Whirligig Bug

Is there anything better than a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup? I thought for sure a homemade peanut butter cup would somehow be better than a store bought peanut butter cup. I guess I was wrong.

For Valentine's Day, my husband and I decided to make gifts for each other. I decided to make him Peanut Butter Cups from scratch. I was very excited about making them because I love to cook and I thought he would love them.

On Valentine's day I gave him the container of peanut butter cups. After we each tried one, I said to him, "aren't they good?" To my surprise, he said, "ahh, I don't like the peanut butter filling. It tastes funny." I then told him I thought they were delicious and if he didn't want them, I would eat them all. After that, I let him know I had to "hand paint" all of the chocolate in each paper cup, then add the filling and hand paint the top chocolate on! It didn't make him love the peanut butter cups any more, but I think they were good. Maybe not as good as Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, but comparable enough to share the recipe! 

Maybe before sharing the recipe I should admit I used Smooth, not Chunky Peanut Butter, I had smaller paper cups, which could explain why I had so much chocolate left, and I didn't have graham crackers so I substituted for Ritz crackers, possibly the reason why he didn't love them! 

Peanut Butter Cups

1 3/4 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) chocolate chips

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

60 (1 1/2-inch) paper candy liners, separated into 30 double-lined cups

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

MICROWAVE morsels and vegetable shortening in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 2 minutes; STIR. The morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10 to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted.

PLACE about 1 teaspoon melted chocolate in each candy cup; spread to about 1/8-inch thickness, almost to top of cup, with small pastry brush. Refrigerate.

COMBINE butter and peanut butter in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 6 minutes or until melted. Stir in powdered sugar and graham cracker crumbs. Cool for 5 minutes. Spoon about 1 heaping teaspoon into each chocolate cup.

SPOON about 1/4 teaspoon melted chocolate on top of filling; spread to cover filling. Freeze for about 2 hours or until firm. Carefully peel off paper liners. Store tightly covered in refrigerator.

Makes 30 candies

Posted by Kari at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Since I ranted and raved about how great a few Pampered Chef products are, I thought I should share with you one of my favorite cake recipes, "Baked Alaska" Cake. It's from The Pampered Chef Seasons Best Recipe Collection Fall/Winter 2004 recipe book.

"Baked Alaska" Cake

1 package devils food cake mix, plus the ingredients to make the cake
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels (I use mini chocolate chips)
1 package (8 ozs) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 large container (16 ozs) cool whip, thawed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease and flour the Pampered Chef Classic Batter Bowl.

Prepare cake mix according to box directions and pour into batter bowl. Bake 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes or until cake tester (I use a wood kabob skewer) inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Let stand 15 minutes. Run a knife around the outside of the cake and gently turn the cake out of the bowl onto a cooling rack, large side down. Cool for at least 3 hours.

Meanwhile, I like to prepare the "mousse" and then toss it into the fridge while the cake cools.

Chop 1/4 cup of the chocolate morsels using a food chopper. Set aside. I omit this step because I use the mini chocolate chips. Place remaining chocolate (in the mini chocolate chip case, it would be 1/2 cup) into a bowl and microwave on high 20-60 seconds or until melted and smooth. Add cream cheese to a bowl, whisk until smooth, add powdered sugar and whisk again. stir in melted chocolate and mix well. I don't often use the wire whisk, I just use my hand mixer, it seems to break up the cream cheese with little effort and blended all the ingredients very well. Fold in 2 cups of the cool whip and the remaining 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips (I do this by hand, no mixer) into the cream cheese mixture.

Place the large end of the cake down onto a serving plate/platter. Using a serrated bread knife, trim the large end of the cake to make it level. Usually the cake comes out of the oven with a "bump" on the top, and often I just trim off the bump, to taste the flavor of the cake and make it level, even if it isn't "flat" on the bottom of my plate. Slice the cake in four equal layers. First slice horizontally in half and then slice each half into equal parts.

Spread the bottom layer of cake with about half of the filling, forming a 3/4 inch layer. Repeat with the remaining layers and filling ending with the top layer of cake.

Spread any remaining filling over the outside of cake to create a smooth surface. I do not do this, I use all the filling for the inside of the cake. I often put a very thin layer of cool whip on the outside to seal in the crumbs. Frost cake with remaining whipped topping.

To form decorate peaks, press a knife into the topping and pull away. Repeat over entire surface ofcake. For easier slicing refrigerate cake at least 30 minutes.

To easily cut cake into servings, cut cake inot eight wedges from top to bottom. Insert a pie server horizontally into each wedge, dividing into two equal portions.

Makes 16 servings.

Filling Variations (I've never tried these, but had to include them)

Strawberry Splash: Omit chocolate morsels. Add 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened strawberry drink mix (sugh as Kool-Aid) to cream cheese mixture. Stir 1/4 cup chopped strawberries into cream cheese mixture.

Magnificent Mint:Omit 1/2 cup melted chocolate. Add 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract and 3-4 drops of green food coloring, if desired, to cream cheese mixture.

I'm thinking you could easily make an orange or lemon flavored filling with orange or lemon flavored drink mix, splash of orange or lemon juice and some orange or lemon zest!

And maybe even some "big kid" cake variations with Kahlua or gringing coffee beans and adding them to the cream cheese!

Posted by Kari at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I frequently volunteer to bringing a dish to my parent's house and my in laws house for the holidays. I figure it's the least I can do since they are hosting a house full of people, proving us with the main dish and beverages. This year I offered to bring lasagna on Christmas Eve and cheesy potatoes, salad and dessert for Christmas Day. It's pretty standard that I have to make these creations a day or so before the events, and this year I ran into a big pickle, and had to make lots of items in one night. 

Dan and I didn't get home on Tuesday night until 8pm. He took me to work that day and then off to the race shop he went. He picked me up, took me to the gym, while he did errands and by the time we ate and got home in the snowstorm, it was after 8. First order of business was lasagna and cheesy potatoes. While I was making lasagna, Dan was hard at work on mixing HIS cheesy potatoes. Next up were brownies, he made the entire batch himself, and I moved on to the salad. By 9pm, we had four dishes done: lasagna, brownies, salad and potatoes. I recall looking at the clock when we began and it was 22 minutes after 8. We just completed a Power Cooking session. Maybe we should start a TV show...

I cannot tell you how fast, helpful and wonderful this power cooking session was with my husband. He was awesome, he'd finish one job and ask me what was next. After cooking he was onto putting the clean dishes away and then snowblowing the driveway. I guess his next "cooking lesson" on his blog can be him teaching me how to cook something...

Posted by Kari at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)