Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies

Does anyone else out there still have leftover Easter candy? I know its absolutely shocking that I do, since I eat candy like its my job, but I do have a stash of leftover peanut butter eggs.

It would be a travesty to let these go to waste! So I decided to use them in brownies, after all, there is no better combination than peanut butter and chocolate.

For those of you who also have leftover candy, or who like incorporating candy into desserts, I've brainstormed some ideas for using it up:

1. Peeps S'Mores
2. Jelly Bean Cookies
3. Ice cream sundaes - chop candy bars and toss them into a bowl with ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream.
4. Frappes (a.k.a. milkshakes for all of you non-New Englanders) - chop up candy and blend with your favorite ice cream flavor and milk.
5. Cookies or Brownies - add your favorite candy bars to chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, or brownies. I think Butterfinger, Snickers, or Baby Ruth would be especially good options for this.

I made peanut butter fudge brownies.

First I had to kill the peanut butter eggs...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium-sized microwave bowl, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine.

I ran out of stick butter, so I used 1 stick of unsalted butter and the rest was Light Healthy Balance spread.

Return the mixture to the microwave briefly (until hot, not bubbling) - it will be come shiny looking as you stir it. Heating the butter and sugar a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which gives your brownies a shiny top crust. Transfer butter and sugar to a mixing bowl.

Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla.

Add the eggs, beating until smooth.

Add the flour, beating until well combined.

Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.

I used half regular chocolate chips and half mini chocolate chips.

Add the peanut butter cups and gently fold into the batter.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and transfer batter into dish. Bake the brownies for 28-32 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out dry (there may be a few crumbs clinging to it).

Remove dish from oven, and after 5 minutes loosen the edges with a butter knife (helps prevent the brownies from sinking in the center as they cool).

Cool completely before cutting.

These brownies are moist, very chocolaty, and the chunks of peanut butter in them just add to the decadence. These are the perfect companion for a tall glass of cold milk. If you want to get really crazy, I bet an ice cream sundae with vanilla ice cream, peanut butter sauce, hot fudge and whipped cream would be out of this world.

Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour's Best Fudge Brownies Ever recipe

Makes 24 brownies.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cups Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 heaping cup chopped peanut butter cups

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium-sized microwave bowl, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the microwave briefly (until hot, not bubbling) - it will be come shiny looking as you stir it. Heating the butter and sugar a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which gives your brownies a shiny top crust. Transfer butter and sugar to a mixing bowl.
3. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. 
4. Add the eggs, beating until smooth.
5. Add the flour, beating until well combined.
6. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
7. Add the peanut butter cups and gently fold into the batter.
8. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and transfer batter into dish. Bake the brownies for 28-32 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out dry (there may be a few crumbs clinging to it).
9. Remove dish from oven, and after 5 minutes loosen the edges with a butter knife (helps prevent the brownies from sinking in the center as they cool).
10. Cool completely before cutting. 

What do you do with leftover candy or other sweets?

Mother's Day Cake

Happy Mother's Day!

What better excuse to try a new cake? I saw Ina Garten make this on her cooking show last week and decided that I needed to try it ASAP. Its a gorgeous cake that looks like it would require several difficult steps, but it was really quite quick and easy to put together. A candy thermometer would be a helpful tool, but don't worry if you don't own one. I don't have one so I eye-balled it instead and was very happy with the results!

Peel, core and slice a granny smith apple. Arrange the slices in a pie dish.

Heat a small saucepan with 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water over high heat. It will come to a rolling boil - continue to heat until it turns a warm amber color (or if you have a candy thermometer - 360 degrees). Swirl, but don't stir!

Once ready, pour into pie dish over apple slices.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and 3/4 cup sugar.

Mix in eggs, one at a time.

Add vanilla, stir to combine.

Add lemon zest, stir again.

Add sour cream and stir.

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. 

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix only until combined.

Pour batter over caramel and apples. Smooth with a spatula.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool for 15 minutes, then invert cake onto a flat plate (put plate over pie dish, then flip over).

You may need to do a little plastic surgery - don't worry, it'll still look great - just replace the apple slices if they fall out.

Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

Note that powdered sugar will absorb into cake, so powder just before serving.

Enjoy!

