Sweet Tooth Saturday – Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Blondies

I was a blondie virgin until this weekend, and now the only question floating around in my mind is, “Why? Why did I wait so long??” Like everyone else in the universe, I have a surplus of Halloween candy, and I wanted to do something other than mindlessly stuff my face with it. Enter these Peanut Butter Blondies from Brown Eyed Baker.  Peanut butter, peanut butter chips, peanuts, and Reese’s pieces all together in one decadent treat….a peanut butter lover’s dream come true!


I made exactly three minor modifications to the original recipe - creamy peanut butter instead of crunchy, replaced 1/2 cup of brown sugar with sucanat, and added the Reese’s Pieces - so if you have any interest in making these (and you really should want to make these RIGHT NOW), head over here to get the recipe.


In case I hadn’t made it abundantly clear yet, I loved these blondies. They were easy to make, the ingredients are things that I typically have on hand, I had fun playing around with the design of the candy on top, and most importantly, they are rich and moist and packed with so many variations of peanut butter yumminess. However, Cesar says they could stand to be even richer, so next time I make them, I plan on chopping up Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and adding those to the batter as well as making the Reese Pieces chevron pattern solid. More candy = richer, right? And how much more festive will they look with more color on top?


I learned two interesting(?) things about Reese’s Pieces while making these. #1 – When the Reese’s Pieces get really hot, they have the tendency to crack and pop open, and they sound a lot like the sound Rice Krispies make when you add milk to them. #2 - The colors are not even remotely evenly distributed in the mini Halloween packs. Apparently people don’t like brown pieces very much?


I’m about to curl up with two pugs and watch The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I love Judi Dench, so I have high hopes for the movie. I hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday night!

Sweet Tooth Saturday – Brownie Cookies

Oh Saturday, how I love you! Weekends are always great, but there are some work weeks that really make me feel like I have earned a couple of days away from the world of mortgage banking, and this was definitely one of them. I kicked off the weekend with a great sweat session in Cotanchobee Fort Brooke Park in downtown Tampa. The weather was gorgeous, and my trainers put us through a fun but challenging hour long full body HIIT workout.

After getting home and cleaning myself up, I started browsing though my thousands of saved recipes to decide what sweet treat to whip up this week. The fact that there are still a couple of vanilla cupcakes left in the house from last weekend was a clue that I better revert to baking with chocolate this week. I saw these rich and fudgy Brownie Cookies on Annie’s Eats, and the short ingredient list and the whole “brownies but in a cookie” concept had me sold.




These cookies were a breeze to throw together. I cut Annie’s recipe in half, and my only modification was to keep the amount of chocolate chips indicated in the full recipe. There’s no such thing as too much chocolate in this family! The most difficult part of the process was having the patience to wait for the cookies to completely cool before removing them from the cookie sheet. This is an important step because the cookies are very soft and they will fall apart if they are still warm when you try to move them.


The cookies baked up beautifully – moist, chewy, and loaded with chocolate goodness. I love their crinkly appearance!



The only thing I will change next time I make these is to use a darker chocolate. I didn’t want to go to the grocery store, so I used what I had in the house - a mixture of Lindt A Touch of Sea Salt dark chocolate and Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Chips. The cookies were very sweet, and while that is not a complaint, I think we might enjoy them more if they had the more complex flavor of a deeper chocolate.

The rest of our Saturday was spent enjoying time with some adorable pugs, stalking Maria’s progress on the Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Race, and going to see Argo. I loved Argo. Even though I knew how the story ended before the movie began, I was still on edge for the entire two hours. Ben Affleck is a talented man!




And I can’t end this post without talking a little bit about Maria’s amazing results from yesterday. That woman is nothing short of amazing. She has worked so hard for the last few months to train for this race, and I had no doubt she was 100% ready to conquer the distance. That being said, anyone who races regularly knows that sometimes things just don’t come together on race day despite the best and most thorough training, so I was still a tad bit anxious for her. I am so, so, SO thrilled for her and her remarkable accomplishment, and I can’t wait hear all about the race!

