Peanut Butter and Chocolate Thumbprints

I need to admit something about the Olympics.

The Olympics make me feel awkward. They just do.

And stop giving me that face, you know you secretly feel the same way.

And why not feel the same way? Okay seriously, we spend DAYS watching these superstar athletes do amazing things. But don't you feel kinda sad that you were never able to be like that? I mean I'm the first to admit that I was never really that great at sports. I was OK....

Okay I was terrible. Big deal. I was never like them.

Some people are born just amazingly athletic and are good at every single sport they do.

Me, not so much... I'm sure there are millions of people around the world who were born like me... You know? Awkward at sports... Right?

Right. But when I watch the Olympics I feel awkward because just look at them! They can do back flip walkover things and run a mile in under 4 minutes! And I'm just sitting at home being all, "How the heck did they do that!?"

Seriously, I can't even touch my toes, let alone do any type of flipping.

I love the Olympics though. Sadly, they just reminds me of how nonathletic I am. But that's okay. You wanna know why?

While they're out there sweating their butts off, I'm at home, on my couch, eating these. Andddd it's pretty enjoyable.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

For cookies, you will need:
3/4 C creamy peanut butter
1/2 C (1 stick) butter, room temperature
3/4 C granulated sugar, divided 
1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/4 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

For cookie dough you will need: 
2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
1/2 C (1 stick) butter
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 C cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 C mini semisweet chocolate chips

For topping you will need:
1/2 C dark or semisweet chocolate, melted (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together peanut butter, butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Slowly add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until incorporated and dough comes together. 
3. Roll dough by tablespoonful into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until evenly coated. Arrange on prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Lightly press down the cookies using the back of a teaspoon or your thumb, slightly flattening the cookies and creating a small indentation.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until set. Let cool on baking sheets for 1 minute, then further define the indentation in the center of each cookie with the back of a teaspoon or a small rounded scoop. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To prepare filling, beat together peanut butter, butter, and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Mix in flour, coca powder, and salt on low speed. Add cream and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Drop 1 teaspoon of dough onto each cookie. Lightly press into indentation to adhere and then shape top of dough into a smooth dome. Drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired.

* A big thank you to Lindsay Landis of loveandoliveoil.com. This recipe came from her cookbook The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook. 

Mini Cinnamon Peach Scones

I'm kind of obsessed with mini things...

Mini pasta, mini burgers, mini stuffed animals, those mini bubbles that come out of the dish soap container when you squeeze it, mini muffins (you can eat more than one...), mini cars, mini fridges, mini staplers... Really the list can go on and on.

When I was little I used to be obsessed with those mini dolls, Polly Pockets. Seriously I had two huge bins filled with them. I had a ski resort, a horse ranch, a dog wash, convertibles... You name it, I had it. I was also really into Barbies. But that's a whole other story..

 But you know, there are some things that just don't work being mini.

 Mini skirts are a good example. Hunny, if you don't have the legs for it, please don't do that. Oh! And micro mini shorts. You would think that because I'm a teenager I would like those, but... No. I really would rather not see half your butt. Please put it away. But,if it covers your butt, than I am perfectly okay with it!

 Thank you very much.

Isn't it weird that I'm not into that? Is it also weird how I'm starting to like watching Alton Brown's show? I don't understand anything he's talking about, I just think he's quirky. Um. Yeah. Quirky... Or how we got new smoke alarms to replace the old ones, and now they go off just when we make toast. In the toaster. 

Yeah. I know.

Sometimes the world is really messed up. At least I can just sit around and eat scones all day. That makes the world a little bit better.

 I'm gonna go take a nap now. Summer is just so dandy isn't it?

Mini Cinnamon Peach Scones
You will need:
2-1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C butter, cold
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 C milk
2 C freshly sliced and peeled peaches (about 4 medium sized peaches)
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter an 11-inch diameter circle in the middle of a baking sheet; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the 2 tablespoons of sugar with the cinnamon; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, mix together eggs, vanilla, and milk.
4. Cut butter into small cubes and sprinkle over flour mixture. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles course crumbs.
5. Pour egg mixture over blended flour, stir to combine. Mix in peaches.
6. Flour your hands and put the batter on buttered baking sheet. Pat down into a 9-10 inch diameter.  Using a serrated knife to cut the dough into twelve squares. Do not separate. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over top.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. (I used a toothpick to check mine) Re cut wedges if needed and cool on wire racks.



*Truthfully these aren't very mini, but they're smaller than usual... so they're mini.

Oh! And thanks to dashofdan.com for this wonderful scone recipe! Thanks Dan for the recipe, and all the dashing things you do.

 Oh God. Sorry for the cheese. 

