chocolate

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

April 26, 2013

I’m totally loving following along the different races to create a new recipe for each race in my Sprint Cup Snacks series. I’m learning more about regional foods and trying out new things as well. Like I had never made BBQ sauce before when I made the Homemade Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce for the Food City 500 @ Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN. What was I waiting for? So good! And I’ve been seriously addicted to the Ham and Cheese Sliders I made for the STP Gas Booster 500 @ Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, VA. I think they are going to make another appearance at our house this weekend. Total noms.

So we’re back to the “Old Dominion” state with this weekend’s race in Richmond, VA. I looked into what foods Virginia is famous for and of course there were plenty of seafood options for the area along the Atlantic coast and wines in the mountains in the Western part of the state. And then I found out there are peanut farms! Oh my so in love with peanut butter right now. I found these no bake peanut butter bars and knew that I had to make them for this race.

These no bake peanut butter bars are soo super easy and soo good. In all it took me about 10 minutes to put together and then I just had to wait for it to chill and set up. That’s it! I love how simple they were to make but I love jsut how good they are even more. They taste just like a Reese’s peanut butter cup!!

So here’s the thing… the first piece that you cut out of the pan will get all ugly from you scooping it out. That is your piece to sneak while you are in the kitchen before you serve them. See you were just looking out for your guests and you couldn’t give them them an ‘ugly’ bar. Gotta take one for the team! 😛

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

Makes up to 32 squares

Ingredients

1 cup butter melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Process

In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and 1 cup of the peanut butter until well blended.
Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan.
Melt the chocolate chips with the remaining 4 tablespoons of peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread the melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer.
Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Source: My Baker Lady

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{Sprint Cup Snacks Track Facts}

Another great night race this weekend! All of the races held at Richmond International Raceway are ‘held under the lights’. Richmond was built in 1946 and since then has evolved to become a state of the art facility with a Video Scoring Tower that boasts more LED square footage than any other track in the motorsports industry. There are four high definition LED screens that come together to measure 38-feet wide by 24-feet high. Are we going to see Kyle Busch on that screen in the winner’s circle again this year? The younger Busch has won the last 4 Toyota Owners 400 races at Richmond International Raceway. Can he do it again this year?!?!

Track: 3/4 miles

Shape: D-Shaped Oval

Banking: 8 degree banking in the front stretch, 2 degree in the back stretch, and 14 degrees in the turns

Surface: Asphalt

Capacity: 97,912 seats

Race: 400 laps for 300 miles

2012 winner: Kyle Busch

Peanut Butter Lover’s Chocolate Matzo Bark

March 19, 2013

Passover starts in less than a week. So our grocery stores have a lot of Kosher products featured, including lots and lots of Matzo. Matzo is an unleavened bread, that is very similar to a cracker. It is very plain but I really like it with jam or with honey. And covered in chocolate and candy. ‘natch.

Just 4 ingredients and a bit of chill time and you’re going to have a huge pile of deliciously, irresistible matzo bark. I dare you not to try it.

Peanut Butter Lover’s Chocolate Matzo Bark

Makes bark for a crowd

Ingredients

3 pieces of Matzo
8 ounces of milk chocolate, melted
12 mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, chopped
4 ounces of Reese’s pieces

Process

Arrange the matzo on a sheet of tin foil or parchment paper, and on a baking sheet.
Evenly coat the matzo bark with half the melted chocolate. Sprinkle the chopped Reese’s cups and Reese’s pieces on the melted chocolate. Gently press the candy into the chocolate. Drizzle the remaining chocolate over the candy pieces.
Chill the matzo until the chocolate has set up. Break into pieces.

Thirsty Thursday: Chocolate Margaritas

February 14, 2013

When we’re home on the weekends we generally keep things low key, since the rest of the time we are running around traveling. On Saturdays we run over to Haymarket early in the morning so we can get all of our produce shopping done quickly and then the rest of the morning I try to lounge around watching Food Network Shows. For a long time the show Mexican Made Easy aired on Saturday mornings (now Friday afternoons) and I would glue myself to the sofa to watch Chef Marcela Valladolid for those 30 minutes whip up fantastic Mexican and Mexican inspired dishes. Plus I seriously want her wardrobe- so many tunics!

I’ve made several of her dishes but there was one that I saw and knew immediately I’d have to make. Plus I’ve made it repeatedly since then. And that would be her Chocolate Margaritas. I loved them the moment I made them. How could you not? Chocolate. Tequila. More chocolate. Since I love them so much I’ve made them quite often and overtime I’ve made some modifications. Mainly, instead of using heavy cream I used reduced fat milk. I mainly made this substitution just so I could drink more margaritas without feeling awful about the how rich they were. More margaritas for the win!

