Last week I had the occasion to make a meal for a friend in need...and decided to make one of my favorite desserts, Peanut Butter Pie. Lucky for me, the recipe makes two pies, so we got to keep one! Now, I know there are a number of peanut butter pie recipes out there, many strikingly similar, and I'm not going to claim that this is the "best" one, but it's good enough that I'm not feeling the need to try another. The beauty of this recipe is that you can jazz it up however you want. It's great with a chocolate crust, graham cracker crust, or I've been told, even a Nutter Butter crust! You can garnish however you desire, with peanut butter cups, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, whipped cream, or as here, crushed butterfingers.
Recipe
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
12 oz whipped topping, thawed
Chocolate syrup or fudge sauce
2 Graham cracker crusts (or desired crust)
4 mini Butterfinger candy bars, chopped
Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Add peanut butter and milk and beat until smooth. Gently fold in whipped topping until combined. Take a little lick to make sure it's the right taste and consistency. If you want more whipped topping, feel free to add it. Cover bottom of pie crusts with syrup/fudge sauce. Spoon filling over that and smooth top. Sprinkle candy bars over the top. Freeze until firm, then store in refrigerator. Delicious!
Chocolate Sheet Cake
It was our turn to make food for our Community Group last night, and I had found this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's site and was anxious to try it. Of course, I couldn't leave it be and had to modify it some, so here's my version.
Recipe
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks salted butter
4 heaping tablespoons cocoa
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Melt butter in a large saucepan, then add cocoa.
4. Stir coffee granules into boiling (or at least really hot) water and pour into butter/cocoa mixture. Bring to a boil and keep it there 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
5. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture.
6. Mix the buttermilk (or in my case, 1/2 cup milk with 1 1/2 tsp. vinegar) with the eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir into the other batter and combine well.
7. Pour into an ungreased sheet cake pan and bake for 18-20 minutes. Mine was perfect at 18 minutes.
Icing:
1. Melt 1 1/2 sticks salted butter in a saucepan.
2. Add 4 heaping Tablespoons of cocoa and boil for 30 seconds
3. Remove from heat and add 6 T. milk
4. Stir in 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar (sifted is best, but my icing still had some lumps despite the sifting)
5. Add in 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts if desired. Personally, I toasted some pecans in the oven while the cake was baking (only for about 5 minutes), chopped them up, and sprinkled them on half of the cake to appease those non-nut eaters.
6. Pour icing over warm cake and spread gently to cover.
This was the cake pan after everyone had left. I guess it was enjoyed!
I have a love/hate relationship with this cake. I love it because it's so wonderfully tasty and decadent, and I hate it because it's perfect for just taking one more little sliver until you realize you've eaten an entire row. You just can't get away with that with a layer cake.
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