Unless you are a famous, a fallen police officer or fireman, serviceman, or you killed someone chances are your death isn’t going to make it onto the news. Not that the news needs anymore sadness. Though I must admit I do enjoy when they interview a killer’s neighbors. I was watching the news back a few weeks ago and the killers neighbor said he was a nice man, kept to himself and my favorite…always had a well-kept lawn. So beware of your neighbor with a well-manicured lawn. We all deal with grief in different ways. My way, is usually humor. It’s how I deal with most things in life.

Now I don’t mean I crack jokes about the deceased but I usually do my best to lighten things up. If you are a Friend’s fan, I’m pretty much like Chandler. I try to defuse tension by attempting to get people to smile. It’s how I deal with things. You deal with things in a different way. And Jennie will deal with her grief in a different way.

If you somehow missed it, today we are honoring Jennie’s husband Mikey who is no longer with her/us. As tribute to her husband she has chosen to make him Peanut Butter Pie and invited the blogging world to join her. And so many of us have. Just like everyone grieves differently, everyone interprets recipes different. Since I figured there would be a ton of peanut butter pie recipes out there today, I would do something slightly different but still using similar ingredients.

These are a take on cheesecake bites but using the main components of peanut butter pie…and a way easier crust…just throw down an Oreo. All the flavors are there, except it’s portable and kid friendly. I have been very pro kid friendly lately.

So here is to you Jennie, I wish you comfort and peace as you work your way back to your new normal. And a little laughter, as it is the best medicine.

Peanut Butter Pie Cheesecake Bites

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 extra large egg
3 TBSP all-purpose flour
¾ cup chocolate chips
16 Oreo Cookies (or Trader Joe’s version)

Place cupcake liners in two muffin pans, will make about 16. Place an Oreo cookie at the bottom of each one.

Place the cream cheese and peanut butter in a deep bowl. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in the sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract. Add egg and beat until smooth. Add in flour. Increase speed to medium and beat until all the ingredients are combined and filling is smooth.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Scoop the filing over the Oreo cookie until it reaches the top of the liner. These will not rise up so you can fill them to the top. Bake for 22 minutes in a 275FF oven. Let cool to room temperature and place in fridge for at least 4 hours.

I entered a contest on Facebook and when people saw the photo they wanted the recipe (if you are bored and want to help me out go here). It got me realizing that many of the great recipes that I have on here people don’t know about. The average blog reader only sticks around 2 years, so if I have been around 6, there are many a treat that you might have missed out on. So for the summer since I am a wimp and don’t want to turn on the oven as much, I will be featuring Way Back Wednesdays. And yes, if you are wondering that is a nod to Mr. Peabody and the WABAC machine.

The first feature is the Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Torte that prompted this idea in the first place. I will warn you that if you make this the American Diabetes Association will put a red flag by your name for making this. But red flags be dammed. I will also warn you that this is pretty rich, but darn good. To cut down on the richness if you desire I would use less peanut butter mousse. I didn’t but I have a gold medal in sweets eating and you might still be at amateur status.

One of the questions asked by a reader was: How do you actually get people to eat your food? I bake and my family will try like ONE slice/piece/whatever and be like wow this is great! And then they don’t eat any more so I’m left with a huge batch of whatever that I can’t eat by myself. So how do you do it?

Much of it goes with my bff to his work. They are mostly male co-workers and are more than happy to eat homemade baked goods. I sometimes give to the neighbors. Sometimes to my hockey team or the referees I work with. The only thing that is hard to pawn off on are the frozen treats. Though if they knew they could make frosting out of melted ice cream, they might be more willing to take it.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Torte

6 brownie rounds (recipe follows)

peanut butter cream cheese mousse (recipe follows)

lots and lots of peanut butter cup pieces (I chopped up about 15 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups)

chocolate ganache (recipe follows)

Brownie Rounds

7 TBSP unsalted butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup cocoa powder ( I used Green and Blacks)

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

½ semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F.