The lovely ladies I spent my Mother's Day with:

Pat's mom, my mom, Pat's aunt Lisa

Apple Cake Tatin

Recipe by Ina Garten

Ingredients

• 1 granny smith apple
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1/3 cup water
• 6 tbsp butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking poweder
• confectioner's sugar (optional)

Directions

1. Peel, core and slice a granny smith apple. Arrange the slices in a pie dish.
2. Heat a small saucepan with 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water over high heat. It will come to a rolling boil - continue to heat until it turns a warm amber color (or if you have a candy thermometer - 360 degrees). Swirl, but don't stir!
3. Once caramel is ready, pour into pie dish over apple slices.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla, lemon zest, and sour cream - stir to combine.
6. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder.
7. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix only until combined.
8. Pour batter over caramel and apples. Smooth with a spatula.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
10. Cool for 15 minutes, then invert cake onto a flat plate. 
11. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve!

Peeps and Other Treats

After cookies won over exercise on Wednesday, I continued the naughty streak on Thursday. I was going to go to the 6:30pm Bikram class, but then found out that Pat would be home at 6pm! That probably sounds normal for most people, but with our schedules, we're lucky if we're both home by 8:30pm on weeknights. So I skipped yoga to spend some time with Pat...and eat some ice cream. Hayward's, the local ice cream stand, is open for the season. We decided to switch our meals and have ice cream cones first, and then dinner after. 

I got half mango sorbet and half vanilla frozen yogurt in a waffle cone. I then topped it with Haribo mini frogs because I'm obsessed with having gummies on my ice cream.

Pat got Oreo ice cream, his latest favorite. And then I think I annoyed him by taking a picture of every bite he took.

After ice cream we went home and cooked up the rest of the fresh pasta and ravioli I made the night before. So delicious! I want to go back for another class! I soon realized that eating dessert before dinner is not a good idea. When I finished my dinner I wanted something sweet again! So from now on I guess I'll stick to eating in the right order.

On Friday I finally made it to the Bikram class I'd been putting off, and then went down to Boston for an open house (more info to come later) and meet up with some girls from school for drinks. On Saturday I went to Bikram and went for a 4 mile run (my first run since the half marathon) - my legs were still pretty tight, but I think that's from Bikram and not the race.  Saturday was a cold and rainy day - one of those days that you just want to stay home and do nothing. We didn't really have that luxury, but we did have time for a warm lunch, and got take out from Cooking Matters (I've shopped for food here but never had their prepared meals). I got the butternut squash soup and half of the veggie sandwich.

It was actually butternut squash and sausage soup, and it was amazing. The sausage was ground down and pureed with the squash, so it was a thick soup (no chunks). It was rich and delicious (perfect for a rainy day) and had a little sweetness to it. The veggie sandwich was served on fresh ciabatta bread, covered with hummus, and filled with mozzarella cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, cucumbers, carrots, red onions and sprouts. This was also incredible. The meal was exactly what I was in the mood for and was so satisfying.

For dessert, Pat and I split a cinnamon bun scone.

Pat always claims that he doesn't like scones, but I knew he'd like this one because it was covered in frosting. After eating it Pat announced that next time we won't be splitting it - we'll each get our own. I think I'm going to be making some scones soon, now that Pat is willing to eat them.

On Sunday we celebrated an early Easter with my family down in Rhode Island. For my contribution I made something very easy and festive - Peeps S'mores! I saw these on Serious Eats and had to try them. I love Peeps, and they work perfectly as s'mores!

All you need is graham crackers, Peeps, and some chocolate bars (I made half of the s'mores with dark chocolate and half with milk chocolate). 

Assemble your s'mores (graham cracker, then chocolate, then Peep) and bake at 350 degrees for 3-4 minutes (until nicely puffed).

Remove from oven and top with more graham cracker.

These were really good...and really messy. We had a lot of camera-shy s'mores eaters, but here are a couple shots I got (notice a lot of them are fuzzy because they're trying to move out of the shot):

Devouring my s'more! Kara in the background eating one.

Kara had hers without a top.

Lauren going in for the kill.

Andrew.

Kristi and Jim. Jim is pretending to be sad so I won't post this picture. Guess what? Its posted! :)

What are your favorite things to do with Peeps? 

I like mine with ice cream, on cupcakes, and now in s'mores! When eating them plain I like them better stale because they have more of a crunch.