Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

It's rare that I come upon a recipe where words fail me.  This recipe though, I'm speechless.  Utterly speechless when it comes to describing this lush, velvety and somewhat indecent chocolatey ice cream.  I have never, ever had a dessert make me ooh and ahh at EVERY single bite.  Oh, the pleasure as spoonful upon spoonful passed my lips.  You just simply HAVE to make this.  

In all honesty, this is bar none, one of the easiest recipes I have for ice cream as it doesn't have a ton of fussy ingredients.  No tempering of egg custard, etc.  Just pretty straight forward - warm it, chill it, churn it.  I would describe it more but....I'm literally speechless.  That and I want to log off here to go get some more!  :)

Make it for yourself and see!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

from Jen @ My Tiny Oven

2 cups Half-and-half

2 cups Whipping Cream

½ cups Dutch Process Cocoa Powder, Unsweetened

1 cup Sugar

¼ teaspoons Salt

1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter

1 cup Peanut Butter Cups, Chopped

In a large sauce pan, combine the half and half and cream with the cocoa powder, sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk to combine. Heat the mixture until it comes to a full boil, whisking all the time. When the mixture starts to foam, remove it from the heat and stir in the peanut butter, until fully incorporated. Cover and refrigerate until mixture is completely chilled, 8 hours or so.

Then put the chilled mixture into the canister of your ice cream maker. Finish in your ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Add the chopped peanut butter cups during the last 2 minutes or so of churning.

Serve right away for a soft serve texture or you can stash it in the freezer, in an air tight container, for a harder ice cream.

Chocolate Chip Cinna-Minis

I had such an intense craving this morning for Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Chunk Cinnamon Rolls...it was flat out awful how badly I craved those.  I adore her version but I find it long and tedious to make them so I only do it for special occasions and holiday brunches.  Today though, my cravings would not be sufficed by a bowl of Special K.  I had to have chocolate. 

Inspired by my insatiable lust for chocolate and mixed with the ease of TheCountryCook's shortcut apple danishes, I came up with my own version of chocolate chip cinna-mini's complete with icing for dunking.  My 15 year old proclaimed them "winner, winner"...and I whole-heartedly agree!  Give them a whirl, won't you?

These use those fabulous new Pillsbury crescent roll sheets in the tube.  So easy to do!

Chocolate Chip Cinna-Mini's

1 tube of crescent roll sheets

cinnamon, for sprinkling

brown sugar, for sprinkling

mini chocolate chips, for sprinkling

2 tbsp melted butter

glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, unroll your crescent roll sheet and re-shape into a rectangle, if needed.  Just pull it into shape; it won't mind at all. 

With a pastry brush, brush on the melted butter, coating VERY well.  Sprinkle a good healthy amount of cinnamon over the butter.  Now sprinkle about a cup of brown sugar over top of the cinnamon and butter.  Using your fingers, schmear it all together, coating the dough sheet well.  Now sprinkle on about a half cup of mini-chocolate chips (or less/more if you like). 

With the long edge facing you, roll up tightly.  Pinch the seam to the dough to seal.  Now using a very sharp serrated knife (I used my bread knife), cut dough into 1 inch slices.   (I think I ended up with 10 slices)  Place about an inch apart on your cookie sheet. 

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving and dipping into the dipping glaze.

Dipping Glaze

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla (I used vanilla paste so you can see the vanilla bean specks in my picture)

4-5 teaspoons milk

Mix all together.  If too thick, add a splash more of milk to desired consistency. 

Dark Chocolate Expresso Brownies w/ Almond Vanilla Bean Buttercream

Swirls of buttercream are good!

Yeaaa...this is how I re-cooperate from my little spill down the stairs!  Gimme chocolate and I'm good to go!  I'm doing MUCH better today, thank you all for your emails and messages.  I think I'm just badly bruised in my nether regions but I'll survive.  THIS was what I had planned for Monday to bake and share with ya'll but since I was laying on my back all day in bed, it didn't happen.  Let me introduce you to this sassy gem of a creation.

