Peanut Butter | I Can Cook That

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Nests

Every Easter, my fiance’s mom makes peanut butter nests for her sons to take home. They are made with chow mein noodles, mixed in a melted peanut butter sauce, shaped into little nests and topped with egg-shaped chocolate candies. And I absolutely love them! I look forward to eating more than my share of them each year, but this year I just couldn’t wait.

I had a craving for something chocolatey and peanut buttery so, I decided to make mine with semi-sweet chocolate as well as peanut butter. We were visiting my fiance’s brother and his wife last weekend, so I used them as an excuse to make the recipe!

They try to eat vegan as much as possible, so when I began assembling the ingredients for this recipe and realized how simple this recipe would be to make vegan, I did so! You can easily make these Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Nests non-vegan if you so choose.

Ingredients:
1 (12 oz) package chow mein noodles
1 cup roasted unsalted peanuts
12 oz vegan semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup creamy peanut butter
~12 oz Jordan almonds or dark chocolate covered almond “eggs” (or any other candy that is egg-shaped if not making vegan) — you’ll need roughly 85 egg shaped pieces

Continue reading Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Nests

Peanut Butter Cookies

I’m a bit late posting this cookie recipe after Christmas and all but who really gets upset about a cookie recipe?

For as long as I can remember, Peanut Butter Cookies have been a part of my Christmas celebrations. They are just the best. And luckily, they are really easy to make too!

This recipe is from Food Network and can be made in under 30 minutes; you don’t even have to refrigerate the dough before baking!

Ingredients (makes approximately 2 dozen cookies):

1 cup sugar
1 (4 oz) stick butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Continue reading Peanut Butter Cookies

Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I made these Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting for a lovely vegan bride-to-be for her bridal shower this weekend. I’m not going to lie, I was going to do a test run of these, and if I didn’t like them, she was getting normal egg-filled, buttercream-topped cupcakes. But. These are good. Really really good.

So when I did my test run, I passed them around to friends and family and conveniently left the word “vegan” out of the description until after they tasted the cupcakes. My “test subjects” didn’t seem too upset with my experiment, many went for seconds!

These cupcakes use dark chocolate (versus milk chocolate), and have no eggs, butter, or milk. And they are still super fluffy and moist. The best part, most of the ingredients are probably either in your pantry or really easy to find!

Ingredients (makes 2 dozen) adapted from the Curvy Carrot:

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
2 oz vegan dark chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup sunflower oil
1 1/4 cups vanilla almond milk
3/4 cup cinnamon applesauce
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Peanut Butter Frosting:

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegan margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons vanilla almond milk

Continue reading Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Happy Pi Day! As a Mathlete alum, Pi Day has always been a part of my nerdy math world. And what better way to celebrate than to make a pie?

I have some other pie recipes on here, but I have had a hankering for peanut butter lately, so I am celebrating this year with a Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. This is a FoodNetwork.com recipe but I decided to make my own crust (you are more than welcome to just buy one – use a 9-inch pie crust).

Ingredients:

Pie Crust:

1 package oreos
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Hot Fudge Sauce:

1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3.5 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped

Peanut Butter Pie:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, at room temperature
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chopped peanuts, optional
Whipped cream, optional
Crushed cookies, optional

Continue reading Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Marble Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Cookies

This time of year, I love finding recipes that incorporate candy bars. I tend to have an influx of candy in my house so I might as well use it to make awesome baked goods right? I received a couple of Equal Exchange Candy Bars recently and couldn’t stop snacking on them!

Equal Exchange is the nation’s leading Fair Trade brand of coffee, chocolate and tea. They recently launched a new line of organic, fairly traded candy bars with flavors including milk chocolate peanut butter, milk chocolate crisp with puffed rice and quinoa, and dark chocolate fruit and nut with raisins and almonds.

The milk chocolate crisp lives up to its name, the puffed rice and quinoa added a nice crunch to the milk chocolate. The dark chocolate fruit and nut is the perfect mix of chocolately goodness, nuts, and fruit. The website describes it perfectly as trail mix in candy bar form. My favorite of the three though was the milk chocolate peanut butter bar a perfect and classic combination for a reason! I decided to use the chocolate peanut butter bars in a cookie but wanted to find a cookie that sort of resembled the chocolate bar itself.

