peanut butter

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter and Jelly Snack Cake.

I’m a little bored with this classic combination in sandwich form, so I figured that eating it in cake form had to be better. And since when is “snack cake” not a good thing? Healthy enough to eat as a snack and still taste delicious? Sign me up. Side note: This would be why I don’t do any of that fancy cookie decorating. Next time I would probably add more jelly. I am not a huge jelly fan – especially when it comes to globs of it. I like a thin smear of jelly on my pb & j’s, and nearly a whole cup of peanut butter. But Mr. How Sweet loves jelly and declared “more jelly!” next time. And I don’t think he was talking about my thighs. So while I’m not really into peanut butter and jelly on bread right now, I’m always into cake. I’ve already done peanut butter and jelly muffins, peanut butter and jelly bars, peanut butter and jelly cookies, and oh… who could forget peanut butter and jelly pancakes? Be still my heart. Cake was the next logical step. And it had to be made with whole wheat flour in order to soften the [...]

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Peanut Butter Stuffed Hot Fudge Cupcakes.

Well… it is Fat Tuesday. Did you expect anything less from me? I made these cupcakes Friday afternoon to have for dinner on Friday night. And they are simple – only one bowl necessary! I think I told four different people that I needed to handcuff myself so I wouldn’t eat them before our company arrived. It wouldn’t have mattered… I could have chewed through the metal to get to these. I was craving a chocolate + peanut butter treat for dessert but as usual, wanted something different from what I already have made before. All I could think about was thick, creamy peanut butter buttercream frosting… So I stuffed the cupcakes, which was really easy! I just poked a hole in the cupcake with the pastry tip and filled them. You can never have too much peanut butter. Especially if it’s enveloped by chocolate. I’m the kind of person that just likes a big blob of frosting on the top of a cupcake. No spreading needed. But didn’t that cupcake look sort of naked? That’s what I thought too. Much better. Some of this may be necessary. Preferably of the anything-but-skim variety. Result? They were an absolute hit; my [...]

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread.

Word on the street is that I post quite a few recipes with peanut butter. You probably haven’t noticed. But this recipe is better. This recipe contains one of the best combinations known to man: chocolate, peanut butter and banana. Only taking a close second to bacon and chocolate. This is a banana bread to end all banana breads. And it has whole wheat flour! And brown sugar. You know, the healthy kind of sugar? Since it’s brown? Kind of like brown bread. Or brown flour. Or brown brownies. Just ignore me. All I’m saying is that you can eat lots. And as usual, make sure you cut super thick slices. Slices already have a set limit of calories. One slice fits all. Make it a big one. Especially if the top is covered in raw turbinado sugar, because then it’s reallllly crunchy. I might have eaten just the top off of half the loaf because, well… I do things like that. Love, love, love this bread. I was a little nervous using all whole wheat flour, but it made the bread perfectly dense and delicious. It’s not too sweet either. Which is highly unusual for me, so I apologize. [...]

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The Elvis Granola Bar.

You guys made me do it. I’m blaming you. After I posted the 5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Granola Bars with a simple mention of bacon, your encouragement (disgust?) and the thought of the deliciousness (grossness?) never left my mind. And then Maria had to mention that today is Elvis’ birthday, so how could I not make them? I looked at it as honoring a legend. Of course I had to add my own twist and throw in some chocolate because I have no self control. After all, I did just up the protein content of the bar, so what’s wrong with a little chocolate? The Elvis Granola Bar 4 cups rolled oats 2 tablespoons chia seeds (these are optional, I just love the texture they give) 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped 1/2 cup chopped dried bananas 1/2 cup crumbled bacon 1/2 cup chocolate chips 3/4 cup natural peanut butter, melted 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons brown rice syrup (honey works too!) Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine oats, chia seeds, banana, peanuts, chocolate chips and bacon. Add melted peanut butter and honey (or syrup) and mix until moistened and combined. If you need more “glue.” add additional peanut [...]

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5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Granola Bars.

Sunday morning, I woke up with an unreasonable craving for granola bars. It probably had a bit to do with the statement Mr. How Sweet made on New Year’s Day… something along the lines of wanting to buy Fiber One bars in bulk? I raised an eyebrow. He does not need any more fiber. Trust me. Why won’t he eat my own granola bars? I’m sure if I could create a granola bar out of chicken and steak, he’d go to town on that. But now that I’ve left you with that digusting image in your head , let me tell you about the deliciousness that is these peanut butter granola bars. They may just be the simplest bars you’ll ever make! You only need five ingredients to begin. They will create a simple, perfect peanut butter granola bar, but I also like to think of it as a base for a packed peanut butter granola bar. Since I’ve made six batches of these bars since Sunday, I can tell you what works: chocolate chips, dried cherries, almonds, wheat germ, dried figs, and dried banana. Yes, dried banana. A peanut butter, honey and banana granola bar! Mmmmm. I think I’m [...]

