Peanut Butter Buttons

Howdy, folks! Nice to see you (or blog at you) again! I feel like I've been away from Sunday Treats for months.

Oh, wait. I have.

You see, there's a certain big day for me and the Music Man coming up kinda soon. 146 days, to be exact! I'm getting excited.

146 is also the approximate number of items remaining on my Wedding To-Do List. So much to do!

Would you like an example of how immersed I've been in wedding planning?

Watch as I illustrate with entirely too much ease how the steps for baking peanut butter buttons are the same as the steps for planning a wedding...

Baking Peanut Butter Buttons
Step 1: Roll hundreds of isty bitsy teeny tiny bits of dough into itsy bitsy teeny tiny little balls.
Step 2: Put them in the oven to bake. Think you're going to get 20 more balls of dough rolled in that 6 minutes? Wrong! Time flies when you're rolling teeny tiny bits of dough into teeny tiny little balls. Ding!
Step 3: Scramble to place a chocolate chip - the finishing touch - on each of the cookies before they cool. Hurry! Time is running out!
Step 4: Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Grab some cookies, chow down, and watch 'em disappear.

Planning a Wedding
Step 1: Coordinate hundreds of itsy bitsy teeny tiny details with a bunch of other itsy bitsy teeny tiny details.
Step 2: Put those done details aside and wait for the big day. Think you're going to get 20 more details organized in the next five months? Wrong! Times flies when you're coordinating a billion teeny tiny details with a billion other teeny tiny details. Ding dong!
Step 3: Scramble to get those last minute tasks - the finishing touches - done the night before. Hurry! Time is running out!
Step 4: Enjoy the fruits of your labor (and love). Say those vows, party down, and watch the day disappear!

I might be starting to lose it here, folks.

But you know what? I'm okay with that. Because these little cookies and this big day are both things that I've been wanting to make happen for a long time. Finally getting to enjoy both is worth all the tedious prep, the waiting, and the scrambling.

Difference is, one I get to enjoy until the tupperware is empty. The other I get to enjoy for the rest of my life. :-)

- Becky

Peanut Butter Buttons

Adapted from 17 and baking
Makes approximately 15 dozen cookies, depending on size

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use natural peanut butter)
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Granulated sugar for rolling
Chocolate chips (any type)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix peanut butter and shortening with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined. Add two sugars and mix until light. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

4. Add the flour mixture in three batches, beating well between each. Place dough in fridge to chill for at least 10 minutes.

5. Roll dough into 1/2 inch balls (approximately 1/4 teaspoon of dough). Roll balls in granulated sugar and place on baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake 5-7 minutes or until edges are just starting to brown.

6. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate chip into the center of each cookie. (Be careful not to touch the edges of the hot cookie sheet!) Let cookies cool one minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. [Note: The chocolate chip will be warm and gooey for some time, so be careful before stacking them.]

To make regular peanut butter cookies, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and press down gently with the tines of a fork. Rolling dough into balls and then in sugar is optional. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden.

Cookies will keep for several days at room temperature in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Pretzel and Toffee Bonbons

Today is Mama B's birthday! Say it with me now...

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA B!" :-)

Kate and I, of course, asked if Mama B had any requests for a blog post celebrating her birthday. Of all the treats she suggested - and there were many, as Mama B is a respected member-at-large of the Sunday Treats baking team her request for truffles was the most enticing.

 

"Mmmmmmm, what kinda truffles, Mama B?", I asked.

"Oh, you know, those chocolately ones."

"Um, Mama B, all truffles are made with chocolate..."

"You know - those ones you always make! With the oreos!"

Well, as much as I wanted to please Mama B for her birthday, we've already posted the recipe for the awesomely easy and spectacularly tasty Oreo Truffles for all you Sunday Treats readers.

So Kate suggested these little pretties. Technically speaking, they're bonbons and not truffles, but then again, the oreo truffles are technically bonbons, too, so, technically, we stuck with Mama's B's original request for something along the lines of "those chocolately truffles", which, though she didn't know it, are technically not truffles but bonbons.

