Magnolia Bakery's PB Ice Box Pie

Ingredients:

Crust

1 cup butter (melted)

4 cups vanilla wafer crumbs

Filling

2 cups heavy cream

3 cups cream cheese

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar,10x

1 tbls + 1tsp pure vanilla extract

Caramel topping

2 cups Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, chopped into 1/4" pieces

1/2 cup peanuts, finely chopped

Preparation:

Preheat convection oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine melted butter and wafer crumbs in a large bowl and mix by hand until a wet crumb forms. Shape the crust by pressing into the pie pan, making sure you form the crumb into the sides. Bake for 8 minutes and cool to room temperature. I used a premade double serving size graham cracker crust AND a box of premade shortbread mini tart shells and STILL had some filling leftover. 

While the crust is baking and cooling, make the filling. Beat the heavy cream in the mixer using a whisk attachment on medium until stiff peaks form, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Freeze your beaters and bowl beforehand for better results.

In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese with the paddle attachment on medium-high until smooth and creamy. Lower mixer speed to medium and add the peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla. 

Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until completely combined. Set aside.

Take the cooled crust and drizzle about 3 tablespoons of caramel onto the bottom. Next fill, spread and smooth the filling in the pie shell. Sprinkle the chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and peanuts all over the top of the pie. Store in a covered container and refrigerate for at least 5 hours before serving.

Baker's Note: Because I like smooth peanut butter I opted NOT to use chopped up peanuts for the topping and stuck with just chopped pb cups. Also, I did NOT think this had enough sugar in it. Some people thought it was perfect, others agreed with me. Next time I'll double the sugar at least. It tasted fine while I was going along but I was just tasting a little bit at a time and when I had a whole piece, I realized I wanted it to be sweeter.

Chunky Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

So everyone loves the delicious combo of chocolate and peanut butter (sorry peanut allergy-ers!), and in cookie form, that combo becomes even more irresistible. These cookies add the secret weapon of chopped peanuts to that duo to make one of my favorite recipes ever.       

                                            

PEANUTS! The secret weapon.
 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour                                              
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups (12-ounce package) semi sweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

 

-Preheat oven to 375.

-Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

-Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and peanut butter in a large bowl until nice and creamy.

-Beat in egg and vanilla.

-Gradually beat in flour mixture.

-Stir in chocolate morsels and peanuts.

Can I just eat the batter please?

 -Drop dough onto ungreased baking sheets and flatten slightly with the back side of a spoon.

Gratuitous chocolate morsel shot

-Bake for 7-10 minutes or until edges are set but centers are still soft.
-Remove from oven and let stand for about 4 minutes.
-Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
-Eat the whole batch with a cold glass of milk while watching a movie (this last step is just a suggestion).

I made a batch of these for a party I went to the other night and I have never received so many compliments before! My health conscious friend Amber declared to anyone listening that they were so good, she ate two of them. I feel like the cinnamon in them really adds that little extra something and the chopped nuts give it a nice crunch not found in regular pb and chocolate cookies. I got this recipe from an old Nestle Best Loved Cookies recipe book I recently rediscovered on my bookshelf and rest assured, I'll be testing out many more of the recipes in there. Enjoy!   

Better Than Crack Brownies

This is really a tongue in cheek name because everybody knows there's nothing better than the old ready rock.
Jessica over at How Sweet It Is shared this recipe that a reader had sent her. I'm not a brownie fan but these? These I will eat. (Especially as soon as I saw what those 2nd and 3rd layers consisted of.)

1 batch of your favorite brownie recipe
½ cup salted peanuts
1 cup chopped Reese's peanut butter cups
1½ cups milk chocolate chips
1½ cups creamy peanut butter
½ tablespoon unsalted butter
1½ cups Rice Krispies cereal

First get your junk together.

I used Reese's easter eggs instead of the cups. Higher quality, you know?

1. Prepare the brownies according to the directions and bake for about 5 minutes less than the recipe states (20-25 minutes) in a 9X13 pan. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the top with the peanuts and chopped peanut butter cups. Return to the oven and bake for 5 additional minutes.

The brownies are under there!

2. While they are finishing baking, melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter and combine. 

3. Stir in the cereal to evenly coat. Remove the brownies from the oven and evenly pour the chocolate and peanut butter mixture over top. Spread to cover evenly. 

4. Refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting and serving. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

I used an 8X8X2 square dish so mine are pretty tall. I also put in maybe a 1/2 cup to a 1 cup extra Rice Krispies for the top layer. 

This creation is like if regular brownies had a love child with every other delicious dessert ingredient- a delicious, crispy, chocolatey, peanut buttery love child.

Magnolia Bakery's Banana Pudding

Magnolia Bakery. I don't go there for their cupcakes. Sometimes I'll get some icebox pie or a bar cookie. But the dessert that makes me a repeat customer is their banana pudding. If you've had it, you know what I mean. People who don't even like banana pudding love this stuff. And the good news is: the recipe is not a secret.

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups ice cold water
1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix (preferably Jell-O brand)
3 cups heavy cream
1 (12-ounce) box Nabisco Nilla Wafers (no substitutions!)
4 cups sliced ripe bananas [Use the kitchen measurement converter -- LR]

In a small bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. 

Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

 Streaks

No streaks

To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl (preferably glass) with a 4-5-quart capacity. Arrange one-third of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, overlapping if necessary, then one-third of the bananas and one-third of the pudding. 

Repeat the layering twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding. 

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours - or up to 8 hours before serving.

This recipe makes A LOT. You'll have plenty to share-but don't worry, we won't tell anyone if you decide not to!

Peanut Butter Cups!

