Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I think that peanut butter and chocolate might be the worlds most perfect combination. I mean, seriously. Name something that works together as well as these two...

Tonight, I created this chocolate peanut butter pie, without a recipe, using only my shear will to devour something delicious. Here's the recipe that resulted:

about half a package of Nilla Wafers, crushed fine
1/4 cup of butter
1/3 cup of peanut butter
16 oz. milk chocolate
1 container of Cool Whip

Melt butter and peanut butter over medium heat. Add to finely crushed Nilla wafers and mix well. Press into bottom and sides of pie plate (I used my springform pan). Cook in 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temp.

On top of double boiler melt milk chocolate. Add to thawed Cool Whip and combine well (I didn't let the cool whip thaw completely, and when I added the hot chocolate it all went awry, so then I threw the mixture back into the top of the double boiler and melted it all together!) Spread chocolate into crust and chill, uncovered, at least one hour. (Once chilled you can cover it, but if it's warm when you put it in the fridge don't cover it or it'll rain all over your pie).

All I can say is....YUM-O!

Le French Toast

The thing about french toast is, I love it but I hate it. I like it at most restaurants, but most attempts at home-made I can't stand. The problem lies in the eggs. I'll let y'all in on a little secret - I was an extremely picky eater as a child. I mean, bad. If it wasn't Mac 'n Cheese, PB&J and maybe the occasional apple, I wasn't interested. My food couldn't touch my other food, and sauces - fawgitabowtit! So, to say my tastes have matured is an understatement. I'd like to think I'm not "picky" now, so much as - there are distinct things I don't like, for distinct, vocalizable reasons. For instance, I still like to dip into sauces/dressings, etc. rather than pour them on. And I still hate seafood, no matter how many ways I've tried it. And, well, eggs. I can't stand them. Omlettes, scrambled, over easy, under hard, whatever else the choices may be - I just can't stand them. It makes me feel icky just thinking about the way all of those things would taste. Which brings me to my problems with french toast. Cooked the wrong way, it runs the risk of tasting like cooked egg on bread. When done right, it's a melty deliciousness that I can't get enough of.

I don't know what came over me tonight, but, without so much as a recipe I made myself french toast for dinner. And, for the first time ever, it came out great. I used some honey whole grain bread, complete with nuts in the bread (Mom, are you reading this - NUTS. In the bread! And let me say, this was the bread from my cupboard, as in, I've been making my sandwiches with this bread!) I took two eggs, a cup of milk, a tsp of cinnamon and a tsp of vanilla and whisked it up good. Then I poured the mixture onto a large plate (my plates have quite a lip, so there was no spillage). I took each slice of bread and I dipped it quickly into the mixture, flipping it once, to coat both sides. Then I set it out on a wire rack to drip out a bit*. I pre-heated my griddle pan, and melted about a tablespoon of butter on it. I kept the burner heat at medium*, and put on the first four slices of bread. I allowed the first side to sizzle a little, and flipped them quickly. Then I let them cook a little longer and slower on each side. Once they were done, I kicked up the heat a touch to brown them, and then put them on a cookie sheet that was already in my just-warm oven. I repeated with the next set of slices.

Viola, there was no egg-y taste at all. I topped them with some warmed up strawberry preserves, powdered sugar, and pure maple syrup (a gift brought to me from Canada!) It was a perfect Easter dinner!

*I think these are the key steps that made the difference.

when nerds decorate cakes...

Here it is, our second guest submission. This is from a my friend VC, and the text is her own description. My conclusion, dear VC, is that you guys are awesome as hell. (and, totally hot, if I might add!)


"it was my advisor's birthday today, and we decided to up the nerd-
factor by taking advantage of the following un-funny items:

1. a carrot cake in honor of CARET imaging analysis software
2. red-hots to represent cortical activation
3. a mars bar in honor of MarsBaR timecourse analysis software (now!
with timecourses drawn in icing!)

in conclusion: we are lame as hell."

