When I was in 4th grade, we had to do a demonstration in front of the class. I don’t remember what my demonstration was which really isn’t all that surprising because I tend block out anything that has to do with me speaking or performing in front of others. Then again, I don’t even remember my teacher’s name.
But what I do remember is that some kid in my class did a demonstration for what he called an apple sandwich. I don’t remember the kid’s name, and I don’t remember why he called it an apple sandwich (I mean, it’s not really a sandwich, hello?). Still, I was blown away by this idea, this apple sandwich. Here it is in a nutshell: cut an apple in half and remove the core, put a spoonful of peanut butter on each half. And… eat it. Mind-blowing, isn’t it?
Anyway, let’s make some peanut butter…
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Tagged as: easy, food processor, how to, peanut butter
Have you made yesterday’s macaroons yet? They are seriously good. I almost made more today because the idea of sharing made me uncomfortable… The recipe made 12 and I ate 6 of them between last night (in the name of quality control) and this morning (for breakfast, of course). Even so, the idea of sharing the other 6… well… they weren’t even gone yet and I was already having withdrawals.
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Tagged as: 12 days of cookies, chocolate, cookies, peanut butter
Last weekend I went to Tahoe and stayed in a cabin with a bunch of people. When I say cabin, I don’t mean little 4 walled thing with 20 people crammed in. No, this place was insane… big enough that with 20 people it did not feel crowded. At all. Anyhow, remember my cupcake disaster where a dozen pink cupcakes jumped off of my counter in some sort of a cult suicide ritual? Well, those cupcakes were intended for the crowd in Tahoe, but their premature end left me disheartened but not down for the count. I packed a box of Duncan Hines brownie mix, a bag of Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix, chocolate chips, heavy cream and butter, and dreams of these insanely decadent looking brownies from Bakerella (she used chocolate chip cookie dough, I opted for peanut butter because… I love peanut butter and chocolate). Brownies with peanut butter cookie dough baked into it topped off with chocolate ganache. How to describe it… decadent? Yes. Delicious? Yes. Bomb-diggity? Foshizzle.
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Tagged as: brownies, chocolate, cookies, good housekeeping baking, oops, peanut butter, snickerdoodle
At least, that’s what I decided to do. Work has gone a little sideways this week and today I needed to take a mental break. And I needed some chocolate. So on the drive home this evening, I thought about what I would bake. Not if I would bake, but what I would bake. It was an inevitability. Even in my sleep deprived state, the thought of baking up something sweet and lovely sounded simply therapeutic.
But what to bake? I’ve been thinking about a flourless chocolate cake for a while but today was not the day to try something completely new. No, I wanted simple. I wanted comforting. I wanted a cupcake. A happy, chocolate cupcake. I know I’ve already done chocolate cupcakes 2 ways recently and I did think maybe I should do a different kind of cake just to introduce a little variety… chiffon? yellow cake? lemon? red velvet? But no, I wanted chocolate and would not be persuaded otherwise.
So without further ado, here is the cupcake du jour:
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Tagged as: baking as therapy, chocolate, cupcakes, peanut butter
That is the last M&M. Bought 2 days ago, the bag is empty. After a month of very little in the way of sweets, the peanut butter with the chocolate inside of the little candy shells… yummy-I-couldn’t-resist-can-I-have-another? I thought I could be good and only eat a few each day and the bag would last for a long time (according to the bag, it holds 8 servings). I tried rationing them out into a small dish — portion control, right? But then I’d grab a handful each time I’d pass by that seductive red bag. And I enjoyed every last satisfying candy-crunch followed by that peanut buttery goodness inside. What is it about peanut butter? And even more so… peanut butter and chocolate? YUM!
Tagged as: peanut butter, yum