Today is Valentine’s Day so we decided on a theme that just screamed that to us so we each picked a chocolaty thing to share. And O.M.G. Amanda picked a kick ass Brownie Pudding. Seriously?? Seriously!!!

Chocolate Margaritas

Makes 4

Ingredients

To rim the glasses:

Chocolate syrup

Margarita:

1/2 cup chocolate syrup
1 cup tequila
1 cup chocolate liqueur (recommended: Godiva)
1/3 cup reduced fat milk
1/3 cup orange liqueur
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Ice

Garnish:

Mexican or Bittersweet Chocolate

Process

To rim the glasses:

Put the syrup on a plate and roll the rim of the margarita or martini glasses with the chocolate syrup. Set aside.

To make the Margaritas:

Mix all of the ingredients, except ice, in a pitcher. Working in 2-4 batches, transfer the mixture to a shaker full of ice. Shake to completely combine and chill. Pour into the prepared glasses. Grate the Mexican chocolate on top of the drink.

Gone to Heaven Dark Chocolate Pie

February 13, 2013

Some something magical happened at Christmas…

My mom got me a 12-cup food processor. Oh, the joy! I have wanted a food processor for so long. I’ve managed to make pestos and sauces in our blender but it is just the same. So I knew having a food processor would making pesto, sauces, mayo, grated cheese, and ground meat so super easy. But best of all I was looking forward to making pie dough in it.

I’ve been pinning different pies like crazy on Pinterst. My “Sweets-Pie” board is filing up. I have some plans to start to tackle the pins this spring. So, well, you’ve been warned. The first thing that jumped out to me was a Dark Chocolate Pie from One Ordinary Day and I knew I had to make it asap. But guess what… no need to use the food processor as it has a graham cracker crust. Well, go figure! ha!

Making a graham cracker crust is so easy so I felt I should make my own instead of buying one. Plus this was when we were snowed in last week so going out for a pie crust was not an option. Just 3 ingredients and a bit of mixing and you’re already half way done to a homemade graham cracker pie crust. The one disadvantage of making the crust is that is thicker than a store-bought crust, which meant I could not get all of the pie filling in the pie. Oh the horror! A bowl of just chocolately pie goodness. noms!

The pie is basically a cooked pudding so it is quick and easy to make. You really need to keep stirring the mixture while it is heating up since you don’t want clumps or for it to burn to the pan. My mixture didn’t come to a boil as I have the tendency to burn milk to pans (and then subsequently swear at them or throw them out) so I cooked the filling on a medium-low heat. This meant the overall process took 25 minutes. The most important thing is for it to cook and thicken so I don’t really think boiling is key.

Try this pie. You can whip it up easily. Perfect for Valentine’s day to show the person you love that they deserve something sweet (besides you). Or make these at any time to show yourself that you deserve the best chocolate pie.

Gone to Heaven Dark Chocolate Pie

Servings 12 slices

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Pie Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sugar

Chocolate Pie

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 egg yolks
3 cup milk, any fat content (I used 2% milk)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips
whipped cream nad chocolate shavings, optional for garnish

Process

To create the pie crust:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9-inch pie plate non-stick cooking spray.
Combine all of the ingredients.
Evenly press the crust into the bottom and up sides of the pie plate.
Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool completely.

To make the pie:

Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a 2 quart saucepan.
In a medium sized bowl, cmbine egg yolks and milk. Slowly pour milk mixture into sugar mixture and stir to mix.
Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil while continually stirring for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract. Add the chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted and the mixture is well blended.
Pour into the graham cracker pie shell. Lightly lay a piece of plastic wrap on top of pie filling before refrigerating for several hours until chilled.
Garnish with whipped cream and shaved chocolate before serving.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cups

February 12, 2013

When I was in High School I used to make chocolate pops and candies. We won’t even talk about the number of molds I have! But one of my favorite things I used to make where peanut butter cups. I used to make tiny ones using a mold and bigger ones using a cupcake tin with wrappers. Well I was thinking about all the recently and was thinking about how much fun it was to make the peanut butter cups and decided I’d make a batch. And then I got to thinking…

I was thinking about how I often use Oreos at the bottom of mini cheesecakes (another new recipe next week!) so it got me thinking into using a peanut butter Oreo at the bottom of the peanut butter cup. I’d start the process like normal with some chocolate in the wrapper and then slip an Oreo in before the peanut butter. This would make some some great layers in the peanut butter cup. Plus more chocolate and peanut butter can’t go wrong!

