Peanut Butter Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Quarantined and bored. Anyone else? I’ve been baking a ton of course, but mostly things that I already have a blog post for. I know I have several peanut butter and peanut butter and chocolate recipes but I don’t think I have quite a cookie like this one. These are so good and my husbands favorite combination. Always easy to make and everyone in your family will love! Especially in a time when we are all cooped up at home, and getting sick of each other, why not bake together and then enjoy it together?! So, without further typing, let’s bake!

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I used half a 12 oz. bag of Nestle semi sweet)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. I another large bowl, beat together the sugar, peanut butter and butter until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla, egg and milk and beat until combined. Slowly beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfulls onto prepared cookie sheet. Press with the tines of a fork to get that staple peanut butter cookie look. Bake for 9 minutes. Allow to cool a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Store covered at room temp.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

No butter, eggs or milk in this super dark chocolate cake! How is that possible? Science! This cake is super moist and delicious, it will probably be my new go-to birthday cake recipe. I topped it with not-so-vegan peanut butter buttercream for my husbands 37th birthday. YUM! If you want to keep the entire cake vegan, though, use whatever frosting you like 🙂 I provided the cake recipe and the buttercream recipe that I used in this post.

Also, this recipe only made an 8 x 8 inch pan, but you can easily double it for a 9 x 13 if you’re feeding more people. The buttercream however, will probably cover it. It makes a ton, I have some left over in my fridge which will probably (definitely) be eaten with a spoon when I’m hungry 😉 And last but not least, this cake is SO EASY to make! no mixer required, just a bowl and spoon and you are done!

So here we go! Let’s go make a vegan cake!

What you will need:

8 x 8 inch baking dish, greased

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white vinegar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup water

For the buttercream:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and sugar. Add in vanilla, vinegar, oil and and water and stir until combined. Pour into prepared dish and bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting. Note: if you doubled the recipe, you will need to bake longer so just keep an eye on it.

For the buttercream, beat together the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add in vanilla, milk and powdered sugar and beat until completely smooth and you reach desired consistency. Spread over top of cooled cake.

Slice and enjoy!

Store covered at room temp.

Thick Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I like my cookies thick, thank very much 🙂 These do not disappoint! Peanut butter and mini chocolate chips come together to form these beauties. Ugh, they are soooo good… just not so good for my thighs (sigh). But maybe that’s why I named these THICK peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, get it?!

Ok, anyways… spring break is around the corner so I told myself I need to slow down the baking of goodies. So here is a perfect last treat to kick us off in the right direction. Plus, Easter is a few weeks away already and some of you give up sweets for lent so…. I’ll spare you the envy with delicious posts until then 🙂 For now, let’s go bake up these thick delights!

Note: This recipe made 1 1/2 dozen cookies and can easily be doubled if need be. Also, make the dough ahead of time because it needs to be refrigerated for 8 hours!

What you will need:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat together the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and egg until well combined. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and chocolate chips. Pour dry ingredients into the wet and stir with a spatula until just combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form dough into balls and place on cookie sheet, then flatten a little bit with your fingers. Bake for 10-12 minutes and cool on a wire rack completely. Store covered at room temperature. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Or squares. Whatever you want to call them. These are SOOOO good. Obviously. Peanut butter and chocolate is the best and is my husbands favorite. Every time I ask him what he wants me to bake next, his response is “something with peanut butter.” Ok, honey. You have spoken and I delivered.

I had to do SOMETHING for him. We just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary and he had flowers delivered to me (pictured in the background). So romantic! He doesn’t do that too often so when he does, I get so surprised. Good job, babe, good job ❤

I feel like this is a great bake for fall and even for Christmas. If you do a cookie exchange, definitely bake up a batch of these and add them to your dish! Yes, I’m already talking about Christmas and it’s not even Halloween yet, but us bakers like to plan, am I right?!

So… here we go. Your go to bake/dessert for the next 2.5 months 😉

What you will need:

13 x 9 pan, greased

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Add in peanut butter and beat until combined and creamy. Add in vanilla and egg and beat until combined. Beat in flour mixture slowly until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into your prepared pan and even out the top and edges. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!

Store covered at room temp or in the fridge.

Mini Reece’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies

These may be my favorite cookie. Peanut butter and chocolate, a match made in heaven. The dough is so amazing and the finished bake is a chewy, peanut buttery goodness! Reece’s is my husbands favorite candy so when I bake, I try to please him as much as possible so he’ll eat what I make. Otherwise, I end up eating it all! Or I have to give some to friends/neighbors.

Anyway, these were a hit in our house! The recipe makes a lot of cookies but can easily be halved if you don’t want to make so much. So, go put on those aprons and let’s BAKE!

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed mini Reece’s Pieces
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
More mini Reece’s Pieces for the tops of the cookies

Tip: To crush the Reece’s, just put in a ziplock bag and bang away with a rolling pin or the smooth side of a meat mallet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together the butter, oil and both sugars until you reach a nice, smooth consistency. Beat in both eggs until combined. Beat in vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture and beat until just combined. Stir in crushed Reece’s and chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Press about 10 mini Reece’s pieces onto the tops of each cookie. Bake for about 8 minutes. I made pretty big cookies so I needed more like 9 minutes. Allow to cool for a minute on bake sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store covered. Enjoy!

Spider Cookies

Oh, Halloween. I adore you! And I adore these cookies! Sometimes pumpkin recipes get a little overwhelming this time of year so I wanted to do a fun but still delicious cookie! Super simple, really just a typical chocolate chip cookie recipe but with white chocolate chips and reese’s pieces. Yum. So go ahead and make these for your Halloween gathering! They will not disappoint 😉

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup Reese’s Pieces (I used mini’s)
Big handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips (for spiders)
1 ounce chocolate (for spiders, I used Baker’s)

In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together butter and both sugars until nice and smooth. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until combined. With a spatula, slowly fold in flour mixture until just combined. Do the same with white chocolate and Reese’s. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while oven preheats.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on how big your cookies are (anywhere from 2-3 tablespoons), bake from 9-11 minutes.

