Peanut Butter Layer Cake

Here are some cakes that I did for the bake sale last week. They were already accounted for before the bake sale even started so I really didn't sell these AT the bake sale. It's a peanut butter layer cake with a crunchy peanut butter cream cheese icing. I figured that icing the same cake the same way twice would be boring so I mixed it up. So yeah, same cake, same frosting, different way of decorating.



To frost/decorate the reese's cake....
1) Frost the top of the bottom layer and put the other cake on top
2) Frost a thin layer of frosting on the entire cake to help seal in the crumbs
3) Apply a thicker, more decorative layer of frosting to the entire cake
4) This cake is roughly frosted for texture
5) Crush Reese's cups and scoop and press them onto the side of the cake

To frost/decorate the line-ey cake
1) Follow the first 3 steps of the other cake's directions
2) While applying the decorative layer, dip your offset spatula (or whatever you are using to frost the cake) in milk (i'm sure water would work fine too)
**This creates the "smooth look" of the frosting
3) Once you've frosted the whole cake smoothly, melt chocolate bark and scoop into a ziploc bag
4) Snip the very very teeny tiny end of the bag off
5) Gently start squeezing the bag over the cake going side to side
6) Every once in a while, stop, turn the cake, and begin squeezing the bag again (to get lines going in different directions




Ingredients
-2 cups AP flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1 cup creamy peanut butter
-1 stick butter or margarine (softened)
-1 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 cup packed brown sugar
-2 large eggs
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-3/4 cup milk
-peanut butter cream cheese frosting
*1 stick butter or margarine (softened)
*1 cup crunchy peanut butter
*1 package (3 oz) cream cheese(softened)
*1 tsp vanilla
*2 cups powdered sugar
*3 tbls milk

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 (9 in) baking rounds.
2) In a medium bowl, stir together flour and baking powder
3) In a large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat peanut butter, butter and both sugars for 3 minutes or until creamy.
4) Add eggs one at a time, beating well after eah addition. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low.
5) Add flour mixture alternatedly with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
6) Turn batter into prepared pans and spread evenly. Bake 20-30 minutes or until toothpick into the center comes out clean.
7) Cool cake completely in pan on wire rack.

Frosting Directions
1) In a lagre bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat softened butter, peanut butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth ad fluffy.
2) Add powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons milk. Beat until blended. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes or until fluffy; adding remaining milk as needed for desired consistency.


*****Some things I will do differently next time
1) Double the recipe and make 4 layers...the cake was kind of short
2) Frost the cake as SOON as it is cool (the cake dries out really fast so you need to seal in the moisture asap)...it was hard to frost it when it needed to be because of all the other baking I was doing at the time.

Superbowl Stuffed Brownie Cupcakes

This weekend, I fell off the "eating healthy" wagon. Well, when I say "fell off", I really mean "thrown off and got trampled by a herd of pregnant bison. And this is part of the reason. For the superbowl, I (with the help of my friends, Allison and Jen) made stuffed brownie cupcakes. What were they stuffed with? Reese's, Twix, York Peppermint Patties, and COOKIE DOUGH! Yum Yum Yum!

Ingredients
-To make this simple, I just used a box mix for Fudge Brownies and made it per the direcgtions for the "fudge-like" texture (I like fudge)
-Mini Reese's
-Mini Twix
-York Peppermint Patties
-Roll of chocolate chip cookie dough

Chocolate Ganache Icing
-1 bar of your favorite chocolate
-1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions
1) Mix up the brownie batter
2) Fill the cupcake tins up 1/3 of the way
3) Place your desired filling on top of the batter
4) Fill the cupcake tins up another 1/3 (batter should now be 2/3 of the way up the side)
5) Continue until you run out of batter
6) Bake at 350 for about 13 minutes (check on them, oven times vary)
7) Frost with ganache and use extra candy to sprinkle over the top of the cupcakes (to remember what's inside)

