Peanut Butter Bread

Peanut Butter Bread (shared by Michelle)

Ingredients:
2/3 cup peanut butter (I used a natural crunchy peanut butter)
1 1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Mix together the milk and peanut butter with a mixer.  Add the dry ingredients.  Pour into a greased 8x4 inch loaf pan (I used a small square baking pan and cooked about 30 minutes).  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes (30 minutes if using a different pan).  Allow to cool in pan for about 20 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

ENJOY!

Bits's Delicious Brownies

BITS's DELICIOUS BROWNIES (shared by Megan Bitsoff)

Here are my very special ingredients:

Buy Betty Crocker brownie mix with chocolate icing.

Spoon some dollops of peanut butter into the brownie mix and marbalize by swirling it around with your knife.

Bake. Ice. Eat more than you should! ;)

Pumpkin Better Than Sex Cake

Pumpkin Better Than Sex Cake (shared by Courtney)

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1- 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1- 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1- 8 oz. tub cool whip
About 1/2 bag of heath candy bits
Caramel Sundae Sauce

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and pumpkin puree until a smooth batter forms.
2. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake at 350 for about 23-28 minutes.
3. Remove cake from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.
4. Using the end of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over the top of the cake.
5. Pour sweetened condensed milk over cake.
6. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
7. Remove from refrigerator and spread cool whip over top of cake.
8. Sprinkle with heath bits and drizzle with caramel.
9. Refrigerate for 3-4 hour or overnight.

ENJOY!!

Grandma Barbara's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Note from Zoe: This is my very favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, which came from Joel’s Mom.  The cookies come out slightly perky instead of flat, perhaps because of the dry pudding powder that goes in the mix.

Grandma Barbara’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter

½ cup sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

One packet Jello instant vanilla pudding powder (either size is fine, 3.5 oz or 5 oz)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 ½ cups flour

2 cups chocolate chips

Beat together BUTTER, SUGAR, BROWN SUGAR, DRY PUDDING MIX, BAKING SODA, and VANILLA.  Beat in EGGS.  Add FLOUR and stir together.  Stir in CHOCOLATE CHIPS.  Drop by teaspoonful on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove promptly from cookie sheet and cool on wire rack or wax paper.  Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Fun Variations:

Try butterscotch chocolate chips, or your favorite holiday M&M’s.

Or try chocolate pudding (instead of vanilla pudding) and white chocolate chips.

Healthy Cookie Dough Dip

Lauren provided us with Healthy Cookie Dough Dip!  Need I say more.  Whomever tried a taste of this at book club knows what I am talking about ;)  

It is easy to make and a hit at any party/event you bring it too.  Follow this link to see how this delicious creation can be made by: 
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/05/23/want-to-eat-an-entire-bowl-of-cookie-dough/ 

Candy Bars

Candy Bars (shared by Lara)- From the Cake Mix Doctor

Makes: 24 bars
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 40 to 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 cup chopped candy bar pieces of choice (Lara used 1/2 bag of shredded cocount, 1/2 bag of butterscotch chips and 1/2 bag of chocolate chips)

Directions:
1.  Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Set aside an ungreased 13- by 9-inch baking pan.

2.  Place the cake mix, brown sugar, melted butter, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute.  Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Blend again on low speed for 1 minute.  Fold in the candy bar pieces until well distributed.  Pour the batter into the pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula so that it reaches all sides.  Place the pan in the oven.

3.  Bake the cake until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely, 1 hour.

4.  Cut the cake into 24 bars. Remove the bars from the pan with a metal spatula, and serve.

Peanut Butter Brownies

For those of you who missed this past bookclub you missed out on some of the best Peanut Butter Brownies I have ever tasted.  Thanks Lauren for sharing this great dessert.  Here is the recipe for all of us to enjoy another time and hopefully at another bookclub!

Picture courtesy of http://sallysbakingaddiction.com

Check out Sally's Baking addiction for this amazing recipe:
 http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/06/10/skinny-peanut-butter-swirl-brownies/

Peanut Butter & Nutella Swirl Cookies

Peanut Butter & Nutella Swirl Cookies (shared by Talia)

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Approx. 1/4 cup Nutella

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix until well blended.

