14 Tuesday Feb 2017
I originally saw these cookies in a Christmas issue of Southern Living but instantly wanted to make them with heart cutouts for Valentine’s Day. Our homemade strawberry jam is the perfect shade of red for a Vday Heart. And of course, nothing says “I Love You” like PB&J (unless you are allergic to peanut butter. Then don’t make these). Continue reading
02 Tuesday Feb 2016
Tags
chocolate, Cornflakes, cranberries, cranberry, Crisps, orange, peanut butter, peanuts
Plan on every post on this blog starting with “When I was pregnant…” for awhile. Now that Quinn is out in the world and I’m feeling better, I want to try to post all the things I wanted to when I was too tired to do anything. You would think I would be saying that AFTER baby, but man, I’m convinced being pregnant was like having mono. No matter how little sleep I get I still feel better than the days I got home from work and could only manage eating a PB&J or cornflakes.
Speaking of cornflakes, I had a craving for a bowl of them when I was pregnant. That craving lasted for exactly one bowl. Of course, I bought the HUGE box of cornflakes. I don’t think any other cereal comes in a box so big. So…I’ve had some cornflakes I’ve been needing to do something with for way too long.
What’s the best thing to do with cereal? Make it into something even more unhealthy, of course! I had so many cornflakes I was able to make 2 batches of chocolate crisps inspired by Ina’s “English Chocolate Crisps.” For the first batch, chocolate, orange, and cranberry were perfect together. But then I realized that Chocolate and Peanut butter was kind of a no-brainer too. The process can get a little messy and each batch turns out slightly different. Above are the peanut crisps and below are the chocolate-orange crisps. I was able to get the orange ones into balls better and the peanut butter ones were a little harder to mold. Regardless of the messiness, these no-bake snacks are still super easy and worth it. It’s a great way to get a nice little hit of chocolate goodness without having too feel too guilty.
Recipe
Chocolate Crisps, 2 Ways
Makes 2 dozen medium-sized crisps
Adapted from Ina Garten’s Make It Ahead
Chocolate-Orange Crisps
Ingredients
Directions
Chop the dark chocolate (if you aren’t using dark chocolate chips) and place into a double boiler. Add the bittersweet chocolate chips, the orange zest, and orange juice and stir until smooth. Alternately, you can place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals, stopping to stir until chocolate is melted.
Place the cornflakes and dried cranberries in a medium bowl and stir to incorporate the cranberries. Immediately fold in the melted chocolate with a rubber spatula, working quickly so the chocolate doesn’t harden.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Working with 2 large spoons or soup spoons, spoon mounds of chocolate onto the paper. This gets a little tricky since everything doesn’t quite stick together, but try to get the mounds clumped together. It’s messy, but the chocolate will harden in the fridge! Make about 2 dozen, 2-inch round crisps.
Refrigerate crisps until hardened, at least 1 hour.
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crisps
Ingredients
Directions
Place chocolate chips into a double boiler. Add the peanut butter and stir until smooth. Alternately, you can place the chocolate and peanut butter in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals, stopping to stir until chocolate is melted.
Place the cornflakes, dried cranberries, and peanuts in a medium bowl and stir to incorporate everything. Immediately fold in the melted chocolate and peanut butter mixture with a rubber spatula, working quickly so the chocolate doesn’t harden.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Working with 2 large spoons or soup spoons, spoon mounds of chocolate onto the paper. This gets a little tricky since everything doesn’t quite stick together, but try to get the mounds clumped together. It’s messy, but the chocolate will harden in the fridge! Make about 2 dozen, 2-inch round crisps.
Refrigerate crisps until hardened, at least 1 hour.
24 Saturday Jan 2015
Today is…National Peanut Butter Day! Before you leave in a rage, know this is the last “National Food Day” post I’ll give you in awhile. And this recipe may barely suffice for peanut butter day. While there is peanut butter in these snack bars, there are tons of other delicious ingredients too – pretzels, almonds, rolled oats, marshmallows, chocolate rice cereal…These bars come together so well you can’t really say peanut butter is the star…All of the ingredients compliment each other.
These are like rice crispy treats on crack. Or I guess you could say an even better version of the classic no-bake cookie. I found the original recipe in Cooking Light, and they call them Snack Bars so you can almost justify that they are totally healthy! One of the ingredients is rolled oats! But of course, I added a little bit more butter and used Cocoa Krispies instead of “chocolate oat” cereal.