Directions for Ganache
***I am a college student and did not "scald" the cream like you are supposed to
1) Crush the chocolate into a bowl
2) Stick the cream in the microwave for 1 minute
3) Pour hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for a few minutes
4) Whisk the cream and chocolate together until there are no "pieces" of chocolate left and it is smooth

Snow Shovels

Here we go again guys...it's another snowy day here in Lynchburg. No school...anywhere. That means there are lots of mamas trying to rack their brains to figure out how to keep their cabin-fevered whipper snappers from tearing the house apart. I ran into my anatomy professor yesterday and he told me it's been a ROUGH week trying to keep his kids occupied while stuck at home. So, I thought I'd do my part today and give you some super cute recipe ideas that would help fill the time on a snowy day such as today. First one...snow shovels.

Ingredients
-1 pkg. (16.5 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Dough
-12 pretzel rods, broken in half
-1 cup (6 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Premier White Morsels, divided
-2 teaspoons vegetable shortening
-1/3 cup mini marshmallows
-White decorator sprinkles or sugars, sweetened flakes coconut (optional)

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease three baking sheets.

2) Break dough along pre-scored lines. Place 8 squares of cookie dough about 3 inches apart onto each prepared baking sheet. Insert broken end of pretzel rod into each square of cookie dough; flatten dough slightly to form a rectangle. Flatten each square slightly with fingers to form a rectangle, about 1 1/2-inches long by 1 1/4-inches wide. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

3) Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and immediately pat sides of each shovel with edge of knife to form straight sides. Cool on baking sheets for two minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

4) Line cooled baking sheets with wax paper.

5) Microwave 2/3 cup morsels and shortening in small, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 45 seconds; STIR. Morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted.

6) Dip bottom 1-inch edge of each cookie shovel in melted morsels; scraping bottom of shovel along edge of bowl to remove excess. Place on prepared baking sheets. Immediately sprinkle dipped end of each shovel with remaining 1/3 cup morsels, mini marshmallows and sprinkles. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until set. Store shovels between layers of wax paper in covered containers at room temperature.

NOTES:
• 1 3/4 cups NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Tub Dough can be substituted for the bar dough. Roll dough into 24, 1 1/4-inch balls.
TIP:
• Refrigerating dough shovels before baking helps to prevent cookies from spreading and retain their shape during baking.

White Trash

This is another favorite snack mix recipe...the super bowl is THIS weekend people!!! I first heard of "white trash" at my Anatomy & Physiology professor's house when his wife made it for us! It was awesome! Here's how you make it...

Ingredients
-1 package (10 ounces) mini pretzels
-5 cups Cheerios
-5 cups Corn Chex
-2 cups salted peanuts
-1 pound M&M's
-2 packages (12 ounces each) vanilla chips
-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions
1) In a large bowl, combine first five ingredients; set aside
2) In a microwave-safe bowl, heat chips and oil on medium-high for 2 minutes, stirring once
3) Microwave on high for 10 seconds; stir until smooth
4) Pour over cereal mixture and mix well
5) Spread onto three waxed paper-lined baking sheets
6) Cool; break apart
7) Store in an airtight container

Puppy Chow

No, I'm not talking about the stuff your dog eats...in fact, this might not be such a good idea for dogs at all (chocolate). I'm sure most of you have had this before and would agree with me on how good it is. But anyway, puppy chow is a WONDERFULLY delicious snack food that would be perfect for a Super Bowl party. And did I mention it's delicious?

Ingredients
-9 cup Chex
-1 cup chocolate chips
-1/2 cup peanut butter (I prefer the extra crunchy kind)
-1/4 cup butter
-1/4 teaspoon vanilla
-1 1/2 cup powdered sugar



Directions
1) Put cereal in large bowl
2) Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter
3) Remove from heat and stir in vanilla
4) Pour over Chex cereal, put into a large plastic bag with powdered sugar and shake well to coat
5) Spread mixture evenly on wax paper and allow to cool

Hershey Bar Cake

This recipe actually comes from the lady who does my hair...Kristene. She loves making this cake and I'm glad she does...and I'm glad she gives out the recipe :) It's a layered chocolate cake that uses 3 bars of Hershey's chocolate. Yummy!

