Cutie Pies – Mini Peanut Butter Pies

They are cute aren’t they?  Not only are they cute but they are the bomb … satisfying your craving for chocolate and peanut butter all in one luscious bite.  Go ahead, get out your baking supplies and ingredients … you won’t be disappointed.  ENJOY!

Cutie Pies –  PEANUT BUTTER PIES WITH CHOCOLATE CRUST

Ingredients:

Chocolate Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold
4 tablespoons Crisco
Yolk from 2 large eggs
6 – 8 tablespoons iced coffee (Ice water will work as well.)

Peanut Butter Filling:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 package (8 ounce) Cool Whip, thawed

Chocolate Drizzle

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon Crisco
Chopped peanuts (optional)

Let’s begin with the crust.

In a food processor (you can also do this by hand if needed), combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt on low until blended. Add the butter and Crisco and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles. Add the egg yolks and iced coffee and process with slow pulses until the dough forms a ball. Start with about 5 tablespoons of iced coffee and add more until the mixture comes together.

Press the dough into two flatten discs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Then, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

On a floured surface, roll out your dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Then cut out the dough using a flour shaped cookie cutter. My cookie cutter is 3-inches in diameter petal tip to petal tip. Once your first set of flowers are cut, you can ball up the dough and roll it out again. Repeat until you have used as much of the dough as possible.

Gently press the flowers into an ungreased mini muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 -15 minutes.

Allow the mini pie shells to cool completely in the pan before removing. This will ensure they keep their shape.

While they are cooling, mix up the peanut butter pie filling. Beat the peanut butter with the cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar, beating again until smooth. Add in the Cool Whip and beat the mixture one final time until smooth.

Add this filling into a piping bag or large plastic bag. Pipe into your cooled chocolate pie shells.

For the drizzle, melt the chocolate chips and shortening in a microwavable bowl (or in a double broiler). Allow the mixture to cool slightly, then transfer to a plastic bag. Snip off a tiny portion of one corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate onto the filled pie shells. Top with chopped peanut for a garnish.

 Source:  www.inspiredbycharm.com

Blueberries for Sal and Lemon Blueberry Bread

Blueberry picking is in full swing here in Northeast Ohio until Labor Day.  I have wonderful memories of blueberry picking as a child with my mother and friends.  Only then we went wild blueberry picking and spent a greater part of the day “hunting” for blueberries.  It was fun, we were kids, we found fun in the ordinary and simple pleasures of life; much like I do in my adult life.  The simple pleasures bring the most joy.

Does anyone remember the classic book “Blueberries for Sal”?  I loved this book as a child and I haven’t seen it since I was a child. I do remember reading it over and over and over.  Maybe because I was a bit like Sal!

 

Wikpedia describes the book:  “The book opens and closes with a picture of little Sal and her mother in the kitchen, the mother is canning blueberries… One sees in this opening picture Sal entertaining herself by placing the canning rings on her wrist and a spoon, a simple childlike act which helps to set the stage for Sal’s obvious child actions throughout the books. This is not to be the overly diligent or angelic girl of so many other books, Sal is a real child figure. She gets into mischief and causes her mom no end of trouble.”^[2]

Little Sal’s Mother takes her to Blueberry Hill to pick berries. Sal drops three berries in her bucket, then eats them. This continues as she and her mother concentrate on the berries and gradually get separated on the hill. What they don’t realize is that a mother bear and her cub have also come to Blueberry Hill to eat berries for the winter. The book uses a number of visual and verbal techniques to compare and contrast the bear and the human families. Both families pictures are similar in compositions, but they head in opposite directions when they reach the blueberry patch. Little Sal’s Mother tells her that they can’t eat all the berries because they need to save them to can for the winter, but the bear mother tells her child to eat as much as it can to store up fat for winter. The bear’s way of preparing for winter is more natural for Sal who soon wanders off to eat.

Sal and the bear cub get mixed up and follow after the wrong mother. It takes the mothers several minutes to realize they’re being followed by the wrong child; it isn’t until the bear cub tries to eat from Sal’s mother’s bucket and the mother bear hears the “ku-plink, ku-plank, ku-plunk” sound of Sal dropping blueberries into her tin pail that they realize what happened. Ultimately each child is reunited with its proper mother and they both leave the hill. Just before leaving Sal drops a blueberry into her empty pail. The end papers show Sal again playing in the kitchen while her mother cans berries.

If you haven’t done so why not go out blueberry picking and capture the memories of your childhood?  Or … take your children along and create new memories.  However you get your blueberries you will love this moist lemon bread bursting with blueberries.  It is over the top good!  ENJOY!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8×4 inch loaf pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, 1 cup sugar, juice and eggs. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; stir into egg mixture alternately with milk. Fold in lemon zest, nuts, and blueberries. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pan for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine lemon juice and 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Remove bread from pan and drizzle with glaze. Cool on a wire rack.