Awhile ago, on Tasty Kitchen, I stumbled upon a dark chocolate brownie recipe that blew my mind.  I am such a fan of dark chocolate so this just had to be made.  When you mix it up, the batter is near pitch black!  If you follow me on Facebook, I posted that I had made these and kinda left it at that.  But since then, I seriously make these every other week like clockwork.  They are so rich and sinful, it should be a crime...and I'm so willing to do the time for them.  (on the treadmill that is!)  Then, I had a King Arthur Flour cake recipe that called for expresso powder and it ramped the chocolate flavor to the heavens.  I put two + two together and added the expresso powder to this brownie batter and OMG.  Just OMG.  Not only do you get this thick, dark brownie with this deep, rich accent flavor but then you have molten pockets of chocolatey goo that just melt in your mouth too. 

And yet...that wasn't enough obviously.

Yummy Sugar Free Dream Pudding Pie

Hate indoor lighting right now!  lol

Now, I know pudding pies are not anything new to the scene and neither is using Dream Whip but just stick with me a minute.  I started making this pie in a sugar free version for my diabetic boyfriend eons ago and just recently, I made another one for the Army lab here on base.  They have 4 diabetic lab techs there and I had sent a huge cake for a celebration for another solider and I felt bad for those 4 that couldn't indulge with everyone else.  How awful to nosh on a carrot stick when everyone else is eating Death By Chocolate cake?  There is just no comparison.  So I sent it along with the cake and don't you know, the pie was gone FIRST.  When they heard it was sugar free, they went nuts.  We figured it up once and at 21 grams of sugar for the whole entire pie (divide that by 9 slices), that is a relatively low dose of sugar AND its milk sugars and not processed cane sugars, which your body processes differently.  One soldier said "I've tried like every thing sugar free out there but this was the best sugar free dessert I have ever eaten."  

Dark Chocolate Orange Mousse

Valentine's Day here in Georgia was a beautiful, warm day and for my sweetie, I made him a plate of treats to tempt him.  I bought him the aphrodisiac truffle collection from Vosges Chocolates called Sweet Coquettes.  They had oyster cream chocolates with real pearl dust....not my thing but he's into the exotic stuff so it was right up his ally as a present.  (the Absinthe truffle was a really decadent though)  So what better to spoil him rotten than placing his favorite chocolate candies with his favorite chocolate mousse?  We sat outside on the back deck and enjoyed the Valentine's Day sun rays and ate our treats happily, like little kids, licking every last bit out of our dessert dishes.  We're gluttons, we know.  :P 

Me vs. Tate's - A Cookie Comparison

There has been much hype about Tate's Cookies as of late on the blogosphere and our store finally received some in stock so I caved and bought a bag of the chocolate chip version.  I was so excited to have found them, I think I actually did a mini-jig in the aisle.  We raced home and while putting items away, I opened the bag for a pre-dinner snack.  I have to say, I am not impressed in the least and I have to wonder if their popularity has more to do with Ina Garten's praise than it does their flavor.  Whether it be Paula Deen or Rachel Ray, whenever a food celebrity touts praise of an item and/or brand, it grows to ridiculous popularity due to zealous fans wanting to be just their televised idols.  I have to think that after tasting a Tate's cookie, this is the issue as well.

Oatmeal Choco-Toffee Muffins & the Georgia Snowstorm

Let me start by saying, I am from the North.  I was born and grew up in Ohio which gets a good amount of snow and ice thanks to the Great Lakes.  I also spent last winter in West Point Military Academy in the Hudson Valley area of New York which gets MOUNTAINS of snow.  We are currently at Ft. Benning, Georgia and last night they called for a snow storm which prompted all kinds of shut downs from schools, offices, and onwards.  You'd think it was a state wide emergency here in our area.  Everyone on the base yesterday was shopping and stocking up.  Every aisle was bare boned from frozen pizzas to ramen noodles, there was nary a box or bag in sight.  We just laughed because if it even RAINS too hard down here, people wig out, can't drive and stay home like shut ins during a hurricane.  But this...lol...was our "BIG" Georgia snowstorm.