Sweet Tooth Saturday – Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Perfect would be the only word to describe today. I’m racing tomorrow, and I always take the day prior to a race off from the gym, so I was able to sleep in this morning. Turns out that 6:30 AM constitutes sleeping in for me these days, but any day I don’t have to wake up to my alarm is a good day. The weather here is finally starting to cool down a bit, so I am took advantage of the breezy, upper 60s weather and took my pugs on the first long(ish) walk of the fall. We meandered around the neighborhood for a good 45 minutes, and when we got home, I decided they deserved a special breakfast.



It’s hard to tell, but in the spirit of Halloween, I used a bat shaped cookie cutter to cut a hole in some bread and then fried an egg in the hole. I think Phoebe and Chloe were fans. Being the smart pugs they are, they both devoured the egg first and then started working on the bread when they finished the good stuff.




This afternoon, Maria, Cesar, and I went to check out Tampa Bay Veg Fest. We headed straight for the Gone Bananas food truck. It was a long line, but it was totally worth it. I got Strawberry Banana Whip with raspberries and blueberries. It was light and fresh and sweet and delicious. Maria got banana whip with peanut butter, graham crackers, and chocolate covered pretzels.



We wandered around for awhile, looking at the various exhibitors and enjoying all the vegetarian and vegan samples. I tried oat milk for the first time – yum! The most exciting part of the afternoon was coming upon Simply Bars. I have read about these on other blogs and have been dying to try them, but they aren’t found in any retail locations here in Tampa. I was able to sample every last flavor today, and I came home with 9 bars and 6 bags of the new protein chips.

When we got home, it was time to whip up something sweet for my sweetie. I bought this stainless steel pastry bag a few weeks ago, and I’ve been itching to put it to use, so I chose these Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting from Glorious Treats. 


So, were they perfect, as the name indicates??  I can’t say that I’ve baked many vanilla cakes from scratch (I grew up in a house where chocolate cakes were the norm and married a chocolate cake loving husband), but I don’t think I need to go in search of any other recipes. The cupcakes were very easy to make, although I did have to make a special trip to the grocery store for cake flour. They turned out light and airy with just the perfect amount of vanilla flavor. I went with a chocolate frosting to make Cesar happy. Next time I make these, I will choose a vanilla frosting, as I think I would enjoy them more if the chocolate from the frosting wasn't competing with the flavor of the cupcake.




Although I am sad this wonderful day is coming to an end, I am excited to get up and run tomorrow morning. Time to put together a play list!

Sweet Tooth Saturday – Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My alarm went off at 4:35 AM this morning. I was tagging along with Maria on the long run she was doing with a local triathlon training group at Clearwater Beach. We ran 13 miles at a pace that should have felt comfortable, but I’ve noticed that whenever I spend a few days running in a cooler climate, my first few runs back in the Florida heat and humidity feel a lot more challenging. Regardless, it was a beautiful run; I will never, ever get tired of watching the sun come up over the water, and it was a great way to kick off my three day weekend.

Because today’s run took quite a bit out of me, I wanted to go the easy route when it came to baking. And since both Cesar and I are still recovering from all the delicious food we ate while on vacation in Minnesota, I wanted to bake something slightly less decadent. Whenever I want to make something healthy but still delicious, I turn to Clean Eating Magazine. It is my favorite cooking magazine. I’ve introduced so many new foods into my diet since I started reading it, a number of the recipes have unique flavor combinations that I probably never would have thought of on my own, and best of all, I can feel good about eating anything from its pages. Today’s treat ended up being these cookies with a few minor changes. I used Archer Farms Almond, Peanut & Cashew butter (love this stuff!) in place of the almond butter, added a teaspoon of vanilla, and used Lindt Dark Chocolate with a Touch of Sea Salt for the chocolate.