The big spaghetti bowl in the sky

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, might I recommend you read this first.

This is the finished result of the cake I made earlier this month for a friend of mine. I apologize for the delay of posting the conclusion. First, let's discuss the new recipe. I'd try it again, and change something - although I don't know what yet. It tasted alright, but it was a little drier than I'd have wanted. But, it was just the right amount of sweet, not too much really, and it went well with all the sweetness in the frosting.

As for the decorating - why do I always fight with red. I used the gel this time. And still, it was pink. I hate red. I hate it. And why do I always fight with decorator's icing? It was too soft, too runny, you can tell I had trouble with the dots. I was less than impressed with myself.

I made the spaghetti monster out of homemade fondant, which was basically melted marshmallows, and it was fun and pretty easy. I'd recommend it again.

In all, because the spaghetti monster is just so cool, I think it was a success. But, damn the red!! Damn the red!

I want more breakfast!

So I was watching the Food Network yesterday (what else is new) and in an attempt to find a healthy, grab-n-go breakfast option for Scott, I turned to Ellie Krieger. She had a whole breakfast show on yesterday, so it was both entertaining and educational. I watched her make these Walnut and Dried Cherry Bars and thought, That looks pretty darn good! I knew though in my own breakfast bars that I had envisioned making that they had to include peanut butter. Mmm, peanut butter. . . I also prefer pecans over walnuts for most recipes, and can't STAND cherry anything. So, here's Ellie's recipe below, with my own changes in italics:

Walnut and Dried Cherry Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ -- 1/4 cup toasted oat bran, because that's what I had!
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey -- 1/4 cup honey and a little less than 1/4 cup agave nectar, because I ran out of honey. . .
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (mine is 365 brand with just peanuts and salt)
  
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 egg, beaten to mix
• 1 egg white
• 3/4 cup chopped dried tart cherries -- 3/4 cup raisins
  
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts -- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
  
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup "fruit only" apricot preserves

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, wheat germ/oat bran, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the honey, peanut butter, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add the dried cherries/raisins and walnuts/pecans.

Coat an 8-inch square baking pan (I used a 9" because I increased the amount of batter with the peanut butter) with cooking spray. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Put the preserves in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. As soon as the bars come out of the oven, brush with the preserves. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars, about 4 by1 1/2 inches each.

Per Serving

Calories 230; Total Fat 9 g; (Sat Fat 1 g, Mono Fat 3 g, Poly Fat 4 g) ; Protein 4 g; Carb 34 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 20 mg; Sodium 60 mg

Excellent source of: Manganese

Good source of: Thiamin

Of course I'm not sure the above nutritional information is correct anymore, but let me tell you, these bars are freakin' DELICIOUS! I'm totally addicted to them. So whether it's for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert, I highly recommend making them. The only question is what to call them since they're clearly not Walnut and Dried Cherry Bars anymore. . . Peacan Peanut Butter Goodness? Oh My God I Can't Stop Eating Them Bars? Anyway, just make them. How can you not?!

Gifted

A friend of mine has a birthday coming up, and this can't come at a better time because, 1.) this blog needs something new and 2.) my stress levels have reached a dangerous high that perhaps even baking for others can't overcome. But, try I will. I have a vision, but for top-birthday-secrecy, I will not publish said vision here until it's all done.

Last night was baking night, and let me tell you, I needed it. For this particular cake I was using a brand new (...er, old) recipe. My BirthdayFriend recently lost his grandmother, and when he was home with family after her passing he was thoughtful enough to bring back an old baking cookbook for me. I decided that I would make one of those recipes for this cake! BirthdayFriend requested chocolate, so off I went. I settled on one entitled Sweet Chocolate Cake. (As a side note, this cookbook has some really strange recipes that I'm totally interested to try - a sauerkraut cake?! Really?!) The Sweet Chocolate Cake recipe was interesting because the author noted that she liked using brown sugar. The recipe said it would fill 3 8-inch rounds, which seemed ok because, for the cake in my mind, I needed 2 8-inch rounds and a little something left over. I would need to use my spherical ball cake pan for the left over - as I needed something spherical to add to the cake.