National Chocolate Day

Today is in fact, National Chocolate Day...which is, PRETTY big news in my household.  I was so excited I Googled it, curious as to its origins and then I saw that there is about 3 other National Chocolate days according to this list of "odd holidays".   Which is fairly cool with me since my contribution to celebrate National Chocolate Day flopped and turned into hockey pucks I think I need to send to my friend in Canada to toss around on the ice with his hockey team mates.

I had intended to make Chewy Chocolate Chunk cookies that my husband's ex-coworker had shared with me about two years ago.  I was so excited she shared her recipe with me since her cookies could be the absolute cure for PMS symptoms because they're so loaded with chocolatey goodness.  That being said, I should add that I am so completely fond of Crisco Butter Flavored shortening for my cookies.  Her recipe said butter and apparently I should have followed her recipe exact because mine turned out into hard, crispy buttons of chocolate as where hers spread into palm sized, perfectly thin and chewy cookies riddled with molten chunks of gooey chocolate.  Hers were delightful...mine were better donated to the NHL for practice pucks.

Moving on then...Good thing I had a spare recipe to share on deck, eh?!  Sitting on my buffet was the most perfect pan of chewy chocolate chip cookie bars.  Thick, chewy in the middle, crispy & flakey on top...perfectly dimpled with chocolate chips and toffee chips....H E A V EN in a pan.  They come together lickey split quick and one bowl for cleanup.  Too easy!  Did I mention I like Crisco butter flavored sticks?  Yeah, because this recipe came from the Crisco site and I just added in some toffee chips because...well...who doesn't need some toffee chips?  LMAO  So whether your National Chocolate Day is today or another celebrated day...I hope you enjoy these cookie bars.  I know we're plowing through them like there is no tomorrow.  Enjoy ya'll!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares
from Crisco.com

• Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 2 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Crisco® Butter Shortening, melted
• OR 1/2 stick Crisco® Butter Shortening Sticks, melted
• 2 cups Pillsbury BEST® Self Rising Flour
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (6 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

HEAT oven to 325ºF. Spray a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan with no-stick cooking spray.  Set aside.

COMBINE brown sugar and shortening in large bowl; beat at low speed until well blended.  ADD flour; add eggs and vanilla. Beat until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans by hand. Press into prepared pan.  (wetting your fingers helps with this)

BAKE 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on cooling rack. Cut into 1 1/2 x 1 1/2-inch squares.

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Crunch Coffee Cake

Holy smokin' ovens that title is a mouthful to say, isn't it?  Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Crunch Coffee Cake.  As promised in my When Coffee Cakes Go Bad, Vol 1 post the other day, THIS is the correct, yummy version of that black brick of doom I baked the other day at 100 degrees over the recipe's guidelines.  I am very pleased with this recipe now I can actually EAT it instead of using it for a doorstop.

My daughter, step mom and I have an unnatural weakness for Rocher candies with the hazelnuts inside.  There is just something about that creamy Nutella and the crispy shell but my favorite part is the lovely hazelnut on the inside that crunches when you get to the middle.  I can never pass them up and she always finds them in her stocking at every Christmas.  Now she's at college I send her Nutella with Teddy Grahams for snacking in her care packages.  Hazelnut & chocolate were just meant to go together.

I find too, now that its fall, people are reverting to pecan pies and pumpkin everything.  I'm allergic to pecans and I grew up near the Circleville Pumpkin Show.  I've eaten as much pumpkin as I care to eat...ever.  So I give you this coffee cake, a different approach for the fall days ahead.  Its nutty, sweet, crunchy topping is a perfect match to the vanilla heavy crumb cakey bottom.  Not overly sweet either which is great for me as lots of morning pastries tend to be heavy on either icings, fillings or glazes.  Makes a wonderful breakfast with a hot cup of Irish Breakfast tea....

Click to enlarge.

Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Crunch Coffee Cake

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cold butter, in pats
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  (double check you didn't set it to 450 like me!  LOL)  Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray or grease/flour pan.  Set aside.