While these cookies are definitely a treat, as far as cookies go, they could be much worse. They contain no flour, no dairy, and rather than white sugar, they call for Sucanat. Sucanat is dehydrated sugar cane juice which retains 100% of the molasses from the sugar cane (hence the golden brown cookies) as well as small amounts of some vitamins and minerals. I like to tell myself that it’s better for me than white sugar, although it is still sugar when it comes down to it. The nutritional value of these cookies aside, they taste darn good. They are rich and nut-buttery, and since they have no flour, they almost melt in your mouth. I have two hints if you decide to bake these – use a high quality nut butter and chocolate bar. Since these cookies have so few ingredients, I think it’s important not to skimp on what you put in them. Secondly, do not over bake them. The recipe calls for 10 – 12 minutes in the oven; I let the first batch go for 12 minutes, and that was too long. I pulled the second batch out just before 10 minutes was up, and they were perfect.

Sweet Tooth Saturday – Chocolate Revel Bars

Sweet Tooth Saturday went retro this weekend!  Is it just me, or did everyone’s mom have some version of this cookbook when they were growing up?

image source

I don’t know how old my mom’s copy was, but I know that by the time I started cooking, many pages of hers were crinkled and stained from use.  My amma (grandma in Icelandic) gave me my own copy when I was a teenager, and while it’s no longer my go-to cookbook, I still refer to it for ideas when I’m in the mood for something that is easy to prepare but tastes great.  When I was paging through it last weekend, I came across the recipe for Chocolate Revel bars.  These might be my favorite bar cookie ever.  When our college cafeteria made them, I turned into a bit of a food hoarder and would wrap as many as I possibly could sneak out in my back in napkins to eat later…..healthy living wasn’t really a focus of mine back then, clearly.  I had forgotten all about these ridiculously delicious treats until I saw the recipe, but it took all of two seconds for me decide they HAD to be made once I remembered them.  I made a few modifications to the original recipe, the most important being cutting the oat mixture in half and leaving the chocolate filling ingredients as written. There can never be too much chocolate, right??



Chocolate Revel Bars
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, divided
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
1.  Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2.  In a large bowl, beat together 1/2 cup butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg,  1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, and 1/2 of teaspoon salt; stir into butter mixture.
3.  Pat 2/3 of the oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Refrigerate for one to two hours.
4.  In a medium saucepan, heat remaining sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt over low heat, stirring until smooth or mostly smooth. Do not heat for too long; if the chocolate mixture is heated for too long, it will seize up and become very difficult to spread.  It’s better to remove from heat with a few small bits of chocolate left unmelted than it is to overheat. Stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Set aside and allow the chocolate to cool until the oat mixture is ready to be removed from the refrigerator.
5.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
6.  Remove the oat mixture from the fridge, and spread the chocolate mixture evenly over the top.  Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the top; some of the chocolate layer should still be visible.
7.  Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned; the chocolate mixture will still look moist. Let cool on a wire rack, then cut into bars.

These bars are so easy to make; the hardest part is the waiting.  Cesar was pretty thrilled with them as well. He may have slipped into a mild depression when he realized he only had two left.  Luckily for him, every week includes a Saturday, so there will be something new to lift him out of his funk before too long.

Now that I’ve taken care of that business, here’s a silly video to brighten your Saturday.

Sweet Tooth Saturday - Peanut Butter Oatmeal Triple Chip Cookies

For some reason, I’ve been feeling nostalgic for my college dining hall lately. I know it probably sounds weird to say that, but we actually had pretty decent food at Macalester, and I especially loved having a huge selection of desserts from which to chose at every meal.  There was one dessert that Cesar and I both loved, so last weekend, I decided I would make it for him.  I had already started creaming butter and sugar together when I discovered that I was missing a key component. I was lazy & stubborn and refused to make a trip to the store or take any more butter out of the fridge, so I started combing through my bookmarked recipes to find something else that required the exact same amount of butter and sugar I already had in the mixer.  These cookies from Pinch of Yum were the first things I stumbled upon, and since peanut butter and chocolate is the single best flavor combination ever, I decided they were a good choice.

