National Peanut Festival Day-Amy's Way!

Peanuts, peanut butter, peanut oil... We tend to avoid them all. My little guy is allergic so really we just try to stay away. Every once in a while I will make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or eat peanut butter with my banana, and he wont come within 10 feet of me... "it smells horrible". Oh I am so glad he doesn't know what he is missing out on! Its pretty funny because like Kim, if I don't want to share, all I have to do is make sure there is peanut in it somewhere... peanut butter cups, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter M&Ms... as a Mom, you know there are the times you don't want to share!

So anyway, today I decided to makeup a recipe combining a couple of ideas... I'm sure there is a recipe out there that is similar, but I didn't go out looking and I didn't run across it in the last week. So  here they are:

Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies!

My mom makes this jello pretzel salad that has a pretzel crust that I love. Its filled with sugar, butter and pretzels... Goodness! So I did that as my crust. Add some peanut butter, your favorite brownie recipe (or box mix) a little more peanut butter, and WaLa!

Pretzel Crust
2 cups cosely chopped, smashed, broken pretzels
1 1/2 sticks of butter
4-5 tsps. sugar

Melt your butter, mix in the sugar, and then add the crushed pretzels. Mix and dump into 9x13. Spread to cover the bottom and then bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes.

While the crust in in the oven baking, mix up the brownie mix and set aside. If you have time... now is a good time to do those dishes that I HATE! Pull the crust out of the oven and let cool for just a minute. I melted my peanut butter. You may use as much or as little as you would like. I drizzled the peanut butter over the hot pretzel crust and then poured the brownie mix over top and drizzled a little more. Pop in the oven and bake according to brownie directions and ......... ENJOY!!!

National Peanut Festival Day- Stacy's Way

I love me some peanuts and I love me some peanut butter! Don't know if ya'll have noticed the huge spike in the cost of peanut butter, something about flooding then droughts, supply demand. Blah, blah, cha-ching, cha-ching $$. Anyway, stumbled across this delightful little snack (and great way to stretch peanut butter) about a month ago when I used it as frosting on an ice cream cake I made for my husband's birthday. Started thinking about all the yummy things I could use it as a dip for! Apples, pretzels, celery, graham crackers, bananas... the possibilities are truly endless! In my opinion, pretty guiltless too! Here it is:

Cool Whip Peanut Butter Dip/Frosting 

*2 heaping tablespoon fulls of peanut butter
  1 8oz. container of Cool Whip

Thaw Cool Whip and add peanut butter. Stir until well combined. Dip your favorite treats and enjoy!


*Adjust amount until desired ratio is reached


Notes:

• As mentioned above this also can replace any whipped cream frosting for things such as ice cream cake or angel food cake!
• Tastes a lot more peanut buttery with the pretzels
• Add chocolate chips or chopped peanut butter cups for an extra special treat (no longer guiltless)

National Peanut Festival Day - Kim's Way

When I think of peanuts, I am reminded of the way my dad would crack unsalted peanuts from their shells… and that silly song I sang as a kid, “A peanut sat on a railroad track, his heart was all a-flutter.  Around the bend came Number 10, toot, toot, peanut butter!”  Ah, nothing like a little nut to inspire memories, right?

When it comes to nuts, the people in my family just aren’t fans!  Peanut butter must be creamy, and I can’t put nuts in anything I bake – unless I want to eat it all myself.  In fact, the little one, detected that I used crunchy peanut butter in these magical bars.  (What else am I supposed to do with the jar of crunch peanut butter that I bought by accident?)

So, in honor of National Peanut Festival, I had to make something that starred peanuts in their nut butter form – not whole or chopped.  Today is Jeremy’s birthday, so after searching for recipes that I’d like to try, I let him pick from my top choices.  Let me say, he picked well!  Thank you Pinch of Yum for this recipe.  These layered bars, include a delicious peanut butter cookie, with scattered chocolate chips and oats to make them hardy, with a fluffy cheesecake layer contained in the middle!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

 ½ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

½ cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt (I left this out because I use salted butter)

½ cup oats

½ cup chocolate chips (original recipe called for 2 cups, but I wanted the peanut butter flavor to be most prominent)

8 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

Click here for recipe instructions.  (I recommend crumbling remaining cookie dough on top of the cheesecake layer instead of rolling out the dough.  I pulled it out of the oven too soon because it was hard to tell if the cheesecake layer was set in the middle.  Also, leave the foil on for 25 minutes, then remove for remaining baking time.  I had to bake longer than recommended and this will help keep from over-browning.)

These bars were a super delicious!  A perfect combination of the best baking ingredients!