My friend, David (no, no that's not a photo of a young Paul Newman, that's David!), is returning to America after 3 months of being on a navy ship. He was there to teach philosophy and he'll be going back in just a couple more weeks. I think when you're homesick you miss your family of course but also you really miss food. I'm sure David is craving good Mexican food, a fat juicy burger with a cold beer, and a cheese laden pizza. I know I'm craving all of these things and I haven't left American soil in about 5 years now.
A couple years ago, I made a recipe for peanut butter bars that were supposed to taste just like Reese's peanut butter cups. David was one of my roommates at the time and he loved them- they DID taste a lot like Reese's. He mentioned putting them into cup form. So when I found out David would be back on Tuesday, I knew what I had to do.

First, melt a couple cups of milk chocolate chips (or white or dark chocolate if you prefer that). And spread the chocolate into little paper cups stuck in a mini muffin tin.

I used the back of a spoon and that was easy enough. I was able to make all the chocolate cups without the chocolate hardening up on me. After I made the cups, I froze them. While, they were in the freezer, I mixed

1 c. peanut butter
1 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (give or TAKE, maybe closer to 2 cups)
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 tsp. salt

I used my hands to knead everything together like dough because the crumbs tend to hang out by themselves and you want them well mixed in so you have that Reese's peanut butter consistency.

I made this into 24 little balls. It made more than 24 but since I'm planning on making more of these, I just chilled the leftover PB mix. At that point, the chocolate cups in the freezer were set, so I took the muffin tin out and popped the PB balls into the chocolate cups. I pushed them down with the back of a spoon.

I tossed the mini muffin tin back in the freezer. Then it was time to melt some more chocolate!! Couple more cups worth. Melting chocolate in the microwave is a cinch. Just do 30 second increments and stir between each. Once it was ready, I took the cups out and spooned melted chocolate onto each cup.

Then smoothed it out.

Work it!

After that, chill 'em again. Chillin' like a villain. And they're done. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

A perfect reminder of home!

Almond Roca by Nicholas Baker

ALMOND ROCA
Guest blog entry by Nicholas Baker!
(You know it's gonna be good when his last name IS BAKER!)

11x8 cookie sheet

parchment or tinfoil

blender/rolling pin

nut mill

Dutch oven/deep saucepan

wooden spoon

spatula

measuring cup

teacup filled with water

sharp knife

1lb butter

2 cups of sugar

¾ cup water

about 1lb of pecans

1 ¼ cup chopped almonds

16-17 Hershey bars (or any chocolate bar of choice)

Prep-Before you start cooking, especially if you’re doing it by yourself, make sure to get everything prepped and ready since you don’t want to burn your toffee mixture.

Unwrap the chocolate bars and set aside for later. Try to keep them whole, because it will make it easier when you lay your chocolate on the toffee mixture.

I prefer to buy whole almonds and then grind them using a nut mill, but you can also buy them chopped as well. Make sure you have about 1 ¼ cup and set aside.

Chef Baker uses his nut mill to chop almonds.

Grab your cookie sheet and line with parchment or foil. This will make it easier to break the almond roca once it’s set and firm. Using a blender or rolling pin chop up the pecans. If using a blender, chop half of it first then do the rest as to make sure the pieces aren’t too finely chopped. Dump the pecans onto the lined cookie sheet and spread evenly along the sheet.

Next throw your butter into a Dutch oven or saucepan. I’ve used a saucepan in the past, but your mixture will be prone to boiling over and you will continuously be playing with the heat and trying not to burn yourself. Plus it will save you a lot of time in the long run. So a Dutch oven is best or at least use a deep saucepan. 

Turn the heat on high and melt the butter. Wait until the butter is bubbling, as if

you were waiting for water to boil. Once it’s bubbling add the sugar and water and stir constantly, while keeping the heat on high. The cook time will vary but it can be anywhere from 20-40 minutes, depends on your pan. 

It is important that at this point you do not stop stirring. As it cooks the mixture will start to thicken up and turn brown. As it starts to dark you will do what’s called the “crack test”. Using your mixing spoon drip some of the toffee mixture into a cup of water. Try have it cascade down the inside of the cup, so it drips in the water. The portion that touches the water is what you will be testing. Break/peel it off and if it’s too chewy when you eat it, it’s not ready yet. The key here is that it should harden right about the time it hits the water. I like almond roca a little softer so I don’t want to cook it too long.

Crack test!

You may find you like yours a little harder, so you can adjust to taste.

Once you have reached desired consistency immediately take it off the burner and pour this toffee mixture over your pecans that you had prepped earlier.

Like a beautiful waterfall of toffee.

Take your spoon and spread the mixture evenly over the pecans making sure you get it in every corner. 

Now take you chocolate bars and lay them face down (Hershey emblem down), until the entire mixture is covered. 

You may need to break up some of the bars to get into the corners, but just make sure you don’t see any toffee mixture. Now using a spatula smooth out the chocolate and spread it around making sure that every corner is covered. Make sure that you can’t see any seems of the chocolate bars. 

Once they are all melted and smoothed out, take your almonds and sprinkle over the chocolate, trying to get an even coverage.

The almond roca will need to cool for several hours, so I suggest putting it in the fridge overnight. Make sure you don’t have any garlic or stinky cheese lurking in the fridge or your roca will have an interesting twist to it, ha. Once chilled using a sharp knife cut/break into pieces. 

Now if your roca is softer like how I like it, you can just cut into it fairly easy. Stab into the roca about every inch or so in a straight vertical line. This will help to slowly break up the roca without separating the chocolate from the toffee. Once you have made your stabs go back to the top of the row and cut through. The roca should naturally start to separate and at this point continue to break it into the desired size you’d like. At this point you’re ready to eat the delicious goodness!!

Chef Baker's signature green roca tub.