And technically, that last sentence was horribly grammatically incorrect due to its run-on-ness and overuse of the word 'technically'.

 

Back to my point.

Oh Mama B! How I wish you could apparate to New York and taste one of these. Believe me, a cross-country, interdimensional voyage on your birthday would be worth it. Biting into one makes me feel like everything in my life is going to be just fine.

Know who else makes me feel like that? You.

Happy birthday, Mama. We love you!

 

Peanut Butter Pretzel and Toffee Bonbons

Adapted from melskitchencafe.com

Makes approximately 6-7 dozen bonbons

*Note: To chop the pretzels, place several large handfuls in a ziploc bag, release the extra air and seal, and roll over the top with a rolling pin until the pretzels are crunched up into 1/8-inch pieces. You could also use K&B's preferred method: stomping on the bag! Measure the crumbs and continue the process until you have 2 cups.

8 tablespoons butter, softened to warm room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

2 cups peanut butter

1 cup toffee bits

2 cups crushed pretzels

1 pound chocolate (semisweet, milk, bittersweet)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Toffee, chopped nuts, chocolate jimmies for garnish

1.    In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until evenly combined. Add the peanut butter and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in the toffee bits and pretzel pieces by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

2.    Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Roll the peanut butter mixture into 1-inch balls and place them on the lined baking sheets. Freeze for 15-20 minutes until firm. At this point, the balls can be transferred to a sealed container or freezer ziploc bag and frozen for up to 2 months.

3.    Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and coconut oil together in a microwave-safe bowl, stirring every 30 seconds, until completely melted and smooth. Alternately, use a double boiler to melt the chocolate. If chocolate is very warm, allow it to cool for a few minutes. You want it to be smooth and thin, but not too hot.

4.    One by one, toss a peanut butter/pretzel ball into the melted chocolate and using a fork, cover the ball with chocolate. Lift the covered bonbon out of the chocolate with the fork, then gently shake the fork from side to side to remove excess chocolate. Scrape the bottom of the fork along the edge of the bowl and then, setting the bonbon very close to the parchment paper, use a knife to gently scoot the bonbon off the fork and back onto the baking sheet (or, use a new parchment or waxed paper lined sheet). Immediately sprinkle with your garnish of choice. Refrigerate finished bonbons until ready to serve.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

These little suckers are tasty. Mighty tasty, in fact.

They're also easy to make. Mighty easy, in fact.

They're the perfect combination of sweet and salty, crunchy and creamy, "mmm" and yummy.

Make them now.

That's all I have to say about that.

-Becky

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
Adapted from 17 and Baking

Makes approximately 70 bite sized sandwiches

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 teaspoons butter, room temperature

2/3 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pretzels (the grid shaped ones, such as Snyder's Pretzel Snaps, work well)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon coconut oil

1. In a small bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter together until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar, light brown sugar, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. If mixture is not stiff enough to hold its shape, add more powdered sugar and/or brown sugar.
2. Using a small offset spatula or butter knife, spoon approximately one teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture onto a pretzel. Top with another pretzel, and gently squish to form sandwich.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and repeat with rest of peanut butter mixture.
3. Freeze the pretzel sandwiches for half an hour.
4. Melt the chocolate chips in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, or use a double boiler. Stir in the coconut oil (this thins the chocolate for easier dipping).
5. Dip half of each pretzel sandwich in chocolate. Place the cookie sheet in the fridge and chill until chocolate sets. Store in refrigerator until serving time.

Chex Muddy Buddies

Behold, my friends, the most divine of sweet treats: Muddy Buddies!

I think I've died and gone to heaven.

This tasty delight embodies the holy trinity of baking: peanut butter, chocolate, and butter. What could go wrong with a combination like that?

Nothing.

Except maybe eating myself into a sugar-induced coma.

That's why having a buddy around (pun intended), to share these with is essential.

