Fudge-Filled Peanut Butter Cookies

Today is a peanut butter and Nutella kind of day with a little extra chocolate thrown in for good measure:)

Happy Cookie Friday!!

Speaking of which-these sandwich cookies earned two thumbs up from all the kiddos!

But I suppose thats not too hard to imagine...

with the peanut butter/chocolate combo:)

~

Ingredient list:

peanut butter

shortening

sugar

brown sugar

beat until fluffy...

add in 1 egg, beat until smooth...

beat in flour, baking powder, and baking soda..

shape dough into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet

flatten by pressing with fork in criss cross pattern..

bake for 4 to 6 minutes

~

While cookies are cooling-and at this point if you're gonna taste one ya might as well have 2, they're sandwich cookies can't have a top with out a bottom;) -mix up the filling.

Put the chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for about a minute-then add the peanut butter and nutella-stirring until smooth.

Nice and smooth:-)

Cool to room temp.

Take a tablespoon and spread mixture onto bottom cookie and top with the other.

Mmmmm!

ENJOY!!

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!!:)

Printable Recipe

Nutella Mudslide Bars

These bars are in honor of World Nutella Day!

We will be linking these to the World Nutella Day Page for the 2011 round up organized by Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso.

They are inspired by the Avalanche Bars over at Cookies and Cups blog.

{love the name of her blog;)}

I LOVE her blog-she is sooo creative-always coming up with something totally mindblowingly delicious:) If you haven't been by there you are missing out and thats just a total shame!!;)

Right now she has a very cute idea for Valentine's Day-check it out!

We had a couple jars of Nutella left from January's Dessert Wars so that was a must for these bars as well as the Golden Grahams. The rest just fell into place and left us with bars that are so deliciously addicting I barely grabbed the last one to get a few result pictures for ya'all!:)

Besides the Nutella and Golden Grahams we added-white chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, peanut butter, and Reese's Peices-sounds like the perfect snack hey:)

Pop the chips into the microwave and stir until completely melted

Stir until combined

my favorite kind of cereal..

and lightly press into pan.

Let stand until set or as long as you can stand too;)

{not very long around here!}

Cut into bars and serve.

Happy World Nutella Day!!

Enjoy!!

Printable Recipe

Nutella Silk Pie

There are people who love Nutella and there are people who've never tried Nutella- thats it there is no in between right?!?!

This pie is light and fluffy, smooth and silky and just downright delicious!

Perfect combination of Nutella and peanut butter-deliciously creamy and it came to be

all because of a little thing called Dessert Wars!

Dessert Wars is the brainchild of Reeni from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice and Christine from The Cupcake Bandit. This is a competition with a new ingredient each month, this months is Nutella, designed to push us out of our comfort zone and try something new-and there are prizes!!

Woowhoo!;)

The prizes will be posted at the end of this post.

After checking around I realized there are like a million and one Nutella recipes!!

I really wanted to come up with something different so once this pie "came to me;)"

I checked around the net and was pleased to find there wasn't already a recipe out there.

So I looked around for a basic silk pie recipe and went from there.

As always the full recipe is available through the printable link.

This is what I came up with:

Make a pie crust and bake it-no pictures for this step.

In a medium sauce pan cook sugar, chocolate, milk and corn syrup together stirring occasionally, to the soft ball stage-234 degrees.

Remove from heat and add Nutella.

Mmmm-yummy!

Beat lightly for a few minutes.

Pour into cooled pie crust.

Chill thoroughly before filling layer.

Mix together the filling ingredients-cream cheese, Nutella, peanut butter, powdered sugar, pudding mix and milk. Beat until smooth.

This part is super important-

MAKE YOUR OWN WHIPPED CREAM!!!

Just one of those things you just do;)

Then gently fold into filling mixture until well blended.

Pour over fudge layer.

Chill before serving...please..it's totally worth the wait!

Top with more HOMEMADE WHIPPED CREAM;)

Sprinkle with shaved chocolate 'cuz it looks pretty!

Do you want a bite???

Here ya go....YUM!!!

Enjoy!!

Oh and here are the fabulous prizes:

The January prize package includes:

Whisk and cupcake necklace from Moon & Star Designs

The Smartshopper Electronic Grocery List Organizer

Beanilla Sampler Pack of Vanilla Beans

Lenox Personalized Musical Cupcake

1,000 ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes

Endless Vanilla and Cinnamon Extract

Unlimited Layers: A Recipe for Turning Your Passion into Profits

Organic Valley $50 Gift Certificate

Organic Prairie $50 Gift Certificate

Theme Kitchen $50 Gift Certificate

BEKA Cookware Crepe Pan

Printable Recipe

Stracciatella Semifreddo

I don't know how to pronounce it but i do know how to eat it!!! And it was nummy!!! A great dessert for summer... cold, creamy, nutty and just the right amount of chocolate! This dessert requires lots of freezer time so plan ahead.... another thing learned from experience!

It melts really fast so it must be ready to eat when served!

Start off by toasting Hazelnuts in the oven... i had a hard time finding hazelnuts and once i did they had the "skins" on them but after toasting they came right off! (Don't mind the very ugly looking pan.... it has definately seen better days!!!)

Next grease the inside of a bread pan and then cut parchment paper in strips to fit the pan. The parchment paper overlaps and makes taking the dessert out of the pan a breeze.. see pics at the end.


In food processor combine biscotti and toasted hazelnuts... love the food processor, it makes life so much easier!!

Add melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are moistened.

Using a spatula, press the crumb mixture into the bottom of your prepared pan.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes.

Now it is time to start the filling. Separate 8 eggs yolks.

Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract and salt until smooth.

Transfer mixture to a glass bowl and place over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk until the egg mixture is pale, thick and creamy and a thermometer reads 160°, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Put the bowl into a larger bowl of iced water to cool completely.

In another medium bowl, beat the cream until thick. Add sugar and beat until the cream holds stiff peaks.

Mix 1/4 of the cream into the cooled custard. Using a spatula, gently fold the remaining cream into the custard.

Drop spoonfuls of the Nutella over the custard mixture and gently fold until just incorporated but still chunky. Spoon the mixture onto the prepared crust.

Fold the overhanging parchment paper over the custard and freeze at least 8 hours or up to 3 days.

When ready to serve, just pull back the sides of the parchment paper....

Use the "tabs" on the ends as handles and the dessert should come right up out of the pan. Peel the parchment paper off of the dessert.

The beautiful dessert....

Cut into slices and serve!!

Printable Recipe