Butter and flour Six 4 ½ -inch Diameter Spring Form Pans. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together butter and sugar, about 2 minutes.

Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat another minute.

Pour in cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix on low speed until fully incorporated.

Fold in chocolate chips until completely distributed throughout the brownie batter.

Using measuring cups, pour a heaping 1/3 of a cup into each of the 6 prepared pans. If there is any batter left over, try to as evenly as possible, add to the prepared pans.

Bake for 20-23 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Mousse

½ cup whipping cream, chilled

5 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup plus 2 TBSP powdered sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter (I used Jif…duh)

Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the whipped cream on high until stiff peaks form.

Place into a bowl and set aside.

Add the cream cheese and peanut butter and whisk on medium speed, until fully incorporated. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined.

Add whipped cream back into bowl and whisk on medium high until peanut butter mixture and whipped cream are fully incorporated and the texture is light and fluffy.

Place into a medium sized bowl and set in fridge while brownies fully cool. At least 30 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache

4 ½ ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped finely

½ cup heavy whipping cream

Place chocolate in a medium bowl.

In a small saucepan bring cream to a boil. Once the boil starts, pour over chocolate.

Let sit 5 minutes.

Whisk until mixture is smooth and glossy.

To Assemble the Torte:

Remove brownie from spring form pans. If still too warm, place in freezer for about 10 minutes.

Place one brownie circle on a plate. Add about a 1/8 cup of peanut butter mousse (I added much more to mine and actually doubled the recipe…but for photo reasons only. That much filling would be too much).

Scatter a handful of peanut butter cups.

Place another brownie round on top of the that. Then add another 1/8 cup peanut butter mousse. Then peanut butter cups.

Place third and final brownie round on top of second layer. Add a ¼ cup for the top layer of peanut butter mousse. And more peanut butter cups.

Pour ½ the ganache over the top of the torte. It might take some peanut butter cup pieces with it down the side. Just add more on top, you know you wanted to anyway.

Repeat and make a second torte. You should have two total. You can share…but why would you?

This weekend I saw Kung Fu Panda 2. Unlike most sequels I enjoyed it as much as the original. It was funny, sweet, and had a nice moral to the story…plus Poe as a baby Panda is too freaking cute for words! Without totally giving the movie away it touches on something that I think people dwell on a little too much…revenge. Some peoples revenge comes in different ways but always has the same results…you spend too much time obsessing over something that happened in the past and therefore you cannot control that it takes over your life. Only to either get revenge and find it not satisfying or to have it come back and bite you in the butt. Either way, clearly wasted energy.

Ironically enough, I saw the movie with my ex-husband. He has no problems going to movies himself, but we both agreed that a single male sitting in the afternoon showing of basically a kids movie seemed a bit on the pervy side, so I offered for us to both go see it together. That is not the irony part. The irony is of course that I saw it with my ex and we had a perfectly fun time. We can have a good time together because from the day we decided not to be together I decided (and I believe he did as well) to release any hard feelings over things from the past and move on.

Moving on is not a lot of people’s strong points. They may say that they have moved on but they have not. They bring up things that happened years and years ago into to arguments that are happening in the now. This is not fair and accomplishes nothing. I have a 24 hour rule. I get to give you crap about something for 24 hours (48 if you really ticked me off) and then after that, I’m not bringing it up. Plus as most people know, having the same argument over and over accomplishes nothing.

We lucked out this time in the movie. Usually when the picky eater and I used to go to the movies together we would have the worst luck with kids. Either kicking or screaming, throwing things, etc. So going to an actual kids movie was a risk. Amazingly nothing happened, other than a kid with shoes that light up randomly illuminating the row ahead of us. But we were surrounded by kids, which got me thinking about kid treats.

