Peanut Butter Brownies

Looked through that Taste of Home Baking cookbook again and found a recipe for Peanut Butter Brownies.

Peanut butter, chocolate, cream cheese - what's not to like? Yes, I could've just bought a brownie mix, but where's the challenge in that? Instead I far exceeded the cost of a brownie mix. This brownie recipe called for 2 blocks of cream cheese.

And, in the end, I'm still not sure if it was more like a brownie with peanut butter cream cheese or a peanut butter cheesecake with a little brownie in it.

Here's what they looked like when they came out of the oven.

Pretty nice looking, huh? And, here is what they looked like on a plate.

How about a side view.

You know how brownies, cakes, and cookies all taste so, so good when they are warm and right out of the oven? Not with these. We all tasted a little when it was warm and we thought it really didn't have much of a peanut butter taste and they were just okay. Then, I put them in the refrigerator. That did the trick. When cold, these tasted like cheesecake.

I have a really good tip for you brownie bakers. You know when you try to cut brownies and your knife goes in and brings up a whole bunch of brownie with it. This always happens and you get a really gnarly looking brownie. Here is the trick. Drum roll, please? Use a PLASTIC KNIFE! That's right. One day I thought about how mochi is so sticky and you use a plastic knife to cut that, I wonder if it would work for brownies - and it totally worked.

Here's the recipe:
Peanut Butter Brownies from Taste of Home Baking Classics
3 eggs
1 cup butter, melted
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Filling:
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp. milk

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to the egg mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside 1 cup for topping. Spread remaining batter into greased 9x13 baking pan.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and milk on low until just combined. Carefully spread over batter. Drop reserved batter by tablespoonfuls over filling. Cut through batter with a knife to swirl.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Chill until serving. Makes 3 dozen.

Almond Apricot Bread

Post written last year after our snowmaggedon of 2011.

Last week we had one of the worst blizzards, since I have lived in Illinois. I have to say being a Midwesterner for almost 16 years, I do know so much more about snow. Of course, when the blizzard hit us last week and we got over 20 inches of snow, our snowblower wouldn't start - again!

While the hubby was at work, my oldest son and I went out and started clearing snow. One of my wonderful neighbors - we are lucky to have many - came over and helped out with his snowblower. I am all about showing my appreciation for these acts of kindness. I really think he loves snowblowing because he did the sidewalk and our driveway - hooray! I decided I needed to bake something for him and his family. I looked through my Taste of Home Baking Classics Cookbook. It was only $12 at Costco. And, why do asians like a bargain so much? I won't see any asians for a while and then - boom - I go to Costco or the outlet mall and they are all there.

Whatever, I found the recipe I wanted to try. Almond Apricot Bread. It sounds interesting and easy. I run to the store because I have no dried apricots and absolutely no apricot baby food. Thank goodness, no more babies here. Of course, there is only one choice for baby food, an apple apricot. That'll do.

It came out nice looking.

The recipe was simple and the bread looked pretty when it was done. Here's the recipe:

Apricot Almond Bread
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 (7 oz.) apricot baby food (or similar)
1 egg
3/4 cup plus 1 tsp. milk, divided
3 Tbsp. canola oil
1-1/8 tsp. almond extract, divided
2/3 cup sliced almonds, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup diced dried apricots
1/2 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl,combine the flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Set aside 1 tablespoon of baby food for glaze. In another bowl, beat the egg, 3/4 cup mil, oil, 1 tsp. almond extract, and remaining baby food. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Fold in almonds and apricots.

Pour into greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

For glaze, combine the powdered sugar, reserved baby food, remaining milk, and extract until smooth. Drizzle over cooled bread. Yield: 1 loaf (16 slices).

Those must have been some small slices because there was no way we got 16 out of one loaf. See all those little pieces of almond and apricot? Scarily, this reminds me of a fruitcake.



Obviously, I made two loaves one for the neighbor and one for us. Looks like someone was ready for a bite!

Almost Guri Guri

GURI GURI....mmmm. Remember that creamy sherbet-like cold treat from Maui. You could only get it by going to Tasaka's Guri Guri in Wailuku or someone would have to bring some to you. They always packed it up in those Chinese take out style containers and packed it for you to take back to Honolulu. Only two flavors were ever available strawberry (my favorite) or pineapple (wouldn't turn it down).

So, how do you get Guri Guri when you are 5,000 miles away in very cold Illinois? Guri Guri is cold and so is my okole right now. Honestly, last year at this time, I was in Honolulu and it was about 90 degrees warmer than it will be here today. While we were there, we did have a knock off Guri Guri that they sell at Longs Drugs. It was pretty good and came in different flavors like Chocolate Haupia, Strawberry Vanilla, and Strawberry Banana. I can't remember the brand, but they were packaged in small plastic containers with the cardboard disk top with the little tab to remove it. Anything you eat with a wooden spoon in a little cup can't be that bad, right?

Back to my point, I need to make my own Guri Guri. Here is the first recipe I tried:

GURI GURI#1
2 (12 oz.) cans of strawberry soda
1 (12 oz.) can of 7 up
1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk

The first and most important thing you need to do is make sure you have enough room in your freezer to fit the bowl you are using. Then, mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Place the bowl in the freezer for a 2-3 hours. If you are like me, make that 4 or 5 hours, because you tend to forget. Go back and give it a stir. Unless you are like me again and forget, then when you go back it'll be 4-5 hours later and you'll think that it is totally frozen already, so you proceed to shove your spoon into it and find that only the top inch is frozen. This causes you to plunge into the liquid portion and it splashes all over your face. Not a good look. So, don't be like me. After your first stirring that should happen at the 2-3 hour mark, leave it overnight. The next day, stir it up and serve.


Looks pretty yummy.


Grab a spoon. Preferably a cow handled spoon because the cow is happy you used sweetened condensed milk.


See the cow is smiling.

My rating on this: Good, not like Tasaka's, a little too sweet for me. The kids thought it was good, but not great. If you have another version that you think gives Tasaka Guri Guri a run for their money, let me know and I will try it out.

Rainbow & Cloud Cupcakes

I love Family Fun magazine. So, the other day I see these on the last page and so do the kids. Of course, we have to make them. Oh, the uses for these babies. Stick a little gold chocolate coin in the top and voila...you've found the leprechauns treasure at the end of the rainbow. Got a little girly girl who loves colorful rainbows and unicorns...now you've got the perfect birthday cupcakes. Need a snack while you watch the Gay Pride Parade...fabulous. What else? Let me know if you come up with other ideas. My creative brain just collapsed.

Here's the recipe for those of you who want to go somewhere over the rainbow.

Rainbow Cupcakes
1) Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter into six small bowls. Add food coloring to make the six colors of the rainbow. Purple: 9 drops red & 6 drops blue; Blue: 12 drops blue; Green: 12 drops green; Yellow: 12 drops yellow; Orange: 12 drops yellow & 4 drops red; Red: 18 drops red. Mix each until the color is evenly distributed.

2) Line your muffin tins with 16 baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following the order listed above. Try to cover the color below as much as possible with the back of a spoon.

3) Bake the cupcakes according to the cake mix directions. Before serving remove the paper wrapper and top with a cool whip cream cloud. I would use cream cheese frosting if you wanted to transport it somewhere.