For the topping, in a medium bowl, stir the sugar and flour together.  Use a pastry cutter and cut in the butter pats until they resemble fine crumbs.  Stir in the chocolate chips and the hazelnuts.  Set aside.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Set aside.  In your stand mixer (or big bowl), cream together the butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla on medium speed.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well before adding next egg.  Turn mixer to low and gradually beat in the dry ingredient, alternating with the milk.  Mix well until smooth and creamy.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth.  Sprinkle with the topping evenly and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pan before serving.

Tip:  I made a small drizzle glaze of milk and powdered sugar for this batch but its not necessary.  Good without!  :)

Double Bonus Monday!

Oh what a Monday!  I bought Linkin' Park's new album last week and I have had the song "Waiting for the End" replaying in my head like a skipped record.  I am just so enamored with the lyrics to this song as its dead on accurate to how I've been feeling lately in dealing with a broken friendship.  Instead of pouting and puttering about the house miserable (even though I want to do so), I've been plunging forward in projects that have been laying about in my head.  So to kick off this wonderful transition phase for me, you get to reap the rewards with a bonus Monday with TWO recipes.  Who doesn't need a kick of motivation on a Monday?

There is a cake out there that has like 1,000 names.  Wacky cake, Garnet's cake, War cake...whatever you want to call it, its the recipe that has no eggs in it and was developed war time when supplies were in great shortage.  War time kitchen engineering/finagling has paid off big time in this time tested recipe that is so good, so gooey and so chocolately rich, you'll never miss the eggs.  And BONUS!  It's made IN the cake pan.  No bowls to mess with at all!  No greasing, no flouring...serve this cake right from the pan warm with a glass of milk.  Its so quick and easy, it'll be your kids favorite after school snack.  Hey, its cholesterol free too, so its good for them too!  (well, as good as a chocolate cake can get!)  Mine is shown with two mini scoops of my homemade triple chocolate ice cream and a drizzle of dark chocolate syrup.  (yum and totally not healthy)

This recipe is from King Arthur Flour's website which I *so* encourage you all to visit.  A treasure trove of baking recipes await and some of the coolest things are in their shop.  Stop by!  You can view this recipe there with variations to make it mocha cake or a rum type cake.  This however, is the true blue original.

KAF Original Cake-Pan Cake

1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa (not dutch processed, just regular)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup cold water 


Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Measure all the dry ingredients into an 8" or 9" round or square cake pan; if you use an 8" pan, make sure it's at least 2" deep. Blend the ingredients together thoroughly with a fork or whisk and scoop out three holes, or indentations.

Pour the vanilla into the first hole, the vinegar into the second, and the oil into the third. Take the cup of cold water and pour it directly over everything in the pan.  Stir all the ingredients together with your fork until they are well blended making sure to get the corners if using a square pan.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Serve right from the pan; warm from the oven.


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This is the BEST potato salad I've ever had in my life.  I've never been a potato salad fan because I hate mustard and undoubtedly, like me, you grew up on your mom's yellow potato salad.  Every holiday or family gathering someone brought this mustard laden concoction to the party and I shuddered just even smelling it.  I really loathe mustard, can you tell?  This recipe however, has no mustard and the cooked potatoes marinate overnight in this vinegar/herby blend before adding the mayonnaise right before serving.  Its tangy, its creamy and cool.  Perfect with burgers or with pigs-in-a-blanket!  Its a bit of work and takes some planning (its not a simple throw together on the fly type of thing)...but so is every other homeade potato salad out there really.  This makes a HUGE amount that we ate off of all weekend long with light sammies.  We ran all weekend long so I wanted something easy to pull out and snack off of.  Its just perfect.  I hope you really give it a go. 