Three random memories involving Muddy Buddies and other buddies:

1. I was first introduced to Muddy Buddies by classmate S. in 5th grade (she called them "Puppy Chow"). S made a batch in the student multipurpose room in front of the whole class, describing each step as she went along, for the assigned "demonstration" project. I was thoroughly impressed with my 10-year old, destined-for-stardom-as-a-cooking-show-host classmate, and in love with the sweeter-than-sweet Puppy Chow.
2. During the summer between 6th and 7th grade, I had my first taste of adolescent independence when neighbor S. suggested we make Muddy Buddies, then convinced Mama B that we could walk the half mile to the grocery store to buy the ingredients all by ourselves. Oh, how I loved you in that moment, neighbor S! (I loved you, too, Muddy Buddies.)
3. When our dance group participated in Relay for Life in high school to raise money for cancer research, Katie and I made a batch of Muddy Buddies to bring as a snack. Two types of buddies kept us going through the all-night walk: the muddy kind, and the BFF kind.

The Chex people at General Mills know how to create a product that's good for business. Muddy Buddies are a cinch to make and deliciously addicting. Self-control be darned, I can't stop myself from eating these unless a buddy stronger than myself is around to take them away.

The recipe on the back of the cereal box should come with a warning: "Seriously addicting sweet treat. Strict adherence to the 'buddy system' should be maintained while making and eating Chex Muddy Buddies."

Anybody want to be my buddy? Please? Help me!!!

-Becky

Chex Muddy Buddies
Recipe adapted from back of Corn Chex cereal box

9 cups Rice or Corn Chex
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

1. In large bowl, measure cereal. Set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, heat chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter uncovered on High for 1 minute. Stir.
3. Microwave for about 30 seconds more, until mixture can be stirred smooth.
4. Stir in vanilla.
5. Pour mixture over cereal. Stir with large spoon or spatula until cereal is evenly coated.
6. Pour 1 cup powdered sugar into 1-gallon ziploc bag. Pour in half of cereal. Seal and shake until cereal is evenly coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Repeat with remaining powdered sugar and cereal. Store in airtight container in refrigerator or freezer. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I am always amazed at how the turning of a new year motivates so many people in so many ways.

Example #1: The 60 (SIXTY!) people in my Zumba class yesterday. That was 55 minutes of trying to avoid 120 elbows.

Example #2: My intense need to clean out the freezer this afternoon.

Becky and I always do a quick purge of the fridge when we get home from the grocery store - a habit we learned from Mama B - but today I felt the need to purge more than usual, so I opened the dreaded, overpacked freezer and started chucking things into the trash can with a vengeance. Pan of cinnamon rolls from Easter time? Chucked. Test biscuits from Thanksgiving? Chucked. Frozen fruit that's been in there since...um...sometime so long ago that I don't remember buying it? Chucked.

Seriously, Beck had to jump out of the way so she didn't get hit by flying frozen food. And when that freezer was clean, it was a weight off my shoulders I didn't know I was carrying. I mean, who knew clearing away freezer clutter would be so satisfying?

Which makes me wonder...what else in my life needs cleaning out that I don't know about?

Which in turn freaks me out just a little, because cleaning out cupboards and closets and the scary mess under my bed aside, that could turn into a Big Question with Big Answers. What in my life is nourishing and good and worthwhile, and what is just freezer clutter?

It's a tricky one too, because you can bet that cleaning out your life is a lot more difficult than tossing expired cottage cheese into the trash.

But that's okay. One thing at a time. Big Questions aren't meant to be answered right away anyway.

In the meantime, you can make some Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, which I baked specifically because I had a half-used jar of peanut butter and some peanuts taking up room in my cabinet.

These treats have loads of sugar and mix-ins, to the point where you can hardly call them cookies. They're more like peanut butter oatmeal chocolate candy with a little bit of egg and flour holding everything together. And boy are they delicious. I'll never have to decide whether or not to chuck leftovers of these from the freezer...because they'll never make it there in the first place.   

As for those other Big Questions, I have a new motto for the new year: It's okay to be scared - it gives me a chance to be brave.