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Creamy Peanut Butter Hummus.

As I scraped up the last drops of my hummus yesterday with a salty pita chip, I couldn’t help but think that the empty container looked like it had housed peanut butter. Then I immediately opened up the peanut butter jar and gingerly spread some on my getting-soggy chip, right next to the hummus. Curiosity got the best of me. And it was delicious! Next thing I know, I’ve got an open can of chickpeas drained and rinsed, about to be pulverized in the food processor with a few globs of peanut butter and a sprinkling of smoked paprika. If it didn’t work out, I would have to tread back to the grocery store, making my second trip in one day. I didn’t want to start Monday off without any hummus in the fridge. This would inevitably lead to 3-5 more trips this coming week. It’s just how I do things here. But it worked. Over and over again. I tried it with a pita chip. I tried it on toast. I tried it right off the spoon. I tried it on a sandwich. I tried it with a pretzel. I tried it with an animal cracker. I’m weird. I [...]

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Crispy Chocolate Peanut Butter French Toast.

Buckle your seat belts folks. We’re about to take french toast to a whole new level. A few weeks ago, I was making Mr. How Sweet eight pounds of healthy, crunchy chicken fingers and happened to take a glance at the side of the Kellogg’s Corn Flake box. On it there was a recipe for crispy french toast, and it stuck to me like glue. And yes, I said eight pounds. Eight el bee’s. Do you think I’m joking when I say that Mr. How Sweet eats a lot? Haha. It’s not funny. So I broke out the corn flake crumbs again. While we’re on the topic of corn flake crumbs, I figure that you could make a healthier version of this by using whole wheat bread and a whole grain or spelt flake cereal – simply crush it into crumbs. But it’s the holidays… and who wants to make something healthier? Clearly I didn’t, so I used Texas toast. Let it be known that I don’t even like white bread unless it comes in the form of Texas toast. Initially, I was just going to make this peanut butter french toast. See that crunchiness up there? But then my [...]

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies.

If the yellowed index card doesn’t give it away, the “White Karo Corn Syrup” ingredient must. It’s another gem from the depths of Mother Lovett’s never ending recipe collection. And you can imagine my excitement when I found this, for they are made with an ingredient I absolutely adore: graham cracker crumbs. True story: sometimes I melt butter in the microwave, add graham cracker crumbs, add marshmallows, then add chocolate chips and microwave again for a “s’mores bowl.” I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that. But not really. And then I somehow convince myself that it is a healthy snack. I can work wonders. I have never seen a non-cheesecake cookie, let alone a no-bake cookie, that is made with graham cracker crumbs. And there are a plethora of no-bake cookies making their rounds. My heart was singing as I rolled the dough into balls. As we all know, there is only one way to make peanut butter better… The best part of the graham cracker crumbs is that they cause these cookies to be a bit salty. If you know me, you know that chocolate + peanut butter + salt is my kryptonite. And if you don’t know me, [...]

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Perfect Peanut Butter Blossoms.

So, this may not be as exciting as cake batter bark, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret. When it comes to peanut butter blossoms, I always use the recipe on the back of the Hershey Kiss bag. Always. And I really had no intentions of sharing said recipe with you, because while it is my favorite cookie of all time, it’s so well known that I figured most of you had the recipe. And if you didn’t, it’s only a drive to the grocery store away. But then I posted my holiday baking list and had over one hundred requests for “my” peanut butter blossom recipe. Really?! So there you have it – my recipe comes from the back of the bag! But do you know who’s didn’t? Mother Lovett’s. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but I would help Mother Lovett bake Christmas cookies every year. Not because she wanted my help. But because she was blind and deaf and unless we wanted charred rocks on Christmas Eve, someone needed to be there to hear the oven timer go off. Peanut Butter Blossoms were especially tricky, because you had to hear the [...]

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3-Minute Fudge.

Mother Lovett was the queen of fudge. She would make so much of it every December that come March, a handful of stale, crusty pieces would still be sitting under a blanket of saran wrap on her ceramic holly berry plate. And come November, she’d remove the aluminum tin from her freezer that housed a few more frozen pieces that she’d kept “just in case.” While chocolate was her specialty, she also mastered the two-toned fudge. All of us loved peanut butter fudge, but she rarely made it. Instead she’d make butterscotch fudge every single year, along with a batch of chocolate-butterscotch that I’m not sure anyone ever ate besides her. And maybe my mom. It was delicious, but the peanut butter was so much better. While I happened to come across this recipe last year as I went through Mother Lovett’s treasures, I don’t think she ever used it. But it jumped out at me immediately. It is so incredibly simple. It literally takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, and only about 30 minutes to set. And it is the perfect recipe for when you are in a time crunch. Plus, you can never, ever go wrong with [...]

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