Granola

 Some weird things have been happening in my house lately...

Now, let me give you some examples.

So about two days ago, in the middle of the night, the smoke alarms started to go off. Now let me tell you, I seriously did not know what smoke alarms sounded like. So I was sleeping in my bed and all I could think was, "What is that? Can it please stop? Can't it tell I'm trying to sleep here?!" 

Yeah. I enjoy sleeping.

So I finally realized after the second or third time, it was a smoke alarm. Eventually I walked downstairs, not ran, to see what was going on...

I could've died for all I know.

Welllll... no fire. Anywhere. But my whole family was just standing in the kitchen, at two in the morning, just staring at each other. Like "Hi! Good morning!" And eventually we all went back to bed.

The next day, I was chilling on my little perch on the couch, and they started going off again! I mean, seriously? Still, NO FIRE. Soooo strange...

Another example is, while I was washing my pretty blue bowl I used while making this granola, I dropped it in the sink and it broke... cutting two of my fingers on the way down. Yeah... I know, poor me. But here's the kicker, while I was taking the bag with the broken bowl in it to the curb, it scratched up the back of my leg. Ughhh, really??? The bowl strikes again.

 Well, at least my life is becoming a lot more blog-worthy. 

Granola 
You will need:
4 C rolled oats
3/4 C oat bran
1/2 C slivered almonds
1/2 C chopped pecans
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 C brown sugar
1/8 C maple syrup
1/4 C + 2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 C vegetable oil
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C dried cranberries
1/4 C white raisins

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line one large baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. Combine the oats, oat bran, almonds, and pecans in a large bowl.
3. In a saucepan, stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture evenly on the baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir halfway through. Cool, the stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Scotchies

About one month ago my friend, Meghan, and I had an idea.

To have a garage sale....

Yeah. A GARAGE SALE.


I don't really remember what brought us to think of doing a garage sale, but I think we were both complaining about being broke... Seems legit.

But anyway, garage sales are hard!

I guess I thought garage sales wouldn't take all that much work, but I think I priced things for 2 hours yesterday. And you know what just hit me? I have to sit in a garage for 7 hours, for two days.... That's like school. Except it's about 3,000,000,000,000 degrees out. So...yeah. Worse than school.

And what if people don't show up? We will look like garage sale failures! All the other garage sale people will laugh in our faces.

We will also still have all of our stuff..... I don't want all that stuff! That's why I'm having a garage sale!

Ugh. I'm being paranoid. Sorry.

But I guess there's a bright side. First of all, I'm making some money. Second, I'll be with Meghan. Third, I can eat these all day! I was planning on selling them.... but they're soooooo good. Maybe they'll be the only things we sell at the garage sale.... I'm okay with that because that means I won't eat the whole pan. 

Ha. Just kidding. I'm still going to eat the whole pan.

Peanut Butter Scotchies 
You will need:
1 C peanut butter
1 C sugar
1 C light corn syrup
6 C rice krispies
2 C butterscotch chips
2 C chocolate chips

1. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan; set aside.
2. Melt the peanut butter, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Do NOT boil.
3. Mix rice krispies into the melted mixture and pat into the 9 x 13 inch pan.
4. Put the butterscotch chips and chocolate chips in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring after each one, until completely melted.
5. Spread the melted chips over the rice krispies. Chill.

Chocolate Cherry Pecan Bread

I'm upset...

with Pinterest. Like reeeaalllyy upset.

Of all things I can be upset with, I'm upset with Pinterest. Help me.

So I'm betting you want to know why I'm so upset. Maybe not? Welllll let me tell you why anyway.

Like maybe a week ago, I found a recipe on Pinterest on how to make banana chips. And this got me really excited because I LOVE banana chips! So yesterday, I decided to try them because they seemed SO easy.

I burnt them. EXTREMELY burnt them...

But here's the thing that makes me mad, I followed the recipe EXACTLY! In the end, they didn't even look like banana chips! Also, they tasted absolutely disgusting and they took 4 hours! So I had my oven on for FOUR hours! So not only was the zillion degree temperature outside making my house hot, the oven was making it even more unbearable.

So the lesson to this story is, don't make banana chips you found on Pinterest. The end. That's it.

This morning, though, I decided to redeem myself by making something else. Even better, this stuff is really really good and highly addictive.

There are some things that are just right in the world and this bread is somewhere near the top of that list.


Chocolate Cherry Pecan Bread 
You will need:
2-1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 C pecans, chopped
1 C chopped fresh cherries
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 egg
1-1/4 C milk
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 2, 8-inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, pecans, cherries, and chocolate chips. In a smaller bowl whisk together the egg, milk, oil and almond extract until blended; about 30 seconds.
3. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just blended. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let loaves sit in pans for 5 minutes, then remove and transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

And because I know you all were wondering, here's what the banana chips look like. 