Happy New Year,

Katie

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Makes approximately 6 dozen cookies

• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (I used kosher salt)
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups salted whole peanuts (unsalted are fine too)
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Stir together oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Blend sugars, butter, and peanut butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla.
4. Reduce speed to low. Add oat mixture, and mix until just combined. Stir in peanuts and chocolate chips. Dough will be pretty stiff.
5. Drop tablespoon-sized balls of dough 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. You might need to roll the dough into balls to get it to stick together.
6. Bake cookies one sheet at a time, rotating sheet halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12-13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Becky and I are PB&J kids. We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches just about every day from approximately first grade through, well, last year. On wheat bread, english muffins or bagels (never white bread), toasted if we were at home, peanut butter on both sides to keep the bread from getting soggy, with strawberry jelly. If we didn't have strawberry, it was raspberry for me; grape for Beck.

Then, one day, it occurred to us that we were basically eating sugar for lunch. We were no longer dancing eight hours a day. Instead, we were sitting in desk chairs on our bums, and those bums were getting bigger and bigger. 

So, our beloved PB&J was banished from the lunch-sphere and into the realm of treats.

And boy, are these PB&J bars a treat.

Do you remember that Peanut Butter Jelly Time video from 2002? The one where a banana bounces around the screen rapping about peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat? Remember how in your face it was?

Yeah. These bars are kind of like that.

In fact, if your taste buds could talk, they might say a bite of these bars is like getting hit with a...wait for it...peanut butter jelly baseball bat.

The dough for these bars comes together really quickly, and smells absolutely fantastic. But my favorite thing about this recipe is that if you buy an 18 oz jar of peanut butter, you don't even have to deal with the annoying mess of scooping peanut butter into and out of measuring cups; you just dump the whole jar in.

One recommendation: Because these bars are so sweet, definitely use raspberry jam or another jam with bite (i.e. not strawberry or grape). Otherwise, you'll be on such a sugar high that you'll start bouncing around like the dancing banana.

Gone are the days of Jif and Smuckers for lunch, but Becky and I always have been and always will be PB&J kids. Are you a PB&J kid, too? If so, make these bars and have a grand old peanut butter jelly time.

-Katie

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars
adapted from Ina Garten
Makes approximately 36 bars

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups (18 ounces) creamy peanut butter (I used one 18 oz jar Jif)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 cups (18 ounces) raspberry jam or other jam
2/3 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan, or spray with baking spray.

3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside

4. Cream the butter and sugar on medium speed with mixer until light yellow, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until all ingredients are combined.

5. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Mix just until combined.

6. Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared cake pan and spread over the bottom with a spatula or your fingers. Spread the jam evenly over the dough. Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don't worry if all the jam isn't covered; the dough will spread in the oven. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

7. Bake for about 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on wire rack, then chill in refrigerator until ready to cut. Lift bars out of pan onto cutting board using parchment and cut into squares. Store at room temperature or in the fridge.

Match Monday: Rice Krispy Peanut Butter Fudge Treats

PROFILE
In my own words: I'm intense - intensely sweet, that is! I always get reactions out of people. At first glance I might appear sophisticated and smooth, but underneath I'm still a kid at heart.
For fun: Hanging out with friends Snap, Crackle, and Pop.
Favorite things: Summers at the community pool, Reese's peanut butter cups

Today's Match Monday treat is yet another one suggested by Guy* and Gasp! it involves cereal, just like last week's treat.

Guy asked if I make Rice Krispy Treats. "Really?!" I thought, "Rice Krispy Treats? Aren't those for kids?" Then a little voice in my head that sounded not unlike our DaddyBob's answered, "No, Silly Rabbit, Trix Treats are for kids." Then that little voice laughed at its own joke, just like DaddyBob would have.

But I digress.

Guy made me think - have I ever made Rice Krispy Treats? I know I at least helped Mama B as she made them for every dance show, BBQ, birthday party, and camping trip of our childhood years.

I also remember that she made a batch and dropped them off at the dorms a month into my freshman year of college. For whatever reason - probably because we didn't have a real knife nor an air conditioner - cutting those bars made me really sweaty, which I announced to my still-new roommate, which was immediately awkward, then hilariously funny.

But I digress again.