I adapted this cookie recipe for Marble Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Cookies from a Bakergirl recipe for Marbled Peanut Butter & Chocolate Snickers cookies.

Ingredients:

Peanut Butter Dough

2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Chocolate Dough

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Equal Exchange Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter bars
3/4 cup peanut butter chips

Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange

Continue reading Marble Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough-Filled Crepes with Bananas

Food is just as much about the joy of the process as it is about enjoying eating the dish. So when I was sent The Cookie Dough Lovers Cookbook, I was excited to be more whimsical than I usually am when cooking. The cookbook is filled with recipes that incorporate an egg-less cookie dough, which means it is safe to eat it raw. Recipes range from breakfast foods to desserts. The photos are stunning as well, I had a tough time choosing a recipe! What I really love about this cookbook, though, is that it allows your creativity to wander. The recipes listed are probably fantastic as is, but can also work as a base for whatever you want to change. The cookbook is also filled with really helpful tips to successfully complete the recipes inside.

I was also asked if I wanted to take part in the Cookie Dough-lympics. Now who in their cookie dough loving mind is going to turn down a chance to be in the Cookie Dough-lympics? The competition is a month long, where me and other food bloggers have adapted recipes within this lovely cookbook. I’m the last (and hopefully not the least) blogger to participate so I hope you’ve had a chance to check out all of the other bloggers creative posts. If not, I have links to their blogs listed below.

I decided to make the Cookie Dough-Filled Crepes. I must have had some inspiration from Elvis because I decided to use a peanut butter cookie dough instead of a traditional chocolate chip. I also added some nutella to really make it delicious. I topped the crepes with sauteed bananas to complete my decadent breakfast.

Ingredients:

For crepes:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooked to room temperature, plus more for cooking
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For cookie dough:

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk or cream
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Nutella, to taste

For bananas:

1 ripe, but still firm, banana
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

There are some people who are in your life that just make your days a little bit better. I’m talking about the people you see for maybe just one minute a day: a person at a coffee shop, someone you pass in the hall, or in my case, one of the guys who works at my SEPTA station. I always look forward to a smile and a wave from him. So I was pretty bummed when he told me he was moving to another station. Sigh.

I wanted to find a way to thank him for making my day a little bit better, and I honestly don’t know any other way to thank someone besides with food (this is something I may need to work on…) So I decided to make him cupcakes! And who doesn’t like chocolate peanut butter cupcakes?

I found this recipe on Food Network and thought it was perfect. It even incorporated coffee into the recipe (one of my favorite tricks) to heighten the chocolately flavor. I decided to try to make my own peanut butter icing though, to make it more my own.

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Icing:

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 package (8 oz) low fat cream cheese

4 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup (or 1/2 a container) of smooth peanut butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the butter, granulated and brown sugars to a large bowl and beat on high for 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla, mixing well each time.

In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee.

In a third bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda.

Add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately to the large bowl, mixing with a hand mixer in between the addition of each mixture, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. (I poured half of the buttermilk mixture in, beat the mixture on medium, adding half the flour mixture, and beating on medium. I then repeated this until just combined).

Add the mixture to a cupcake pan lined with paper liners. The recipe randomly made 18 cupcakes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans.

To make the icing, combine all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl using a hand mixer.

Add the frosting to the cupcakes once completely cooled.

If desired, top with crushed peanuts.

Was there even a chance that these would be so-so?

Peanut butter and chocolate are two of the most fantastic, decadent paired ingredients.

I hope he likes them!

Day After Halloween Brownies

If you’re like every other American adult the day after Halloween, you have a whole lot of random candy sitting in your house. My guess is you either 1. want to get rid of it ASAP or 2. consume it all in one sitting. Well friends, I have a recipe to satisfy both ends of the spectrum. Two Peas and Their Pod had a wonderful Peanut Butter Snickers Brownies recipe on their site that got me thinking. Any chocolately goodness could be thrown in these brownies to make a yummy dessert! So I used Dark Chocolate Reese’s and Peanut Butter M&M’s to make these Day After Halloween Brownies! Past that, the recipe is the same as Two Peas and Their Pod, so thank you very much for posting this great idea!

Feel free to use whatever chocolate you have lying around the house. Just be sure to end up with about 1 1/2 cups of candy to make the recipe consistent.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped candy (I used about a dozen Reese’s Cups and a bag of Peanut M&Ms)
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Continue reading Day After Halloween Brownies

Bread Pudding with Peanut Butter-ROOT Sauce and Sliced Bananas

I have wanted to make bread pudding for a long time. But I’ve been too lazy to actually search for inspiration. So when the “How to Cook Like A Top Chef” cookbook literally showed up on my door step containing a recipe for Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bread Pudding, I knew it was time for me to finally make the delicious treat. I actually made this for a really decadent breakfast over the weekend, a little treat for making it through a long week.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

(adapted from Ash & Ashley’s Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bread Pudding)

3 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 brioche knots, cut into cubes (I got 9 cubes per knot)

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 oz ROOT liqueur

1 banana, sliced

Begin by whisking together the eggs and honey vigorously until combined and fluffy.

In a pot, add 1 cup heavy cream over medium heat until it begins to bubble lightly. Reduce the heat to low. Add a little bit of the warm cream to the egg/honey mixture, whisking vigorously so that the eggs don’t curdle. (This is called tempering). Add the egg mixture to the pot with the remaining cream, whisking constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Prepare the brioche rolls, cutting into cubes. I bought the rolls at Trader Joe’s, they are the perfect size for individual servings of bread pudding.

Add the bread cubes and the custard to a large bowl, stirring lightly to coat. Add the chocolate chips. Allow to sit for at least a half hour at room temperature. If planning ahead, you can do up to this step the night ahead of time and allow the bread to soak overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add the bread mixture to a loaf pan. Place the loaf pan into a cookie sheet with sizes. Add hot water into the cookie sheet so that the entire bottom is covered.

Cook for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

While the pudding is cooking, make the sauce. Add 1/2 cup cream and the condensed milk to a pot over medium heat.

When it bubbles, reduce to low and whisk in the peanut butter, ROOT, and vanilla extract. ROOT is a flavored liqueur that slightly resembles the taste of root beer. I made an awesome chocolate cake with it before so I thought it would work great in a sauce for bread pudding. You can read my post and more information on ROOT here. (If you’re making this for kids, feel free to just omit the ROOT.)

Whisk until smooth. If you want it a bit thinner, add more cream.

Spoon the sauce over the bread pudding while still warm. Top with banana slices.

What an absolutely delicious bread pudding. I can’t believe I ate this for breakfast, but I’m not ashamed either, it was amazing! I’m glad I only made a serving each for my boyfriend and I, or I’d eat this all day!

I had some of the sauce left over, which I plan on saving for ice cream!

The flavors work really well together in this dish (and how could they not??): chocolate, peanut butter, banana, with a hint of root beer at the end.

Cookies Everywhere!

I can’t even begin to know a thing about baking. I still follow recipes to a T. I spent last Saturday making batch after batch of cookies, and all of these were well received.

The recipe for Black and White Chocolate Chip Cookies can be found here. These ended up looking almost like macaroons (shiny, cracked) but were delicious. I used Kahlua, not coffee, but I think the coffee might take some of the sweetness out, in a good way. (I forgot to take a photo! So sorry)

I attempted the Peanut Butter-Fudge Cups, recipe here. Despite following the recipe, I ended up with half of the number of cups and they look NOTHING like the photo with the recipe. But, they were delicious.

The Pecan Bar Cookies were surprisingly delicious. (Recipe here) They stayed chewy days after making, but were also nicely crunchy on top. I mixed the chocolate chips within the batter instead of melting the chocolate down and spreading on top.

My pumpkin obsession continues. These Iced Pumpkin Cookies (recipe here) made me so happy. These are a little more spicy (as in many spices, not hot) than a typical cookie, but the drizzled icing is a great contrast.

pumpkin cookies pre-iced

iced pumpkin cookies

Sugar cookie recipes can be found everywhere, I think you can even pick up sugar cookie mix, or pre-made cookie dough. I honestly doubt there would be much of a difference between the recipe I used here and buying dough from the store. The real fun with sugar cookies is decorating them! I used cookie cutters I picked up from the dollar store. For icing, I mixed confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and a small amount of milk. I split the icing into different bowls and added food coloring. I also used sprinkles from the local grocery store to add some more pizazz. I know they look like a child made them, but I think that is part of their charm.

Happy cookie making!