Ugh. They don't even deserve a nice picture... 

Caramel Cashew Brownies

I know it's hard to believe, but I have actually learned some things in my "ripe old" age.

1. Your IPhone is NOT dead when it dies. It still has enough battery to tell you it's dead... Like really? 

2. Always lay on a raft while in the pool and tell people not to get you wet. Because I'm in pool aren't I? 

3.Wear slippers and a sweatshirt while indoors in the summer. Hey, it may be a zillion degrees outside, but that means you make it colder in here for the house-dwellers (such as myself). 

4. Always watch the Food Network at 11:00 A.M. Because that's when Paula Deen is on. Or you could watch the Food Network all day. Like me. Why am I so cool??? 

5. July 4th is a holiday where adults drink and play with explosives. A GREAT combination. I wonder if they knew what the holiday would come to when they invented it... Hmmm... 

6. Eat dessert before dinner. Then decide you're not hungry for dinner, and eat more dessert.   Balance is important. 

7. Realize that dark chocolate is healthy and eat so much of it that it's sooo not healthy anymore. Whoops.... 

8. Have a piece of cake, scrape all the frosting off and eat that last. Then go in to a sugar coma. Then eat more cake. 

9. Get a pinterest, and get addicted. You pin things that you say your going to do and then intsead of doing them you pin some more stuff. Ummm it's a lazy persons dream! It makes you look like you do stuff! 

10. Ice cream DOES NOT have to be served on every special occasion. Who didn't serve any with this dessert on the fourth of July and got away with it??? MEEEEE! Yup. It was that good. 

11. Go test #10 and tell me about it... Please. It would make my life a lot more interesting. 

12. It took me almost half an hour to write this. That's so sad. 

 Oh, by the way, I was not in my kitchen when I baked this, so that's why in these photos there is different stuff. Like that yellow bowl... 

Caramel Cashew Brownies 
You will need:
3/4 C butter, softened
1-1/2 C packed brown sugar
3 eggs
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 C 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate baking chips
1 C chopped cashews
16 caramels
3 Tbsp. 2% milk

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.Grease two 9-in baking pans or one 9-in x 13-in baking pan. (your choice, doesn't matter)
2. In a large bowl, cram butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in chocolate and vanilla. Combine flour and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Pour into your baking pan and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. (Do not overbake) Cool on wire racks.
4. In a small saucepan, combine caramels and milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until caramels are melted. Drizzle over brownies.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home, Baking Favorites magazine.

Mocha Whoopie Pies With Peanut Butter Filling

LETS MAKE WHOOPIE.... pies...

Hey if you think I'm going to talk about something other than food, um, you are on the WRONG website. I'm truly sorry about that...

Anyways, I'm having one of those day when I just can't seem to get anything done. An example is like this morning I woke up and thought, "I should workout, but not right now, I'll go at twelve." Twelve came, and twelve left...  uhh still didn't happen.

Welp, that chance just walked right out the door.

Another example is "Should I take a shower?" Well let's contemplate. That means 1) I have to get up. That takes work. 2) I have to get wet. I hate being wet. 3) I have to actually get ready. Hmm... is it really worth it? And for today...

No. No it was not.

With all that thinking, I forgot about breakfast... and lunch. So I'll just have one whoopie pie. Or two. Then maybe three. On my way to the bathroom, having to walk through the kitchen, "Oh, I'll just grab another since I'm here!"

Yeah.

Now I'm sitting here on my little perch on the couch and I have to pee. Here I come number five!!

I'm so bad.

Mocha Whoopie Pies 
You will need:
3 Tbsp. instant espresso powder (or instant coffee)
2 Tbsp. water
2 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
1 C (packed) light or dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C milk

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick silicone baking mats.
2. In a small bowl or cup, mix together the instant espresso powder and water and set aside. In a medium sized bowl whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, shortening, and brown sugar on low speed until just combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes.
4. Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk and beat on low until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the espresso-water mixture and the remaining flour mixture and milk and beat until completely combined.
5. Using a spoon, drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto one of the prepared baking sheets and repeat, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 8-10 minutes each, or until the cakes spring back when touched. Remove the sheets from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Filling 
You will need:
3/4 C creamy or crunchy peanut butter
3/4 C (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 C confectioners' sugar

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the peanut butter and butter on low speed until smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners' and beat until the filling is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Frost one whoopie pie with filling and top with another whoopie pie and viola! 

*Recipe from the cookbook Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell