Peanut Butter Pie for a Dear Friend

Our very good friend Jeremy and his friend Ben own an audio production company called Tunewelder Music Group they had some great success in 2010 and were nominated for 3 Addy awards which are given by the Atlanta Ad Club. At the awards ceremony they took home a medal for each of their nominations, a Gold, Silver and Bronze! I think that this is something to be proud of and should be celebrated with something sweet and homemade! So, I set out to find something fun and different from what I would usually make. I found just thing on Baked Bree's blog- Peanut Butter Pie.

Peanut butter anything is different for me. All of you that know me well know that I have hated peanut butter for close to my whole life. I think that this stems from eating 5 whole Butterfinger candy bars (I swear I'm not exaggerating) in one sitting when I was about 3 years old. As you can imagine my mother had a very long night. But, last night I tasted the filling to the pie I'm about to tell you about and I have to say, it was fairly tasty! Now.....calm down everyone. I will not be dipping a spoon into a jar of peanut butter any time soon, the texture and smell of it is something I can hardly tolerate. However, when mixed with sugar, cream cheese, and whipped cream it's pretty good!

Here is everything you will need to make this light (as in texture- not calories) pie. Note- You sure don't need sour cream.....just noticed it in the photo. That was used in a totally different recipe to be discussed at a later date. :)

Crust
1 1/2 Sleeves Ground Graham Crackers
1/3 Cup Sugar
6 Tbls. Melted Butter

Filling
2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Cup Smooth Peanut Butter
4 Oz. Room Temp. Cream Cheese
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp. Vanilla
3/4 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips

To Make Crust
Pulse Graham crackers in food processor until finely ground. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the ground Graham crackers to a bowl and combine well with sugar and melted butter. Press the mixture evenly into pie tin and bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

To Make Filling
Whip the heavy cream until it creates stiff peaks. Reserve for later.

Cream peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together. It will be the consistency of peanut butter cookie dough.

Then gently fold in the whipped cream. You will need to sacrifice about a quarter of the whipped cream to get the mixture going.

Finally fold in the miniature chocolate chips (reserve a few to garnish the top) and pour into the cooled crust.

Chill for several hours or overnight before enjoying.

Love Day Presents from the Kitchen

Say what you will about Valentine's Day....it's a Halmark holiday....you should show people you love them all the time not just because you have to...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!! I personally LOVE this holiday and not because I have a sweetheart to share it with, but because it celebrates the one thing that I think matters most in life.....Love! And I think that you should share the love with everyone, not just your romantic partner!

This year I made two yummy treats in the kitchen. The first was Peanutella. A homemade peanut version of Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread that so many love, including me. My friend Colleen posted a link to this recipe from Smitten Kitchen on her facebook page. Although I am not fan of peanuts or peanut butter I saved it because I know that the combination of peanuts and chocolate make the rest of the world very happy.

This was very easy to make, who knew that peanuts would liquidify in a food processor?!?!?

And here is a shot of it all packaged up for delivery. I am a firm believer in if you are going to take the effort to make something homemade as a gift you should make the presentation as cute as possible.

The next tasty treat I made was Cookie Dough Cupcakes....yes, you heard me right. I got the idea from a blog that I frequent called Baked Bree (save this one to your favorites, it's awesome). She sent out a Valentine email with the recipe which must have been a special gift to her followers because I can't find it on her blog, but she said she adapted the recipe from another blog, called Kevin & Amanda here is a link to her recipe. I've not spent a lot of time reading this blog, but did poke around a bit and it looks fun too!

The recipe did not disappoint except for the frosting. The cake portion was moist and fluffy and the cookie dough center.....OMG....OMG....OMG, delicious! The frosting however was WAY too sugary. I was thinking when I was making it that it had too much sugar (3/4 cup brown sugar and 3.5 cups of powdered sugar) but I always try a recipe for the first time as directed and then I tweek it later. So next time I will use a regular buttercream icing instead.

Here is a shot of a cupcake sliced open. It is divine! This is probably going to become my new go to "it's your birthday so these cupcakes are calorie free" gift!

And one more shot of the cupcakes all packaged up for delivery. Like I said, you've got to make it cute!

Happy Love Day everyone. Be sure to make it a great day for all the special people in your life!

Two Leaves and a Bud

My latest tea obsession is Peppermint from Two Leaves and a Bud.

Please, do yourself a favor and pick some of this up, it is divine!

Coconut Cake- Attempt # 1

Last weekend I had the urge to bake a cake. I posted this on Facebook and got a ton of comments, people apparently do not eat enough cake! :) I wanted to make a classic cake so was debating either chocolate, vanilla, or coconut. I decided on coconut and choose a recipe from my Baking Illustrated cookbook this recipe was a bit complex but I was up for the challenge.....and oh boy did the challenges reared their ugly heads.

First, I only had whole wheat pastry flour. This apparently does not make for a light and fluffy cake. I had it on hand for muffins and breads which it is great for, learned my lesson and will not use it again in a cake like this one.

Second, my sister and niece stopped by for a quick visit while I was mixing the batter. Instead of paying attention to what I was doing I was chatting away and forgot to add the sugar. Remembered this at the very end as I was pouring the batter into the pans. Had to transfer it back into the mixing bowl and add the sugar. This caused too much mixing and the batter was not as light as it should have been so we had a fairly dry cake when it was all said and done.

Here is the finished product. Pretty, but not as wonderfully light as I wanted. The coconut flavor shined through and the frosting was AMAZING!

So, what I've decided is that this is a great recipe and I need to tackle it again. Next time (which will be soon) I will use regular pastry flour, will be sure to not be distracted and will remember the sugar!