Peanut Butter & Chocolate Bars (aka copykat Reese's bars)

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Bars (aka copykat Reese's bars)
Source: Bakerlady

Peanut Butter Layer:
1 cup butter melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (use the boxed kind, or grind them in a food processor. Tiny granules.)
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup peanut butter
Chocolate Layer:
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 tbsp. peanut butter

In a medium saucepan, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well butter is melted and everything is blended well. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer. Let cool until chocolate hardens. Carefully cut squares and then refrigerate for at least an hour before eating.

*****

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! This is absolutely perfect! If you have no will power when it comes to sweets, then you should probably cut this recipe in half and make it in an 8x8-inch pan. This has the absolute right taste of a peanut butter cup (the good ones, not the generic ones that never quite taste right).

Oreo Fudge Ice Cream Cake

Ice Cream Cake

1-1/3 boxes of honey graham crackers (approximate amount)
1/2 gallon ice cream (I used vanilla), softened
2/3 pkg. Oreo cookies, broken
1 jar hot fudge sauce, warmed
1 large container whipped cream, thawed

In a large pan (I used a large and deep lasagna pan), layer graham crackers on the bottom. Top with 1/2 of the ice cream; repeat graham cracker layer. Top with 1/2 of the whipped cream. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the broken cookies, and drizzle with 1/2 of the hot fudge sauce. Repeat layers above for a second full layer (graham crackers, remaining ice cream, graham cracker, remaining whipped cream, broken cookies and hot fudge sauce). Cover and freeze. This can be eaten the same day as made, but if you make it a few days ahead of time, the graham crackers will soften and it will be a different (but still wonderful) texture.

This recipe is absolutely a wonderful and RICH dessert and can be customized in so many ways. You can use honey graham cracker or chocolate. You can use any flavor of ice cream. You can use any candy or cookie, crushed or crumbled for the topping. You can use hot fudge sauce, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, etc. The possibilities are endless. This make a HUGE ice cream cake for a very reasonable price. Mine came out to approximately $12.50 for the entire cake including the pan that I had to buy because I didn't have an extra pan (and the pan alone was $1.88!). You can make this in smaller amounts (only one layer, in an 8x8 pan, etc.) or you can make the large "cake" and enjoy the fruits of your labor. YUMMY!!!

***After eating this dessert several times, I've decided that in the future I'm only making it one layer deep and not the double layer. It's a very rich and yummy dessert, but for our family, one layer thick is more than plenty. So the approximate amounts listed would then make two ice cream cakes instead of just one deep one. :)

Fruit Salad

Source: AllRecipes.com

Fruit Salad

2 (20 oz) cans pineapple chunks, drained and juice reserved
4 apples (I used McIntosh or Gala), cored and diced
4 firm bananas, peeled and sliced
1 lb. strawberries
1 can (21 oz) peach pie filling
*Any other fresh fruit that you wish to add (grapes - cut in half, blueberries, peeled and separated clementines, etc)


1.In a small bowl, toss the chopped apples in reserved pineapple juice. Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
2.In a large salad bowl, combine the pineapple chunks and diced strawberries.
3.Remove apples from pineapple juice and add to pineapple/strawberry mixture. Add chopped bananas to reserved pineapple juice and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
4.Remove bananas from pineapple juice and add to pineapple/strawberry/apple mixture.
5. Add pie filling and mix well. Chill and serve.

Makes about 16 servings.

*This recipe was awesome. The easiest and very yummy fruit salad. It was a big hit with my family, and will definitely be repeated many times. You can easily customize this recipe to whatever fresh fruit is available and what you're craving. I was hesitant to make it because of using the pie filling, but it added a nice "sauce" to the fruit salad without having to worry about taking it to a picnic and it wasn't overly sweet like I was afraid that it would be.

3-2-1 Cake for One

There's a cake recipe that I've seen a lot lately that almost sounded too good to be true because it was extremely simple to make, extremely simple in ingredients AND low calorie too! This recipe allows you to make a single serving of just about any type of cake that is really low in calories.

3-2-1 Cake for One

1 box Angel Food cake mix*
1 box cake mix, any flavor

Mix the two dry cake mixes together in a gallon size zip lock bag (or a sealable container). Do not add anything else to it.

When you're ready to make your personal cake, place 3 tablespoons dry cake mix in a bowl, mix with 2 tablespoons water. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Voila! Your personal cake is ready!

The cake (once cooled) is very fluffy and yummy. I topped mine with a small amount of low-fat whipped cream. I figured everybody who tries this is probably going to go the route of making a chocolate cake of some sort, so I tried a lemon cake mix. It was great.

*The key to this recipe working (from what I understand) is that you MUST use an Angel Food cake mix as 1/2 of the recipe. I don't know what would happen if you don't, but it works absolutely great so I'm not messing with it.

UPDATE: I've since tried this with a chocolate cake mix. I had my doubts as to how it would taste because it didn't mix up quite like the lemon mix did, and it didn't smell as yummy when it cooked. Once it cooled (I don't like warm cake), I ate it plain and it was very yummy. Definitely took care of my chocolate craving.

Smores on a Stick

Smores on a Stick
Source: Whimsicle Creations There are awesome pictures on her site of the Smores on a Stick

Ingredients:
Large marshmallows
Pretzel sticks or lollipop sticks
Chocolate almond bark (or candy melt)
Graham crackers, crushed (or sprinkles, get creative)

Directions:
Place on marshmallow on a lollipop stick or pretzel stick. Repeat for all marshmallows.

Melt the almond bark or candy melt in the microwave, be careful not to burn it.

Dip each marshmallow in the almond bark to coat and then roll it gently in the graham cracker crumbs, or whatever topping you chose to use.

Place it on a cookie sheet to let the almond bark set. Once set, put them away until ready to eat.

My daughter and I made these together as a treat for the Fourth of July. We used two bags of large marshmallows, one bag of pretzel rods (we didn't use the whole bag), one package of chocolate almond bark, and 1/2 a box of cinnamon graham crackers. It took us about an hour to make them all, but we had to keep heating up more almond bark and I didn't have a ceramic bowl/cup to keep the almond bark from cooling faster when I melted bigger batches of it.

Warning: They are yummy and addictive!!!