Peanut Butter Nutter Butter Chocolate Brownies

Talls and I decided to make something original this evening. My sister Emily just earned the nickname Talls because I get all of her hand me downs... er ups.  She always helps me bake and is often the inspiration for my recipes. :)

 This is what you need for the brownies

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
•  1 bag chocolate chips (Use only 1/4th of the bag in the actual brownies)

This is what you need for the peanut butter filling

• 1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Pinch of salt to taste
• 4-5 Nutter Butter cookies, crushed.

 Here's how you do it

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 1. Bring butter to room temperature, whip with a hand mixer. Add sugar and cocoa. Then add eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt.

 2. Fold in 1/4th of a bag of chocolate chips.

3. Grease a glass pan (Glass is totally the way to go). Add the batter, smooth evenly. Pop it in the oven on the middle rack for about 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

 4. Mean while you're gonna make the filling. In a small sauce pan, melt the peanut butter and butter.

5.Once melted, remove from heat and add salt and confectioners sugar until combined.

 6. Add the crushed nutter butters to that creamy goodness.

 

7.After your brownies have cooled, spread the peanut butter topping evenly. (Please refrain from eating it all while you wait for them to cool)

 

 8. Pour the rest of the bag of chocolate chips into a microwaveable bowl. Heat for 1 minute and stir at 30 seconds.

 9. Pour the melted chocolate over the entire pan. Smooth using a spatula.

 10. Wait for it to cool (4 hours in the fridge, 2 hours in the freezer?), then enjoy!

Blueberry Swirl Muffins

Blueberry muffins made from scratch. Need I say more? Yes, yes I do because these are not your average blueberry muffins. I didn't need to tweak the recipe because it was flawless. I will say that you shouldn't make this recipe if....

A. You have an allergy to any of the ingredients.

B. You like being skinny.

C. You really like store bought blueberry muffins and you want to keep it that way.

D. You do not want your mind blown.

I was determined to find the best blueberry muffin recipe I could find. I mean the best. So I googled "Best Blueberry Muffins" and this is what I found.
The Bitten Word posted this recipe which they claimed to be the best. I decided anything with a blueberry sauce and a sugar topping had to be good. Let me share it with you.

Blueberry Swirl Muffins

Makes 1 dozen muffins

This is what you need for the muffins

• 2 cups fresh blueberries ( Two small containers at the grocery, nice and clean)
• 1 1/8 cups plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter room temp
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

This is what you need for the sugar topping

• 1/3 cup (21/3 ounces) sugar 
• 1½ teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Here's how it's done
Preheat your oven to 425.  Line your muffin pan with paper cups or grease pan thoroughly.
On medium heat, heat 1 cup(1 package) blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar in sauce pan. Mash and stir blueberries often and let simmer until it has been reduced to a thicker jam like texture. This may take about 5 to 8 minutes. Be sure to continue stirring, as the blueberries may stick. Set aside.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 11/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until incorporated. Do not over mix, this is a muffin batter not a cake batter. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)

Now divide the batter up into the 12 cups. In each cup, add about a tablespoon of the blueberry compote you made earlier. Mix it in using a toothpick. Add the lemon zest sugar topping.
 Bake for 17 to 19 minutes until a light golden brown.

Serve with a fat pad of butter in the middle. :)

My Award Winning Mocha Chip Brownies

Coffee and chocolate were made to be together. This isn't an opinion, this is a fact and I can prove it.
This recipe is pretty flexible, I've added white chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate chips, and my favorite is Andes mints. Well, my friend Coby graduated high school this year and is having a graduation party today. I can't go to a party empty handed so this is what I'm bringing.

To make these delicious brownies you will need

• • 1 Cup butter (Thats TWO sticks)

  • 2/3 c. cocoa (I like Hershey's unsweetened.)
  • 2-3 tbsp. instant coffee powder (Depending on how much you like coffee.)
  • 2 c. sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 c. flour
  • 1 c. chocolate chips OR Andes Mints OR White chocolate OR whatever you want. 

   
  Here's how you make 'em 
   
  1. Grease 9 x 13 inch pan. 
  2. Stir together butter, cocoa, and instant coffee. 
  3. Add sugar; mix well. 
  4. Beat in eggs, one at a time. 
  5. Stir in spices and flour just to blend. -Do not over beat.-
  6. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake 30 minutes in a glass pan at 325 degrees.
   
  Be sure to let them cool for AT LEAST an hour before cutting, otherwise they will fall apart and be a hot mess.
  
  

The Best Snickerdoodles, ever.

 

Okay guys, this is not my recipe. I wish it were, I would feel like a culinary genius. I randomly found it on Allrecipes.com.
Honestly, this is the best Snickerdoodle recipe hands down.
I urge you to try it. It's inexpensive, and odds are you  already have most of the ingredients.
The one down side is that they can burn very easily if you don't remove them from the pan immediately. But the up side is that even the burnt cookies are good if you don't eat the bottom

Here's what you need

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Here's how you do it

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets. 

A good way to tell if they are done is to very gently lift a cookie off of the sheet with a metal spatula to check the bottom. A light golden brown is what you're looking for. Happy Baking!