paula at Half Baked. Not only does everything on her blog look delicious, her photographs are beautiful as well. Stop by her blog and say hello!
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Fudge
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When I think of fudge, memories of summers up north in Michigan immediately come to mind. Every year, my family and our friends would rent a place in Harbor Springs where we would play whiffle ball, relax, eat, and inevitably, find our way to Mackinac Island.
And Mackinac Island meant one thing–fudge. Even though we left Michigan in 1985, I still have very vivid memories of the multiple fudge shops, with their marble slabs and long spatula/scraper tools. And every time I go back to Detroit for a visit, I hunt down Mackinac fudge to put in my suitcase and bring back to LA. It’s just that good.
(Photos of the process here.)
Until yesterday, I had never made fudge before. I suppose because really, I know nothing will ever come close to Mackinac fudge. But as I was browsing food blogs, a photo caught my eye and I knew I had to give this recipe a go. What could possibly be bad about chocolate and peanut butter?
In this case, absolutely nothing! The fudge is good. Not Mackinac good, but good. The recipe was easy, and the only problem I ran into was the chocolate and peanut butter layers separating, making it difficult to cut. But this also gave us the chance to taste the flavors individually, and I have to say, I think the peanut butter part is my favorite.
Ingredients
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz package semi sweet chocolate pieces
7 oz. jar Marshmallow Creme
1/2 cup peanut butter
Preparation
- Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, 6 tablespoons margarine and 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a medium pot.
- Bring to full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
- Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling for 4 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
- Remove from heat and stir in chocolate pieces until melted.
- Add 1 cup (1/2 jar) marshmallow creme and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until well blended.
- Pour into greased 13 X 9 pan.
- Repeat with remaining ingredients substituting peanut butter and spread over chocolate.
- Cool at room temperature and cut into squares.
Recipe from Bakerella.
Chocolate Caramel Brownies
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It’s rainy and cold here, and I wanted to bake but didn’t want to make anything complicated. I sorted through my messy recipe folder and decided today was the perfect day for a somewhat “cheat” recipe. Yes, it calls for a box mix. I know, for shame! Reading through the recipe, it appeared very simple so I decided to give it a go.
Well, apparently I wasn’t paying enough attention and somewhat messed up the caramel. When the recipe said to add the “remaining evaporated milk” to the caramel, I added the rest of the can, not the rest of the 1 cup it called for. Whoops. Fortunately, I realized this as the caramels were (not) melting, so I dumped out a large portion of the milk and continued with the melting. I think there was still too much in there, because the caramel was a little runny, but it definitely tastes good!
Ingredients
1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) chocolate cake mix
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
35 (10-oz. pkg.) caramels, unwrapped
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Combine cake mix and nuts in large bowl. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and butter (batter will be thick). Spread half of batter into ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Heat caramels and remaining evaporated milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Sprinkle morsels over brownie; drizzle with caramel mixture.
Drop remaining batter by heaping teaspoon over caramel mixture.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 24 squares.
My notes:
- Unwrapping the damn caramels takes about as much time as making the brownies. Seriously.
- Your caramel will probably look different, unless you mess up like I did.
Recipe from VeryBestBaking.com.
