Nutella Peanut Butter Cups

I am an Army brat, and spent many of my early years in Germany. Nutella was something I grew up eating... and I loved it. Nutella is a little difficult to describe. It's a hazelnut-infused creamy chocolate that is used as a bread spread (but let me tell you it's darn tasty just on a spoon by itself). It's rich, but not sugar sweet tasting, and creamy, and chocolaty, and just good. I haven't eaten it much in the years since I came back state-side in 1987, but I never forgot it... sniff, sniff. Oh, sorry, I got distracted reminiscing. Back to the topic. So when I saw the picture associated with this pin, Nutella Cups, on Pinterest, my mouth started watering. With her recipe, she uses more of a sugar cookie, whereas I made them more like a reversed Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I think mine turned out pretty dang good, and if my co-workers responses are an indication, I think they agreed with my assessment of yumminess.

You can use my recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies - I doubled it for this Nutella Peanut Butter Cups recipe. The only other thing you will need is a jar of Nutella.

Mix up the cookie recipe, either mine or your own favorite, according to directions. Grease mini muffin pan, and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll cookie dough into approximately 1-inch balls, and place one in each muffin cup.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a light golden brown. I actually got two full trays of these out of the double batch of my Peanut Butter Cookies recipe. It was the Nutella I ran short on. If I had added just a little less Nutella on the earlier cups, I might have had enough. In the blog link, she suggests using a shot glass to make the cups, but that didn't work for me. I ended up using a melon scoop because it had more of bowl shape than a regular spoon. Let the cookies cool only a couple of minutes and then start making the bowls.

Next, fill each cup with Nutella. Let sit for 15-20 minutes for the cookies to set. You won't be able to stack these because the Nutella will stick to the cup above. And you will want to try one as soon as possible. These little delights just melt in your mouth!

Key Lime Pie

I don't like too many varieties of pies, but the ones that I do... I LOVE! Key Lime Pie is one of my chosen varieties. I had a nice recipe that I've used several times to make it, but I ran across this one (Key Lime Pie) on Pinterest and knew that I had to give it a try. This recipe has only a few ingredients, and the lime zest and fresh lime juice just add a level of yuminess that is difficult to describe in words except... yummmmmmmmm. 

6 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature (I used 7 large eggs)
1/4 cup sugar
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (4 to 5 limes) (I used 6)

The blog recipe calls for the crust, filling and decoration to be homemade, but I cheated a little and took the easy route for this first attempt and used a store bought Keebler's graham cracker crust and I really didn't even need the whipped cream, but I have some in the fridge if I decided I needed it.

The first step in this recipe is the zest and juice the lime. It's easier to zest the lime before it's cut and juiced. 

I ended up using about six limes to get the 3/4 cups of juice, and I had a lot more zest than the recipe calls for.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the filling, beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until thick. I don't have an electric mixer, only a handheld, and it worked just fine.

With the mixer on medium speed, add the condensed milk, lime zest, and lime juice. Pour into prepared pie shell and freeze.

Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (10 crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl. Press into a 9-inch pyrex pie pan, making sure the sides and the bottom are an even thickness. Bake for 10 minutes until firm and golden. Allow to cool completely.

Topping

1 cup (1/2 pint) cold heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Thin lime wedges

For the decoration, beat the heavy cream on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until firm. Spoon or pipe decoratively onto the pie and decorate with lime. Freeze for several hours or overnight.

Note: If you have concerns about raw eggs, combine the yolks with 1/2 cup of the lime juice used in the recipe in a double boiler. Whisk constantly over medium heat until the mixture reaches 140 degrees. Use in place of the raw egg yolks, remembering to add the remaining 1/4 cup of lime juice to the filling mixture along with the condensed milk and zest.

Banana Bread Bars

While I don't like bananas (it's a texture thing), I do in fact love banana bread! So, when my friend Carrie shared this recipe with me on Facebook, I knew I was going to have to give it a try. It took a few weeks, but I finally tried this last weekend. Here's the original post: Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting. These bars turned out quite delicious! They were very moist and quite flavorful. However, they were basically unedible after two or three days. The icing sort of melted into the bars and the leftovers turned into a hot mess.

1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan (I used a 12X17). For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla extract. 

Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. 

Stir in walnuts.

Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Brown Butter Frosting
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp milk

Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.

Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting). Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm). 

Fried Cauliflower

I don't set the best example of a healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables. I'm a picky eater, and there's only a handful of either fruits or vegetables that I'm willing to eat. Because of this, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to prepare those items that I am willing to eat. Enter Dr. Ola's Kitchen's Extra Crispy Fried Cauliflower. This recipe was rather tasty and fairly simple to prepare. I do believe I will add more salt and pepper and I'm going to have to think of an herb or spice to add to it the next time I make it.

1 medium sized Cauliflower
1/2 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
Salt and pepper according to taste (or use your favorite spices)
Oil for deep frying

Cut up cauliflower into florets, and cook them in water for five minutes; drain well.

Combine cornmeal, flour, eggs, milk, salt and pepper in one bowl and mix well. Batter should be slightly thin, but not runny.

Place breadcrumbs in a separate bowl. Dip each piece of cauliflower first into the batter and coat complete and then into the breadcrumbs ensuring all sides are covered.

Cook in hot oil until golden brown. Serve!