My point is that I have definitely not made Rice Krispy Treats in my adult lifetime and didn't particularly care to. One, I overdosed as a kid. Two, no one in my life has requested them. Three, they pose absolutely no baking challenge. Four - RK Treats are for kids!

Enter Rice Krispy Peanut Butter Fudge Treats.

They're slick, they're sophisticated, they require the essential baking skill of patience (which I need lots of practice at), and they are certainly not for kids, unless you're prepared to deal with the sugar high and subsequent crash these babies cause.

And, they're moan-inducing delicious. Here's an exact quote from Mama B when she tasted these:

"Oh wow. Oh. Oh wow. Wow. Ooooohhhh Wooooooowwww."

It got slightly awkward. But then it was also quite funny.

So here's to our little Rice Krispy Treats all grown up. I look forward to making these again for birthday parties, and BBQs, and camping trips, and...and...


Rice Krispy Peanut Butter Fudge Treats

from Joy the Baker via Framed

PART 1
Rice Krispy Treats
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal (or any puffed rice cereal)

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray.

4. Cool. Make Peanut Butter Fudge.

PART 2
Peanut Butter Fudge (recipe from Alton Brown)
1 cup butter

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pound confectioners (powdered) sugar

1. Microwave butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes on high.

2. Stir and microwave on high for 2 more minutes. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to peanut butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon.

3. Pour over the Rice Krispy Treats in the pan and spread evenly.

4. Let cool in the fridge while you make the Chocolate Fudge.

PART 3
Easy Chocolate Fudge
2 Tbsp butter

2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

1. Combine butter, milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

2. Stir in marshmallows, chocolate, and vanilla. Beat for about 1 minute, or until marshmallows melt and mixture is thoroughly combined.

3. Pour over peanut butter fudge, spread evenly and place in the fridge to harden and cool.

4. Cut into 1-inch pieces or smaller. Store in fridge for firmer fudge; on counter top for softer fudge.

*Nicknames are my own. I will never reveal usernames or any identifying information beyond what is already public on Match.com.

Match Monday: Peanut Butter Magic Bars

PROFILE
In my own words: People always say I'm a little over the top, but they also can't get enough of me!
For fun: I enjoy combining things to create something new and different, especially when the new creation turns out to be even better than each thing on its own.
Favorite things: Halloween, theme parties

If you can't handle intensity, I'm probably not your type!


Today's Match Monday treat was suggested by Guy-Who-Doesn't-Like-Kittens.*  You remember Guy-Who-Doesn't-Like-Kittens from last week's post.  His request was simple: he likes anything that includes these:

It took me a while to figure out why I like this treat so much, but I've finally put my finger on it: These bars know how to commit to a theme.

And if you know anything at all about me and Beck, you know that when we're given a theme for something, we take that theme to the extreme.

Case in point: Friend K had a "Little Kid Birthday Party" party a while back.  Did the invitation say anything about dressing up in little kid party dresses?  Nope.  Did Beck and I dress up anyway?  We sure did:

And we didn't even get funny looks on the subway.

But back to these bars.  It's a peanut butter party over here!

Peanut butter in cookie form? Check.

Peanut butter in bite-size candy form? Check.

Peanut butter in crispety, crunchety candy bar form? Check.

Peanut butter in...er, regular peanut butter form?  Check.

And just to top it off, butter, chocolate chips, and sweetened condensed milk, because, well, those make everything better.

I'm calling these Peanut Butter Magic Bars because they are what you would get if you invited the classic Eagle Brand Magic Cookie Bars to a peanut-butter themed party.

So get your peanut butter party on! Costumes are optional, of course, but highly encouraged.

*Nicknames are my own.  I will never reveal usernames or any identifying information beyond what is already public on Match.com.
 

Peanut Butter Magic Bars
adapted from Framed
Makes 48 bite sized bars

• 1 16-ounce package Nutter Butter cookies, crushed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 7 & 1/2 ounces peanut butter cups (about 25 miniature cups), coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces Butterfinger candy bars (about 7 small candy bars), coarsely chopped
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 13″x 9″ pan with parchment paper.