Ingredients
-One box of milk chocolate cake mix (any chocolate box mix will do)
-1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
-3 eggs
-1 cup self rising flour
-1 cup of oil
-1 and 1/2 cups milk

Hershey bar Frosting
-8 ounce tub of cream cheese (room temperature)
-1 cup of 10x powdered sugar
-12 ounce container of cool whip
-1/2 cup of pecans (optional)
-3 Hershey bars or mini hershey kisses

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 325
2) Prepare 2 round cake pans with non stick spray then,
pour batter into pans and bake on 325 degrees for about 25 minutes
3) Let cool

Frosting Directions
1) Mix frosting
2) Break up or shave one of the chocolate bars in the frosting in to little pieces
3) Frost cake and place hershey squares on top of cake sticking out for an awesome cake
4) Keep in refrigerator
5) Even better the following day

Crunch Bar Brownies

Today...it's all about the chocolate :) Why? Because I am really craving it...and it's delicious. Something else thing that my mom used to always make was Crunch Bar brownies. She'd make them for sleepovers, youth group parties, or just for Julie and I to have after school. I don't think we've ever had left overs of these. DELISH!!!...we'll go the easy route and just use a boxed mix.

Ingredients
-Fudge Brownie Mix
-ingredients pertaining thereto
-1 jar marshmallow cream
-1 cup creamy peanut butter
-2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
-3 cups Rice Krispies cereal


Directions
1) Bake the brownies per the box directions
2) Cool
3) Spread the marshmallow cream all over the top of the brownies
4) In a small saucepan, melt peanut butter and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly.
5) Remove from the heat; stir in the cereal.
6) Spread over marshmallow layer.
7) Chill before cutting.

Grasshopper Pie

Due to the overwhelming amount of winter weather we've seen here recently, I decided to fill you guys in on one of my FAVORITE frozen desserts...besides Coldstone's birthday cake remix...but that's beside the point. I'm talking about Grasshopper Pie. MMMMMM! I am in LOVE with anything mint/chocolate and this has the best of both worlds. And obviously, it doesn't hurt that it is so easy to make!

Ingredients
-1 Oreo pie shell
-1/2 gallon mint chocolate chip ice cream (softened)
-crushed oreos (the mint kind is good)
-1 (8 oz) tub whipped cream
-Magic Shell chocolate sauce

Directions
1) Once the ice cream has softened, spoon it into the 9 in Oreo Pie shell and spread flat
2) Top with whipped cream and drizzle with magic shell
3) Put pie in the freezer until the ice cream hardens...usually about 30-45 minutes
4) Garnish with crushed oreos

Amber Alert Chocolate Pecan Pie

This pie has a story behind it...one Sunday afternoon, I was contemplating what to make for the potluck supper at church that night. I soon decided on Paula Deen's chocolate pecan pie. 1) because it's from Paula Deen 2) because it's pecan pie 3) because there's chocolate in it. I don't know, it sounded like a pretty easy decision to me. I was told that we needed to be there by 6:30. So I took my time and was quite pleased with the amount of time I had left over after I had put it in the oven (plenty of time to set!). Until my dad came in (at 10 to 6) and said it was time to go because it started at 6:00! I had to pull the pie out prematurely and take it "as-is". I was hoping that it would set as it cooled so I hid it in the church kitchen until it was time for dessert. When I went back to the kitchen to put it out...IT WAS GONE!!! THE WHOLE STINKIN' THING! GONE! Apparently, someone took the whole pie out to their car! When I found out who took it, I asked them about it and then never asked for it back because I felt bad. Obviously, my dad didn't feel as sympathetic toward the man because he made him give it back (hee-hee) and I'm glad he did because this thing was the BOMB! It still hadn't set but it was still good (all gooey...mmmm). So that's why this pie is called what it is. :)