Source:  allrecipes.com

Chocolate and Pasta Lovers Unite – Chocolate Ravioli with Cannoli Filling and Chocolate Raspberry Sauce

Chocolate Ravioli with Chocolate Cannoli Filling and Chocolate Raspberry sauce – A Pasta Princess Original – Time for some creative pasta!

I’ve never had chocolate pasta, nor have I made it.  I am a firm believer that one can never have too much chocolate or pasta.  My inspiration came from my recently canned jars of chocolate raspberry sauce.  In thinking about a creative approach for pasta I came up with chocolate ravioli filled with chocolate cannoli filling.  What a great accompaniment to my chocolate raspberry sauce!  I tried the ravioli warm and I tried them cold and I prefer them chilled.  Get creative, get pasta, get chocolate!  ENJOY!

Chocolate Ravioli Ingredients 

2 1/3 cups Flour
1/2 cup Cocoa powder
3 Large eggs
1/3 cup Water

Combine flour and cocoa in mixer.  Make a well in the middle and add eggs.  Slowly stream 1/3 cup water into the mix – while running – until dough comes together. Attach the dough hook and knead until smooth, approximately 6 minutes.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, allow to rest at least 10 minutes.

Roll dough through a pasta machine to desired thickness.  Using a ravioli form, lay out a sheet of pasta and fill with chocolate cannoli filling.*  Put the top sheet of pasta on, roll with rolling pin to ensure all air bubbles are released and pop out your ravioli.  Store in fridge if eating the same day, otherwise, put on a cookie sheet and put the ravioli in a freezer.  Once frozen they can be stored in a freezer zip lock bag until ready to be devoured.

To cook the ravioli bring a large pot of water to a boil. Gently add ravioli to boiling water, one at a time, about 6 to a batch. Ravioli has finished cooking when they float to the surface of the water. Use a slotted spoon to remove cooked ravioli from the water, dip in cool water to halt the cooking process.

Serve warm or cold, dusted with powdered sugar or drizzled with sauce.

Chocolate Cannoli Filling*

• 12 oz whole milk Ricotta cheese, strained
• 8 oz Mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa

In a mixing bowl, using a rubber or silicone spatula, blend together Ricotta and Mascarpone cheese while running and pressing mixture along bottom of bowl to remove any lumps. Fold in powdered sugar. Cover and chill 30 minutes (or until ready to use).

 

Coming later … chocolate raspberry sauce.

Blueberry Crumb Bars – Bites of pure bliss

To all you blueberry lovers out there …. if you haven’t made these before you need to make them now.  I’m not sure words can do these blueberry crumb bars justice because they are quite simply bites of pure bliss.  They remind me of the best and my favorite part of a blueberry crumb pie and that is the topping.   Oh my … bursting with fresh blueberries in every bite you will love these!  I discovered this recipe at smittenkitchen.com – check out the site – it is full of great recipes!  An added plus is they are super simple to make – I multi-tasked and made these as I was making dinner!Enjoy!!

These are easiest to cut once chilled, and store even better in the fridge than they do at room temperature.

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.  Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Source:  Smittenkitchen.com

Tuxedo Brownie Cups

Craving chocolate?  This is the recipe for you.  These little brownie cups are decadent, chocolate filled little cups of pleasure! 

 

Tuxedo Brownie Cups – Source:  Pampered Chef

Ingredients:

	Nonstick cooking spray with flour
1	pkg (18-21 oz or 450 g) fudge brownie mix (plus ingredients to make cake-like brownies)
2	square (1 oz/30 g) white chocolate for baking*
2	tbsp (30 mL) milk
8	oz (250 g) cream cheese, softened
1/4	cup (50 mL) powdered sugar
1	cup (250 mL) thawed, frozen whipped topping
1	pint small strawberries, sliced

*I substituted semi-sweet chocolate instead of the white chocolate – decadent double chocolate!!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Spray cups of Deluxe Mini-Muffin Pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions for cake-like brownies. Fill wells of pan two-thirds full. Bake 14 minutes or until edges are set. (Do not overbake.) Remove pan from oven; immediately press tops of brownies to make indentations. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove brownies from pan; cool completely. Wash pan; repeat with remaining batter.

2. Combine white chocolate and milk in large microwave-safe bowl; microwave on HIGH 1 minute. Stir until smooth; cool slightly. In large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar; mix well. Gradually stir in white chocolate mixture until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.

  

3. Pipe cream cheese mixture into brownie cups; top with strawberries. Refrigerate 1-3 hours before serving.

 

Yield: 4 dozen brownie cups