I made a couple of very minor modifications to the original recipe; I used three kinds of baking chips, added some peanut butter extract, and I refrigerated the dough for a few hours prior to baking.  I usually chill my cookie dough because I like a thicker cookie, and I also think it lets the oats soak up a bit of moisture.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Triple Chip Cookies
Minimally adapted from Pinch of Yum’s Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup unpacked brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp peanut butter extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup Hershey’s Mini Milk Chocolate baking chips

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars until smooth. Add the peanut butter, vanilla extract, peanut butter extract, and egg and mix until well blended. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the bowl of the mixer and mix until just moistened. By hand, stir in the oats and baking chips until evenly distributed.
2. Refrigerate the dough for at least three hours; if you have extraordinary patience, even longer is better.
3. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
4. Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat.
5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges just start to brown. If you bake the cookies too long, they won’t remain soft.
6. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Cesar liked these cookies, but he didn’t love them.  He preferred the bites with mini Hershey’s chips to the the dark chocolate chips because the Hershey’s chips remained solid while the dark chocolate chips were melted.  He also said they could have had more peanut butter; however, keep in mind this is a guy who regularly does battle with family sized jars of peanut butter with a spoon as his only weapon and wins.  Even with all of these recommendations for improvement, I did notice that six cookies were missing from the cooling rack before I managed to get them put away.  Me thinks someone fancies himself quite the food critic.  But I guess that’s what I pay him for, right??

Sweet Tooth Saturday – Pasta Frola

Cesar’s family is from Argentina.  His parents were both born and raised there, and while he and his siblings were all born in the U.S., they lived in Argentina for much of his childhood.  One of the biggest perks of marrying him, aside from gaining a second family whom I adore, has been the discovery of Argentinean food.  While there are definitely aspects of their cuisine that I question (is it really necessary to devote an entire aisle of the grocery store to various flavors of mayonnaise??)), there are so many things to love.  Milanesa, chimichurri, empanandas, flan, and dulce de leche are all things that have become favorites of mine, but I think my ultimate foodie find has to be dulce de membrillo.  Dulce de membrillo, or quince paste, is sweet and just a tiny bit tart, and it can be used in desserts or served with cheese and bread. 
Pasta frola is a traditional Argentinean dessert.  It consists of a shortbread-like crust, a layer of dulce de membrillo, and finally another layer of crust. Cesar’s mom makes a delicious version, but since I didn’t want mine to be in direct competition with the pasta frola she makes so well, I went in search of a new recipe.  When I came across a recipe on From Argentina with Love that uses another one of my favorite foods, almond flour, I suspected I had found a winner.  I wasn’t wrong; the crust is rich and tender and tastes almost exactly like the butter cookies that are so common at Christmas.

Pasta Frola
Very minimally adapted from this recipe
Shortbread Crust
1 cup almond flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk

Quince Filling
About 12 oz of quince paste**
About 1/4 of water
1/2 tbsp of lemon juice

Shortbread Crust Instructions
In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine. Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and beat for one minute more.
On low speed, add the flour mixture in all at once and beat until combined. Divide the dough in half. Press the first half of the dough into an even layer into a 9-inch tart ring or springform pan. Press the edges up about 3/4 of an inch. Roll out the other half on a lightly floured baking sheet lined with parchment paper, into a 13-inch round. Place both in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.

Filling Instructions
Heat the quince paste in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and whisk. The goal is to make the paste a spreadable jelly-like consistency without making it watery. It may be necessary to heat for an additional 20 seconds to fully incorporate the water into the paste. Stir until incorporated. Refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the pasta frola.

Assembly Instructions
Spread the quince paste evenly on the chilled dough in the tart ring. Using a fluted pastry wheel or a knife, cut the chilled round of dough into strips about 1-inch wide. The dough will puff up a bit in the oven, so you don’t want to make the strips too wide or place them too close together (like I did on mine). Arrange the strips across the round tart in a lattice pattern. Freeze for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Bake for 40 minutes; the crust should be a nice golden brown. Let cool completely before removing the tart ring and cutting.

**Dulce de membrillo can be hard to find.  If you live in Tampa, La Loma Market at 3224 N Armenia Ave carries it as well as a number of other imported Argentinean goods.  And if you’re a fan of Argentinean cuisine, be sure to check out Renzo’s on Kennedy Boulevard.  It’s one of our favorites!