Day 10: Peanut Butter Incredibles with Sara

Greetings from Creating Purple Fire! I'm Sara Carbaugh and I am super thrilled to be sharing one of my favorite Christmas treats with you today, Peanut Butter Incredibles! My mom used to make these every year along with all of our other Christmas goodies and they were definitely something I looked forward to each year! I remember as a kid sneaking into the kitchen after my mom had made these and trying to rearrange all the bars in the Tupperware box so it didn't look like I had taken one or two... possibly three as a snack! Now that I have my own little family I was excited to make these for the first time this year and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were to make!  

Ingredients:
1/3 lb Graham cracker crumbs, finely ground
1/3 lb (about 1 stick and 2 3/4 T) Butter or margerine, melted
1 lb (about 3 1/2 cups) Confectioners sugar sifted
1 1/2 cups Peanut butter
2 Cups (12 oz package) Semi-sweet chocolate chips    

Directions:
Combine crumbs, butter, sugar and peanut butter and cut with a pastry blender to bring it all together. Then when it gets too thick to blend, use your clean hands to really pull the rest of it together. You should end up with a thick ball of peanut buttery goodness. Press the mixture into a 8x12" pan.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second bursts (stirring in between bursts) until the chocolate is smooth. Spread the chocolate over the peanut butter mixture to make an even coating.

Refrigerate the bars until they are firm (30 minutes to an hour). Take the pan out and let it warm up a bit before cutting them into little square bars.

That's it! Super easy and ridiculously good! I hope you try these and I hope you love them as much as my family does!

Best Ever Peanut Butter Cookies: With Polkadots, Buttons and Stripes

Hi, I’m Galia from Polkadots, Buttons, and Stripes and today I’m going to share my mother’s peanut butter cookie recipe for The. Best. Peanut. Butter. Cookies. Ever.

These cookies are the result of hours spent in front of the computer, researching and combining recipes, and finally coming up with the perfect combination: David Lebovitz’s chocolate cookie recipe as the base, with inspiration from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

So, the best cookies ever? I don’t know about that, but they’re pretty darn good!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 C. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 C. butter
1 C. packed light brown sugar
3/4 C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 C. peanut butter (chunky or smooth, your choice! I personally prefer smooth.)
1 bag (roughly 2 cups) peanut butter chips

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl (or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment), beat together the butter, both sugars, peanut butter, and vanilla just until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.

Slowly stir in the flour mixture, then add the peanut butter chips and mix thoroughly.

On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a log about 9 inches long, then wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Slice the logs into disks 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick. Roll each disk between your palms to form a ball, then place them 3 inches (8 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a fork to gently flatten them.
Bake, rotating the sheets midway through baking, until the cookies are lightly browned (about 10 minutes, maybe a bit more).
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.
Makes about 48 cookies.

Note:
The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, but can be frozen for up to a month. The baked cookies will keep well in an airtight container for up to 4 days - if they keep that long! (Ours didn’t.)

Hope you enjoy!

- Galia
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Thanks so much Galia! Those sure do look good! If you'd like to know a little more about Galia or any of the other contributors, please visit the Bio Page.

It's a Beautiful Thing!

So remember when I mentioned here, that I got a lovely present as one of my shower gifts. Now at the time it hadn't actually arrived, but the girls brought it to our weekend of celebrating this past weekend and I am in love!

Sorry the photo isn't that great, the natural lighting has been the pits recently! I decided my first order of business would be to whip up some cookies (recipe below), which of course Reggie was excited about. Also while reading the instructions I found out that you can get all sorts of attachments for grinding meat, stuffing sausages, making pasta, etc. And I have to say Reggie and I thought that was pretty exciting too!

Easy Peaunt Butter Cookies

½ cup  peanut butter

2 tbsp  butter, softened

¾ cup  sugar

1          egg, at room temperature

1 cup   all-purpose flour

½ tsp   baking powder

½ tsp   salt

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Add the peanut butter, butter, and sugar to the mixer and blend on medium. On low speed add the egg, and increase speed slowly until well mixed. On low speed add the dry ingredients a few tablespoons at a time, increase speed to medium until just mixed.

On a greased cookie sheet roll dough into 1” balls and press down with a moist fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Let stand for a couple minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy one or two while they are still warm! Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2 dozen.

Good thing we are getting into a cooler season. I see a lot of baking in my near future!

xox