2.  Combine crushed cookies and butter. Press mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 6-8 minutes.

3.  Combine condensed milk, peanut butter, and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Set aside.

4.  Sprinkle chopped candy bars and chocolate morsels over crust. Drizzle condensed milk mixture over toppings.

5.  Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pan on wire rack. Using parchment, lift out of pan, and cut into bars.

Match Monday: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

PROFILE
In my own words: I'm a kid at heart who isn't afraid to get a little silly, though if I'm being completely honest, I do sometimes end up in sticky situations.  I'm a little bit sweet and a little bit salty - the best of both worlds.

Favorite things: Got Milk dog commercials

Let's cut to the chase: I'm looking for my Jelly. And don't worry about bringing me home to your folks - choosy moms hope their daughters choose me.

Today's Match Monday treat was suggested by Mr. Blue Eyes.*  Though not a Sinatra look-alike, Mr. Blue Eyes does have the absolute bluest eyes I've ever seen.  Like, so blue that more than one piece of caprese frittata ended up on my lap instead of in my mouth when we went to brunch. 

But when I heard he liked peanut butter cookies, I was a little worried.  See, I have a confession to make: I am afraid of peanut butter cookies.

(Cut to image of giant sinisterly peanut butter cookie slowly creeping closer and closer while Katie cowers in a corner shaking uncontrollably.)

No, really, it's nothing like that.  Making peanut butter cookies has always just intimidated me because there's nothing to mask imperfections in the cookie.  No chocolate chips, no coconut, no caramel.  Just plain, good old peanut butter.  And since peanut butter is pretty much the best thing in the world, peanut butter cookies should be freakin' awesome, right?

But then the cookies always come out less-than-awesome and I get all disappointed.  Hence, the scary-ness.

(Cut to Katie panicking while sinisterly cookie twists his mustache and laughs an evil laugh.)

Alas, Match Mondays forced me to face my fears. For added courage, I chose a recipe that includes one of my favorite things to eat with peanut butter: honey...

...which apparently did the trick.

(Cut to sinisterly cookie and honey bear bottle locking lovesick eyes while Katie makes a swift getaway.)

These cookies are perfectly chewy and just a little bit sweet.  Besides the honey, the magic ingredient in these is the sea salt on top - don't leave it out.  To do so would be a disappointment, and as discussed, I've had enough peanut butter cookie disappointment in my life.  You're missing out if you don't give the sea salt a shot.

Know who else is missing out?  Mr. Blue Eyes.  Yep.  He hasn't called me back.  Mr. Blue Eyes - I made some peanut butter cookies and they actually turned out pretty awesome, but I'm going to eat them all if I don't hear from you soon.  Gimme a shot, will ya?  If you don't, I might just take back my honey bear and send a giant, violently lovesick, sinisterly cookie your way :-)

-Katie

*Nicknames are my own.  I will never reveal usernames or any identifying information beyond what is already public on Match.com.

 

Soft and Chewier Peanut Butter Cookies

adapted from Seven Spoons 

makes about 20 cookies

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (up to 1/2 teaspoon if you particularly like savory sweets)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons/1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed golden or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
sea salt, for sprinkling

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Use parchment paper to line several standard baking sheets and set aside.

2.  In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

3.  In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and honey and beat on high for three minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

4.  Add the egg and vanilla, then mix on medium speed until well blended.

5.  Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir to just combine. Using a 1 1/4" ice cream scoop dish out mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet (alternatively, use a generous 2 tablespoons of batter for each cookie), spacing them about 2 inches apart. Place onto baking sheet and place in freezer for 10-15 minutes to set up and chill thoroughly.

6.  Dip a fork into warm water and use the tines to press the dough balls lightly; you only want to slightly flatten their shape and leave the imprint of the fork. Freshly dip the fork between pressing each cookie. Sprinkle with sea salt.

7.  Bake in the preheated oven for 16 minutes, rotating the sheets once during baking. Cool on pan for two minutes, then remove to a baking rack to cool completely.

Notes:
- Mine were done after about 14 minutes in the oven.
- I used light brown sugar.