If you love peanut butter or Oreos or chocolate you will love these. I’ve already had requests to make more.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cups

Makes 9

Ingredients

9 peanut butter Oreos
11.5 oz bag of milk chocolate, such as Ghirardelli’s Milk Chocolate Baking Chips
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
pinch of kosher salt

Process

Line a muffin tin with 9 cupcake wrappers
Melt the milk chocolate. Put a 1 1/2 tablespoons of chocolate in each wrapper. Pull the chocolate half way up the wrapper.
Put an Oreo cookie in each wrapper, pushing it down into the chocolate.
Microwave the peanut butter until warm and easy to mix, approximately 30 seconds. Mix the powdered sugar and talk into the peanut butter. Spray your hands with no stick spray then divide the peanut butter mixture into 9 even balls and then work into disks the size of Oreos.
Press the peanut butter disk on top of the Oreo cookie. Then cover the peanut butter completely with the remaining chocolate.

Thirsty Thursday- Italian Hot Chocolate with Orange Scented Whipped Cream

January 10, 2013

Italian Hot Chocolate with Orange Scented Whipped Cream is the indulgent treat that will forever change how you make hot chocolate. Each sip is perfect.

Post from 1/10/13, pictures updated 12/9/18

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

Do you ever just have one of those days that really really suck? Yesterday was that day for me. Really bad. Well, let me explain…

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Peppermint Chip Brownies

December 19, 2012

Peppermint Chip Brownies will get you in the season with the irresistible combination of mint and chocolate flavors. Be sure to make some for Santa too!

post from 12/19/12, pictures updated 12/9/18

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

I’ve been such a horrible slacker this holiday season. I am behind with everything, but really, I think I always am. So, no difference than the norm then! ha!

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Peppermint Hot Chocolate Truffle Balls

December 13, 2012

Amanda picked peppermint for this week’s theme Thirsty Thursday. I honestly can’t stand peppermint outside of the holidays. However, from the day after Thanksgiving to New Years it is full on peppermint explosion. But then nope, not happening at all (with the ice cream exception)!!! So bare with all of my minty recipes now, including this recipe for Peppermint Hot Chocolate Truffle Balls.

When I was younger I would take Godiva hot chocolate truffles and put them into cups of hot milk and stir like crazy so melty ribbons of chocolate would swirl around the cup before I would take a big gulp. It was my favorite thing to do at my dad’s house at the holidays. Since I made a hot chocolate mix last week I figured I would make a hot chocolate truffle for this week to transport me back in time.

While you can make these hot chocolate truffle balls like me with peppermint extract and Andes Peppermint Mint Chips on the outside, you can make them in a variety of ways.

A plain truffle would be nice with a sugar and cocoa powder mixture on the outside.
A truffle with some cinnamon extract and a cinnamon and cayenne mixture on the outside for a Mexican hot chocolate.
Use a orange, hazelnut, or raspberry extract without coating. Really the flavor possibilities are endless!!

I hope that you enjoy my Hot Chocolate Truffles as well as Amanda’s Peppermint White Hot Chocolate. The peppermint and chocolate combination is such a hit that we both featured the peppermint in hot chocolates, but in very fun, very different ways.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate Truffle Balls

Makes 12 truffles

Ingredients

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Andes Peppermint Crunch Chips

Process

In a heavy bottom sauce pan or in a double boiler, melt the chocolate, cream, sugar, and salt together on low heat. Whisk consistently until smooth. Add the peppermint extract prior to removing from heat.
Let the chocolate cool to room temperature and then put into the refrigerator to completely chill.
Once solid, scope out into 12 truffle balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Chill again for at least 30 minutes.
Roll the chocolate into balls, then chill again until completely solid and formed.
Push the Andes mint chips into the surface of the ball. Stone in the refrigerator for 1 week.
Enjoy your hot chocolate truffle with 8 ounces of hot milk. Drop the truffle in and stir until the ball has melted.

Caramel Chocolate Kiss Cookies

December 10, 2012

So Price and I are having some issues lately. It all boils down to the impulses I have related to buying tons of candy for cookies and other treats and his impulses to eat every candy that comes into the house. I can barely care that we have baskets full of candies like m&m’s, peanut butter cups, and kisses at arms reach. But for Price and his sweet tooth it’s pure torture. So he stares longingly at the bags and bags of candy that hang around until I get a chance to incorporate them into some baking. And he knows that if he eats that candy before I get around to baking… trouble. ha!