Marinated Potato Salad

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
12 fist sized Idaho potatoes
 ⅓ cups cold water
⅓ cups white vinegar
1-½ tablespoon kosher salt
½ teaspoons black pepper
2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
½ large yellow onion (not sweet Vidalia ones, just regular)
5 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise (no Miracle Whip, please)

Place potatoes WITH skins on in a large pot and cover with water.  Place on stove and turn on high.  Once they start to boil, boil for 45 minutes or until a fork inserted, comes out easily and gives no resistance.  Drain and cool for about an hour.  (will likely still be warm)  Peel cooled potatoes with a spoon.  Chop peeled potatoes into chunks, place in a large bowl and set aside.

In a smaller bowl, mix together the water, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, parsley flakes, onion and celery.  Pour over the warm potatoes and stir to coat all the potato chunks.  Cover well with plastic and place in fridge overnight or at least 12 hours to marinate.

Before serving, add mayo to potatoes and stir well to coat all pieces.  (can add more mayo if you need to but do so a little at a time)  Add chopped, boiled eggs and stir again.  Keep cool until serving.  Refrigerate leftovers in a tightly sealed container.  Stir leftovers before serving.  (may separate some as is normal)

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cake ala Siggy Spice

Its 900 degrees outside but when you want chocolate cake, you want chocolate cake!  I had asked Siggy Spice awhile ago if she could give me a recipe for the most ooeiest, gooiest, chocolatey cake she had.  Mine was not sufficing and I wanted something new.  So Sig sent me this recipe and its been waiting in my in-box forever since its been so dang hot.  Today I came across it and my belly went "ME WANT THAT!"  So it drug me down to the kitchen and forced me to make a homemade chocolate cake complete with homemade icing in 900 degrees of hellish heat and humidity.  Thankfully, this cake is a *snap* to throw together and it wasn't long before I was lounging back in my air conditioned bedroom (aka the isolation chamber) just waiting for the timer to go off.  I have to say, having made this and tasted it - even if it took 2 hours to make this cake vs. a box mix, I would make this cake.  Its just that dang good.

Oh, and if you've never seen a grown man prance around the kitchen begging to lick a spoon, try making this cake.  My husband came in when I was making the icing and begged for the spoon.  So I handed it to him and he promptly stuck it in his mouth and went "Dang that's hot!"  Um, yah!  It was in near boiling chocolate if you hadn't noticed.  And he hadn't b/c he was too busy like I said prancing around the kitchen chanting "cake, cake, cake".  Seriously.  Prancing.

This cake is sooo moist and soft and just mmm mmm good I can't even describe it.  It made me nervous seeing this super thin hot chocolate consistency batter go into the oven but within 10 minutes, it was already baking up and solidifying like a normal cake would.  When it came out, think "chocolate sponge cake" b/c that's how springy and moist this was.  And then there is the icing.  The glorious fudgey pour over top because it's just that easy frosting.  YUM!  Better than box.  Better than bakery from the store.  Just make the cake!  :)

click to enlarge

Siggy Spice's Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa Powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350°F.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin and look like hot chocolate - don't be scared). Pour batter into prepared 9"x13" pan.

Bake 33-38 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting.

Gooey, Sticky, Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
6 TBSP powdered cocoa
2 TBSP oil (canola or vegetable) or shortening
2 TBSP butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Over medium heat, combine all ingredients EXCEPT vanilla, constantly stirring for about 7 minutes. Don't let the bottom scorch. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let sit for about 5 minutes before pouring over cake.  Allow to cool completely before serving.

Bob Marley and Cake For Breakfast...

This morning, I am haunted by Bob Marley's wisdom.  "The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you.  You just have to find the ones worth suffering for."  Thank you Bob.  Where were you years ago in my life to pass on that sage knowledge?  I would have just stayed home, had cake and went on with my merry life but no - I had to go and make a friend who would stomp on me instead.  Thanks Bob.  Having a particularly hard day already this morning and so what better to cheer me up than making a whopper chocolate cake at 3:30 am?  Perfectly normal given the circumstances I'm in.