Add flour, baking soda and salt. Drizzle Nutella on top of the dough then swirl it through the dough with a butter knife.

Chill dough 15 minutes in the refrigerator. Roll into balls by hand. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Using a fork, press down the balls to flatten slightly. Bake until edges are very lightly browned (about 7 to 10 minutes).

Allow to rest 2 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.

Pumpkin Squares

Pumpkin Squares (shared by Courtney)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 1/2 sticks of butter
4 eggs
1 large can of pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Walnuts if desired - I don't use them

For topping - mix 3/4 cup of yellow cake mix with 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup butter. Set aside until later.

For crust - blend rest of cake mix with 1 egg and 1 stick of butter. Spread this over the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Don't worry if this is really sticky.

For filling - mix the rest of everything together. Should be 1 can of pumpkin, 3 eggs, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, and milk. Pour this over the top of the crust. Sprinkle the topping over the filling. Don't worry if it clumps together. Sprinkles walnuts over topping if desired.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.
Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

PUMPKIN BREAD (shared by Michelle)

Book club this time around was filled with pumpkin desserts. This pumpkin bread from eatingwell.com turned out great.  Check out the link below for the recipe.  As recommended in one of the reviews, I added the pumpkin pie spice to the recipe.

Pumpkin Bread from eatingwell.com

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/pumpkin_bread.html

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (shared by Lauren)

Yum!  These cookies were delicious.  Check out the link below for the recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from tasteofhome.com

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies

Decadent Double Chip Brownies

Decadent Double Chip Brownies (shared by Zoe)

Perfect for chocolate lovers!

Ingredients:

¾ cup Hershey’s Cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

½ cup boiling water

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup Milk Chocolate chips

1 cup Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips (I leave these out, but peanut butter lovers will no doubt enjoy including these)

1. Heat over to 350 degrees F.  Grease 13x9x2 inch baking pan.
2. Stir together cocoa and baking soda in a large bowl; stir in 1/3 cup melted butter.
3. Add boiling water; stir until mixture thickens. 
4. Stir in sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup melted butter, stir until smooth. 
5. Add flour, vanilla and salt; blend thoroughly
6. Stir in chocolate chips (and peanut butter chips if using.) 
7. Spread mixture in prepared pan.  Bake 35 minutes maximum or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Cool and cut into squares.  (I’ve found that 35 min is the ideal bake time, no more. The brownies come out crispy on top but deliciously gooey in the middle.)

Baked Apple Crumb Dessert

Baked Apple Crumb (shared by Courtney)   1/4 cup egg whites 1/4 cup honey 1/2 lemon, peeled and seeded 4 apples, quartered and seeded 1/2 cup dates 2 Tablespoons flax seed 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup whole wheat flour 2 cups uncooked rolled oats 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup walnuts 2 tablespoons brown sugar cooking spray   I made this in the Vitamix so I'm not sure how would work with a regular blender.  I don't think it would be that different, you would just have to modify it a little bit.   Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9x9 baking pan with cooking spray Place egg whites, honey, lemon, apples, dates, flax seed, nutmeg and cinnamon into Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.  Select variable 1  Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High Blend for 1 1/2 minutes, using the tamper to press the ingredients into the blades.  Place flour, oats, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and gently combine.  Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture and stir together by hand. Pour into prepared baking pan Clean and dry Vitamix container Add walnuts and brown sugar to Vitamix container and secure lid Select variable 1 Turn machine on and quickly increase speed to Variable 2 until chopped Pour over batter in baking pan Bake 45 minutes Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 Tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-2 oz. red food coloring

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

    Line trays with cupcake papers.

    Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with    whisk until blended. Set aside.

    Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together with another wire whisk.

    Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.

    Pour into cupcake pans and drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

    Bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

    Makes 24 cupcakes

Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 cups confectioners’ sugar

    Sift sugar and set aside.

    Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla.

    Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition.

    And frost away.