While cookie are baking, melt 1 ounce of chocolate. Baker’s chocolate is usually my chocolate of choice because I never have any problems using the directions on the box for melting it in the microwave. Place melted chocolate in a ziplock bag with a tiny hole cut out of the corner. Allow to cool a few minutes.

As soon as cookies come out of oven, gently press a chocolate chip wherever you want. This is the body of the spider. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Use the melted chocolate for legs. This was my first time doing this so I will definitely be better the next time, but have fun with it! Make your spiders as cute or as big or little as you want.

Store in an airtight container for a few days! Happy Halloween and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

Sooooo good. Peanut butter and chocolate is never a bad idea. I felt like having a gooey brownie so at our weekly Target trip, I picked up a bag of peanut butter chips for some added yumminess. These are really easy to make and of course even easier to eat. The recipe can be doubled if need be. So, go turn on your ovens and let’s get to baking!

What you will need:

8 inch square baking pan lined with foil

10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup peanut butter cups (plus a handful for the top)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl over simmering water, melt the butter, sugar, cocoa powder and salt stirring constantly. Set aside to cool for a minute or 2.

Stir in the vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add the flour until combined. Fold in the peanut butter chips.

Evenly pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with a handful of peanut butter chips. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Store in an airtight container in the fridge or at room temp.

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting

So, it was just my husbands birthday and we went to Key Lime Cove for the night. It was a lot of fun and our 3 year old loved it! When we got home I wanted to make him a cake, even though it wasn’t his birthday anymore. But it’s what I do! He LOVES peanut butter. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that before. So I always try to incorporate it when I’m making him desserts. The buttercream frosting is one I always use but the cake is new and super delicious! It is a little bit dry, more so than I would have liked. But it tastes so peanut buttery that it works, especially with a cup of coffee 😉 And the frosting is super yummy. Oh, and the best thing about this recipe is that it is only one tier so it does not make a lot. Perfect for my family of 3. So… let’s go bake a cake!

What you need:

8 inch round cake pan, greased

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
Dash of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk

For the frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons milk +/-
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until nice and smooth. I just used a hand mixer since we aren’t making a lot of batter. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Slowly add in the flour mixture, alternating with the milk until just incorporated. Batter is thick. Spread evenly into prepared pan and bake for 28-30 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes before inverting to cool completely.

Make the frosting. Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add half of the powdered sugar, the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat until creamy. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk and beat until creamy. Add the cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon of milk and beat until you reach desired consistency, adding more milk as necessary.

Tip: I used a hand mixer for this as well. Adding the ingredients slowly really helps get a nice, fluffy buttercream frosting. Also, beating. Beat and beat some more until your hand hurts 🙂

Frost the cake, decorate and enjoy! Store covered.

We didn’t have any candles so I used matches 🙂 I wanted to see what it looked like.

Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Pies

Need I say more? Oh my God! My husband may propose to me again. He LOVES peanut butter and mixed with chocolate in mini pie form?! Heaven on earth. He actually sent me this recipe in an email a few weeks back. So of course I had to make them for him… and me… and our son 🙂 They are just too good! The toffee really makes them, I seriously did not know how much I liked it! So note to self and a note to you all, do not leave out any ingredients!

Even though there are a lot of steps, they are pretty easy to make. Be sure to read the entire recipe before starting. So come on! Let’s go make people happy and prepare these proposal worthy pies….

Here’s a picture of some of the ingredients so you can see what I used:

What you will need:

Muffin tin lined with 12 cupcake liners

For the crust:

3/4 cup finely crushed graham crackers
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons toffee bits

For the filling:

1 cup heavy cream
6 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup toffee bits
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of salt

For the chocolate ganache:

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream

For the topping:

1/4 cup chopped salted peanuts
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
Mini chocolate chips

To make the crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, brown sugar and toffee bits until combined. Place about a tablespoon at the bottom of each cupcake liner. Press down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake for 5-6 minutes. Set aside.

To make the filling:

In a large bowl (or the bowl of your electric mixer), beat 1 cup of heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Put in the freezer while you continue to make the filling.

In another large bowl, beat together cream cheese and peanut butter until creamy. Add in powdered sugar, toffee bits, vanilla, cinnamon and salt and mix until combined. The mixture will be thick. Scoop it into the whipped cream and gently fold together until everything is combined.

Spoon this mixture into the muffin tin. Fill each cup to the top and make sure the tops are smooth and even. Freeze for about an hour.

To make the ganache:

This ganache is one of my favorite things of life! Seriously, so simple yet so delicious. In a glass bowl (I just used a cereal bowl) put both ingredients. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir well, microwave again for 20 seconds, stir well, microwave one more time for about 20 seconds and stir until chocolate is completely melted. If you need to put it in the microwave again, do so for only 10 seconds. Stirring is the key. Let cool for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Using a big spoon, pour over the peanut butter cups. It’s ok if it spills over. Set aside while you make the toppings.

Microwave the peanut butter in a small bowl for about 20 seconds. Stir and then drizzle over the peanut cups. I put mine in a ziplock bag and cut a corner. Sprinkle the chopped peanuts and chocolate chips on top and put in freezer for at least 4 hours before serving.

These are best served 5-10 minutes after being removed from the freezer as they melt pretty quickly

Store covered in the freezer for up to a week.

Peanuts, chocolate, toffee bits, chopped peanuts….. Drool

You really can’t get any prettier than this 🙂

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