I'm all about the Secret's philosophy of "what you send out, you receive".  Ever heard of that theory?  Law of Attraction?  So in light of my whole horrific ordeal last night, and this past week really, I think today is about sending out some good in hopes that maybe I can somehow turn this funk I'm in around.  I could use a moment of niceness to wash over me and renew my faith in mankind.  (and when I say 'man', I mean the one who stomped on me in particular)  What better than cake as a prayer to the Universe to send you something nice in return?  lol

My neighbors have just moved in and today I'm preparing them a home cooked meal.  I've seen too many pizza boxes going through that door this past week.  Tonight, I am making them a spicy, tangy brisket, glazed ginger carrots, a super cheesy potato casserole, yeast rolls and this cake I'm going to share with you all below.  I was going to make my friend Siggy's chocolate cake recipe but I had all this stuff in my pantry and the commissary isn't open at 3:30 am anyways.  :P

This cake is now infamous at my husband's work.  The Army lab team happily gobbled it up and I got swamped with requests on how to make it.  I always  remember it by heart from helping my mom make it so many times.  Come to find out, this is that same sour cream cake that's been floating around for years.  Anyways, in case you DON'T have the recipe, you do now.  It really is the most chocolatey, fudgey, moist even days later, need a gallon of milk with it cake you will ever get.  You can use icing if you dare but I'm afraid of the sugar buzz off that one - and it really doesn't need it.  A light dusting of powdered sugar is perfect!

Psst - see my antiquey Army Medical Corps platter?  Part of our new collection.  So cool and a steal!  Gotta love Etsy.

click to enlarge

Hang It On The Wall Cake

1 box of the most chocolatey, fudgey cake mix you can find
1 small box of the most chocolately, fudgey instant pudding mix you can find
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup of sour cream
6 ounces of dark chocolate chips (or semi-sweet if you prefer)
1 tbsp flour

Preheat your oven to 350. Spray your Bundt cake pan with cooking spray or grease/flour.  Set aside.

Mix all the ingredients (except the eggs, flour and chocolate chips) together till moistened.  Add eggs one at a time to the batter, ensuring they get mixed in well before adding the next.  Toss your chocolate chips in a bowl with the flour, coating them all.  Fish them out and fold by hand into the batter.  Pour into pans and cook for approximately 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into middle comes out clean.  (this may take a few minutes extra, just watch to avoid burning the top)

Too Hot to Cook! No Bake Time!

It has been a long time, right?!  Wow.  Didn't realize how long its been since I posted.  I have eaten, mind you.  Just didn't blog about it!  :P   Anywhooo, here in NY we've experienced a wicked week of heat.  So so hot the air conditioner doesn't even seem to be taking the edge off.  Add that to my horrible PMS and my craving for chocolate and it's just a killer combo.  I had asked my friend SiggySpice from Tasty Kitchen if she had a recipe for the most chocolatey-gooiest chocolate cake she'd ever seen.  She delighted me with a recipe I'm going to make once the heat backs off a bit but until then - what's a violent PMS'ing girl to do?  NO BAKES!

So I searched Tasty Kitchen and found this recipe from Karly Campbell.  No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars.  I'll let you wipe your chin off now.  Go ahead.  I'll wait.  Yeah.  They were the AWESOME.  I have a natural fondness for no bake chocolate cookies anyways.  My dad used to make them for us from his mom's recipe like every other week when we were kids.  Yeah, dad, not mom.  "Fryer of bologna sammies at 2 am and peanut butter bread slices with spaghetti Dad" made the best no bake cookies anywhere.  He even made the non-chocolate peanut butter butterscotch version and they were killer.  I remember sheets upon sheets of wax paper around the counters with blobs of oatmealy goodness on them.  LOL  Anyways, Karly's recipe took me *right* back to being next to dad helping him drop spoonfulls of molten oatmeal to cool.  These are so, so easy to make.  And the peanut butter chocolate center?  Don't get me started on that.  I could go on for hours!  Try them yourself on a hot day!

<--- Photo by Karly, taken from Tasty Kitchen.  Go check it!  Do eet! 




COMING SOON - my wicked easy, 3 item only alfredo recipe.  Tired of seeing all these "healthy" versions.  That's not original.  That's not how it's supposed to be.  Don't fear the butter!  Use it!