Ingredients
-1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell
-2 cups pecan halves
-3 large eggs, beaten
-3 tablespoons butter, melted
-1/2 cup dark corn syrup
-1 cup sugar
-3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2) Cover bottom of pie crust with pecans
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and melted butter
4) Add the corn syrup, sugar, bourbon and the chopped chocolate
5) Stir until all ingredients are combined
6) Pour mixture into the pie shell over the pecans and place on a heavy-duty cookie sheet
7) Bake for 10 minutes
8) Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for an additional 25 minutes or until pie is set
9) Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack

Mint Chocolate Layer Cake

^ This is what it's "supposed" to look like ^
This is something I tried because I was bored. I have never really been a layered cake maker (I just didn't think I could pull it off). But since I was home alone one day, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to try it. I thought the cake was super good! I am always a sucker for anything mint chocolate...really....anything. It wasn't the prettiest frosting job because I tried to frost it when it was still warm---btw, don't do that. But it's still a great cake.

Ingredients
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-1 and 3/4 cups sugar
-3 eggs
-4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-3/4 cup milk
-1/2 cup water
-1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
-3/4 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon salt

FILLING:
-1 cup heavy whipping cream
-3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
-1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract
-3 to 4 drops green food coloring, optional

ICING:
-1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
-1/4 cup butter
-1/3 cup evaporated milk
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 and 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions
1) Line two greased 9-in. round baking pans with waxed paper. Grease and flour the paper; set aside.
2) In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3) Beat in chocolate and vanilla.
4) Combine milk and water.
5) Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk mixture.
6) Pour into prepared pans.
7) Bake at 350° for 24-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
8) For filling, in a small bowl, beat the cream until it begins to thicken. Add confectioners' sugar and extract; beat until stiff peaks form. Beat in food coloring if desired.
9) Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with filling. top with second cake.
10) For icing, in a microwave-safe bowl, melt chips and butter; stir until smooth. Cool slightly.
11) Beat in evaporated milk and vanilla.
12) Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar.
13) Frost and decorate cake. Chill 2 hours before slicing.

Chocolate Cheese Fudge

Yep, you read right. Chocolate. Cheese. Deliciousness. Now, who can guess where this recipe came from? I'll give you a hint. The recipe calls for 2 sticks of butter. Yes, Paula Deen. I saw this on the Food Network and was too curious not to try it for myself...and HOLY GUACAMOLE! I'm pretty sure I could eat my weight in this stuff...not that I would. Just sayin'.

Ingredients
-1/2 lb velveeta cheese
-1 cup butter
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup chopped nuts
-2 (16 oz) boxes confectioners sugar
-1/2 cup cocoa powder

Directions
1) Spray the bottom of a 9 X 2 pan with non-stick cooking spray
2) Melt the butter and velveeta together (it said to do it on the stove but I did it in the microwave)
3) Remove from heat.
4) Add vanilla and nuts
5) In a large bowl, sift the sugar and cocoa together. Then add the cheese mixture
6) Stir until completely mixed
7) Press the fudge into the bottom of the pan and refridgerate until completely set

Chocolate Eclair Cake

My Uncle Derek is the mayor of Westminster, South Carolina. So, we don't get to see my cousins that often. But when we do get to go down, I am always hoping that my cousin, Marley, will make Eclair Cake. This stuff is ADDICTING! I made this in my dorm room for a nursing presentation because guess what! NO OVEN NECCESSARY!

Ingredients

-2 (3.5 oz) packages instant french vanilla pudding

-1 (8 oz) tub whipped cream

-3 cups milk

-1 (16 oz) box graham crackers

-1 (16 oz) container chocolate frosting

Directions

1) Make french vanilla pudding as the box says to

2) Fold in the entire tub of whipped cream

3) In the bottom of a 13 X 9 pan, layer graham crackers, then the pudding mixture

4) Repeat as many layers as neccessary to end up with a layer of graham crackers on top

5) Heat up the chocolate frosting in the microwave until thin and pour over the top layer

6) Refridgerate overnight