When I got around to making these I thought he was going to do some cart wheels in the living room. Or maybe a Carl Edward’s like back flip off the sofa. I have to put him to work every now and then so I got Pricer involved to squish the kisses into the just baked cookies. And then in a blink he was trying a freshly baked cookie. They are best warm from the oven since the center caramel is soft and melty. To enjoy that after they have cooled just pop them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

I adapted the Cookie Trio recipe to create the cookie base part. I browsed all of the different cookie recipes on Hershey’s to figure out the recipe to use with the Caramel Kisses. I wanted to keep things simple so I kept with a chocolate base to pair well with the chocolate and chocolate candy. The result are a pop-able bite sized cookie that is perfect for the holidays, cookie swaps, and bake sales.

Caramel Chocolate Kiss Cookies

Makes 48 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine , softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
48 Hershey’s caramel kisses, unwrapped

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, shortening and sugar. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Gradually beat the flour mixture into butter mixture.
Divide the dough mixture into 4 equal portions. Then from each portion create 12 1-inch balls. Place each ball on the parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies are just set. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of the cookie. Cool 1 minute prior to removing to cool on a wire rack.

Thirsty Thursday: Hot Chocolate Mix

December 6, 2012

Do you know what you should not do? You shouldn’t forget about the hot chocolate you are making on the stove and then be utterly surprised when it overflows burning on your new glass top stove. yep, that’s happened… twice…

Well, you should totally make hot chocolate (and pay attention to it) and to do so you should mix up this hot chocolate mix. It’s great to enjoy snuggled up under a cozy blanket while watching a movie or RHofsomewhere. It also makes for a fantastic gift. It is quick to mix up, packages easily, and is so yummy.

I made this basic hot chocolate mix to get things started. Not basic in being ‘meh’, but basic in that it is a great base for you to create specialty flavored hot chocolate. I love starting with one recipe and making some modifications to create something fun and different.

Swap out the semi- sweet chocolate chips for some peppermint chips for a peppermint hot chocolate.
You can use peanut butter chips instead of the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Awesome.
Or you can use caramel chips and triple the salt for a salted caramel cocoa.

But wait, there’s more! Amanda has flipped hot chocolate on it’s head with a Frozen Hot Chocolate. I’ve always wanted to try Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity 3 in NYC but have never made it there so this is the perfect chance to make it at home myself! If you can’t get to the frozen hot chocolate, bring the frozen hot chocolate to you!

Hot Chocolate Mix

Fills 8 1/2 pint mason jars

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon salt
10.5 oz package of mini marshmallow
8 oz of semi sweet chocolate chips, mini is preferred

Process

Combine all of the ingredients together in a very large mixing bowl. Divide the mix up in bags or air-tight containers.
To make hot chocolate- in an medium sized sauce pan, combine 8 oz of milk with 3 tablespoons mix. Heat gently to warm and melt the chocolate chips. Stir occasionally so the milk and chocolate do not burn on the bottom. Top off with more marshmallows or whipped cream and sprinkles. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

December 4, 2012

So I’m going to let you in on a little secret… Mint and Chocolate ROCK together. Oh, so you don’t like that combo? GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!! Alright, I won’t throw you to the curb but really? Ew. Besides mint in iced tea I think that mint and chocolate is the best.

Double Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies_03

Once I saw this bag of Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips I knew I had to dive right in and get right to baking. I toyed around with a bunch of ideas but I wanted to stick to chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!! So I found this amazing double chocolate chip cookie recipe and got started on making some holiday cheer cookies.

Double Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies_06

Double Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies_08

Double Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies_09

Grab some milk and some cookies since these are a winter time winter. They are soft, fudgy, and minty. The texture is slightly chewy from the dense chocolate dough and the tons of chocolate and mint chips. Oh, those mint chips. I want to add them in everything… stay tuned…

Double Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar (I split it between white sugar and brown sugar)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 oz (2 cups)semisweet chocolate chips
10 oz Andes Creme De Menthe baking chips

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and mint chips. Drop rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring onto racks to cool completely.

Black Cherry Yogurt Brownies

November 27, 2012

Black Cherry Yogurt Brownies are fudgy brownies that use black cherry Greek yogurt in the batter. The Greek yogurt gives it a nice subtle tang with a hint of cherry.

Do you know that you can in fact perform magic acts? Yep, once you make a batch of brownies you’ll have the magical ability to make everyone come running, and make those brownies disappear. These Black Cherry Yogurt Brownies are going to disappear in a flash. *Poof!* And they are gone!

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