I had a bunch of leftover mini M & M’s that I bought half price at Valentine’s Day and decided to make something with them. Magic Cookie Bars came to mind. But I didn’t want to do the usual. I looked around and decided to go with a peanut butter them. So gone is the coconut, graham crackers, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips and in are the peanut butter chips, peanuts, mini m & m’s, and peanut butt cookie crumbs. They turned out better than expected, but you best like peanut butter or these are not for you!

So go out and see Kung Fu Panda 2, even if you don’t have kids, it’s well worth it. And then come home and make yourself a treat. And more importantly if you are dwelling on something or someone in your life right now let it go. No really, let it go.

Peanut Butter Magic Bar Cookies

1 ½ cups peanut butter sandwich cookie crumbs (like Nutter Butters)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 (14 oz.) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 ¼ cup peanut butter chips
1 ¼ cup mini M & M’s
1 ¼ cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.

Combine cookie crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of prepared pan.

Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with peanut butter chips, m & m’s, and nuts. Press down firmly with fork.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars.

For perfectly cut cookie bars, line entire pan with foil, extending foil over edge of pan. Coat lightly with no-stick cooking spray. After bars have baked and cooled, lift up with edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into bars.
Adapted from Eagle Brand Magic Bar Cookies

Weather seems to be the only universal thing people can talk about and if you live in the Seattle area it’s pretty much the only thing people talk about. Most of this spring my FB feed has been filled with “where’s my spring?” It’s right here; it’s just not how you would like it. When the sun comes out FB is filled with “finally spring is here, it’s about time”. Again, spring has been here.

It’s the go to conversation for the grocery checker, who I always confuse. “Enjoy this gloomy day” I was told last week sarcastically after a slew of sunny days. To which I replied “I will, I love days like this, it’s why I moved to the Seattle area”. Then I usually get looked at like a freak. Which I am. Don’t get me wrong, as long as there is no heat along with the sun, I say bring it. But it rarely does that. Gray days are made for cuddling with the one you love under a blanket. Sipping tea and reading books. I play an indoor sport so I could care less about what it’s doing outside. I will ride my bike or go for a walk in the rain (down pours are the exception). Though I must admit that I do love a sunny day on the days I want to work out at the gym…not a person in sight.

This weekend is Memorial Day. I fear that my FB feed will be filled with people complaining about how the weather is ruining their 3 day weekend. Let us remember why we even get that day off in the first place, the brave men and women who gave their lives for this country. And while service men and women do enjoy a good BBQ you can remember the fallen whether it is raining or the sun it out.

Since most people reading this don’t live in my area, you might actually be getting sun. It might actually be hot. My Phoenix friends will be seeing high 90’s and even 100’s. Nothing cools down hot like ice cream. This is a very rich ice cream, as the main ingredient, other than heavy cream is peanut butter. But it does make for a very creamy and tasty frozen treat. You could throw in just chocolate chips if you can’t find the mini peanut butter cups. And what I like about this recipe is no eggs. So you can pretty much not mess this up.

People do ask me all the time what ice cream maker I have. I have a Cuisinart. They make a newer model of the one I have but I am showing you the one I have now, because I have had it for 8 years and it has worked beautifully. There are many more expensive ones out on the market, but I find this one does the job just fine! If you don’t have an ice cream maker, I suggest getting one before summer comes. I plan on making a ton of ice cream and you don’t want to miss out.

Would just like to end with saying thanks to the men and women (including my father and brother K) who current serve or who have served in the US armed services. Thank you for all you do.

Peanut Butter-Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2/3 cups whole milk
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Jif)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cups mini peanut butter cups

In a medium saucepan simmer milk, cream, peanut butter, and sugar over medium heat, stirring, until smooth, about 1 minute.

Stir in vanilla and cool mixture to room temperature. Then place in fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.

Freeze mixture in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Spread one half of the ice cream in a 2-quart container and top with ½ the peanut butter cups. Layer remaining ice cream and peanut butter cups and using a spatula swirl the candy and ice cream together.

Freeze ice cream in an airtight container for at least 3 hours in order for it to firm up.