10 Tuesday Dec 2013
Posted in Desserts, Easy, Holidays, LuLu's Classics, Uncategorized
Tags
balls, butter, chocolate, crisp rice cereal, peanut butter, powdered sugar, puffed rice cereal, rice krispies
I am so very thrilled to be bringing you some famous family balls! When I was a kid, my mom would always make various types of balls around the holidays. It has been YEARS since we have revisited the tradition, and I needed to get these recipes on lockdown! I’m kicking off our famous balls recipes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls. These are super easy, decadent, and delish! Better than any store bought peanut butter treat I have ever had, I love the little crunch you get from the crispy rice cereal.
Off we go into how easy these are!
All you have to do is mix the crisp rice cereal with powdered sugar, then add the butter and peanut butter alternatively in a few batches until everything is combined. Throw the mixture in the fridge until it has firmed up…
Then line a rimmed baking sheet with waxed paper and form the mixture into balls. You can make whatever size you like, each of my balls are about 2 bites each, just a little over a tablespoonful!
Then you get ready to dip your balls into chocolate! Paraffin was in the original recipe, but I didn’t use it. I think it’s pretty unnecessary unless you are going for a super glossy and smooth look, plus you lose some of the pure chocolate flavor. (If you haven’t already noticed, my balls definitely aren’t perfect. But in my opinion, taste always trumps looks when it comes to balls).
These totally brought me back. I can tell you, anyone who loves a good peanut butter treat will love these balls. They are awesome straight out of the freezer. The best part is you can make these in advance, freeze them, and then gift them when you are ready. Stay tuned for more famous family balls recipes!
Recipe
Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
from Lulu
makes about 3 dozen balls
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, mix together the crisp rice cereal and the powdered sugar. Add the butter and peanut butter alternatively in thirds until the entire mixture is well blended. Refrigerate mixture until cold and firmed up, for at least an hour.
Remove mixture from refrigerator and place waxed paper on a rimmed baking sheet. Form peanut butter mixture into balls, I make mine about 2-bite sized, maybe a little bigger than a tablespoonful each. Place the balls on the waxed paper.
Gently simmer 2 inches of water in a medium saucepan or double boiler. If not using a double boiler, place chocolate and parrafin (if using) in a medium-sized heatproof bowl and place the bowl over, not touching the simmering water (this creates your homemade double boiler). Melt the chocolate until smooth. Remove from the simmering water and get ready to dip your balls into the chocolate. You can use a fork to dip, or a wooden skewer, whatever works! Let balls dry on the waxed paper and chill in the fridge for about an hour before removing.
Balls will keep for at least a week in the fridge, even longer in the freezer.
28 Wednesday Nov 2012
Posted in Appetizers, Entertaining, Grilling, Main Dish, Pork, Sauces, Uncategorized
Tags
cilantro, coconut milk, coriander, cumin, garlic, lime, onion, peanut butter, peanut sauce, pork, soy sauce, thai, thai peppers
Pork Satay with Homemade Peanut Sauce
My first Bobby Flay recipe, and it did NOT disappoint! Everyone loved this dish, and it came together relatively easily, despite a few ingredients I never have handy (coconut milk & thai peppers).
This was great to have for a party, we served these with homemade crab rangoon.
Serves 4-6, with lots of leftover sauce!
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, add pork and let marinate 2 to 4 hours.
Heat the oil in a skillet and add the onion, garlic and chili. Saute for about 4 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce, lime juice, coconut milk, coriander, and cumin. Thoroughly blend the peanut butter into the mixture. Bring the sauce to a simmer over low heat, stirring frequently. Stir in the cilantro and remove from the heat.
Preheat the grill.
Remove the pork from the marinade and thread on skewers. Grill for 7 to 8 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with the sauce.
30 Sunday Sep 2012
ice cream sundae with homemade peanut butter sauce
There is no reason to ever buy store-bought ice cream sauce. Why? Because this fabulous recipe exists. I don’t think I could ever come up with this on my own out of thin air, but Joy the Baker did. Go buy some vanilla ice cream and enJOY!
Recipe
Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sauce
makes about 1/2 cup sauce, enough for 4 sundaes
From the Joy the Baker Cookbook
Ingredients
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat. Once heated through, peanut butter mixture will be smooth and easily pourable.
Pour over scoops of vanilla ice cream. Go crazy and add chocolate sauce, whipped cream, nuts, bananas, or a cherry on top!