Sweet Chocolate Cake
4 oz. sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup butter
2 cups white or brown sugar*
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups of cake flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk**
(all ingredients at room temp, except for the boiling water...which is, of course, boiling)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour 3 8-inch round pans. Melt the chocolate in the boiling water, and set aside to cool. Cream the butter, and gradually add the sugar. Add in the egg yolks and vanilla, and combine until smooth. Carefully add the cooled chocolate, and mix until well combined. Add in the sifted dry ingredients and the buttermilk in alternating batches, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Stiffly beat the egg whites and fold into the batter. Pour into pans, about 3/4 full. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

*I used one cup of each, the author was excited about the brown, but I was nervous about 2 cups of it!
**for which I used dried buttermilk (Saco brand, thanks LeahPants!)

I was excited, more than just to be baking again, because I could use something else I was given for Christmas. My mom gave me Wilton Bake Even strips, that make the cakes bake even so you don't have to level them. I have NO IDEA how they work. You first saturate them in water, then you wrap it around the outside of the pan, with the aluminum looking side facing out. You pin it closed, and just bake as normal. I was so excited to try these, it matches the first time I ever used the mechanical pastry bag (and you know how well that turned out!)

It was about here that I got carried away with my new baking gear (see, it HAS been a while since I've baked!!) Also for Christmas, my dad had given me these teeny tiny mini pans. Two tube pans and a springform. Adorable. So with the batter left over from filling my two 8-inch rounds, complete with Bake Even strips, I filled the mini pans from my dad.

It all went into the oven for 30 minutes. And then I realized. The SPHERICAL PAN! I had forgotten. In the glory of using all of my new gifts I had lost sight of the task at hand - BirthdayFriend's cake. So, later this week I will be "sculpting" spherical forms from the mini tube pan cakes!

When the cakes were done I was amazed, they were indeed level. I will not need to trim them - which is fabulous, because I am awful at that part. And, I ate some from the springform pan, it was good. The brown sugar was a good idea, although, I'm not sure I'd have done the full 2 cups.

The cakes are now carefully wrapped and in the freezer, waiting for decorating day!

A Breakfast of Champions

With Jenni's big event next weekend in mind, I thought it was about time that I posted something about my latest breakfast creation.

I'm not a big fan of breakfast. It's been hard for me to find something I like other than toast. Toast is great and all, but all of the fat and calories from the "butter" I use (the vegan butter spread, Earth Balance) is still not ideal. I always have a piece of fruit to go with it, to make myself feel better I suppose. It's just too cold (especially in the morning) to eat cereal, so I thought I would try my hands at homemade oatmeal.

I've tried to make oatmeal in the past and I usually either force it down so I don't waste it (telling myself, It's healthy! Just eat it!) or if it's really bad, I do have to unfortunately throw it out. It took me about a week of making oatmeal every day to come up with the perfect formula, but I did it, and can now say that I make GREAT oatmeal. Don't worry, I'll share my secrets with you. What you want to do is replace the recommended water they instruct you cook it in on the package with HALF apple juice and HALF vanilla soy milk (which is naturally sweetened, unlike chocolate soy milk!) The result? Oatmeal that is perfectly sweet, still creamy, and delicious! I always cook the oatmeal with a few shakes of cinnamon too, some kind of fruit (blueberries might be my favorite) and sometimes a small handful of chopped walnuts. I also tried both the instant oats as well as the old fashioned, and I prefer the instant because it comes out creamier.

Perhaps this is one to try before, say, running a half marathon? I personally think it's great before teaching a bunch of dance classes, but maybe that's just me ;)