Chocolate and Peanut Butter is for Lovers

Don't worry, I will have more fun stories about California and my internship coming up soon, but I wanted to take a quick break from that and talk about the holiday that is fast approaching...

I've been posting a lot about chocolate and peanut butter on here lately, but unless you happen to be deathly allergic to either one, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Chocolate and peanut butter were a match made in heaven and therefor perfect for Valentines Day!

Now I may not have a significant other, but I am not one of those people who gets really depressed around February 14th because they feel so unloved. Excuse me, but who wouldn't enjoy a day where you can get together with your other single friends, watch bad movies and eat lots of chocolate? It's all about being with people you love- romantically or not. 

So, what better way to express your love for someone than by making them homemade Reeses peanut butter cups? You can find this fabulous recipe at Have Cake, Will Travel. The only alteration I made was to use powdered sugar for the filling instead of brown sugar. Oh, and make sure you reheat the chocolate while the peanut butter filling refrigerates- I had an incident involving rock-hard chocolate and a mini blowtorch. It was mildly dramatic.

Let me tell you, these babies were better than the real deal. Not only do they leave out the icky chemical stuff in the original candy, but they are made with delicious dark chocolate, stuffed with all-natural creamy peanut butter, and made (I assume) with a whole lotta love. 

Cut down the edges of normal cupcake liners to make them look pretty!

How do you feel about Valentines Day?

Here's a song for friends (obvious, I know),
and here's a song for your special friend :)

Puffy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

This weekend I'm really excited to take a little break from my internship and visit my cousin in Berkley. I've never been to the area before, but I can't wait to check it out! I'll be there for three days, then I work for one more week, and then it is back to cold and dreary Ohio... boo. At least I'm looking forward to seeing friends again and starting up some good classes for the semester! More about all of that later. Time to talk about cookies.

I actually made these cookies while I was at home. My dad is a peanut butter fanatic, so I like to make at least one treat for him while I'm in town. These have the consistency of a fluffier shortbread and are full of delicious peanut butter-y flavor, but of course my dad still insisted on eating them with some extra peanut butter smeared on top :)

Puffy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe adapted from Just Everyday Me)

makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup earth balance
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp sugar
1 eggs worth of egg replacer
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350º and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Prep your egg replacer.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a medium bowl, cream together the earth balance and sugars. Then add in the peanut butter. Once that is fluffy, add the egg replacer and vanilla.
3. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and combine. You may want to use your hands so thats it's not too crumbly. Roll smallish pieces of dough into balls and form them into mounds on the cookie sheet.
4. Bake for about 10-12 minutes- do not over-bake or they will get too hard! Let cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy.

These cookies are especially yummy dipped into my favorite kind of tea.

Have a great weekend! If you have nothing else to do, bake these. You will not be disappointed. 

Peanut Butter Thumbprints

When life gets really crazy, I always try to make more of an effort to luxuriate in the little things. Lately I've been taking comfort in big mugs of tea in the morning (like my personalized mug? my mom's friend made it for me when I was 6!), study breaks with friends where we just sit around and talk about girly things, making really awesome work-out playlists, doing spins and leaps in dance, working on this blog, and really good cookies. Little things like this make the weeks leading up to finals so much more bearable.

My friend Melissa and I have recently been baking together whenever we need a break from work. What this means, really, is that I bake while she reads Cosmo and keeps me company. It's a nice little tradition :)

Yesterday, we made these amazing cookies! They just go to show that you can never go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate.

Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies

makes about 30 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla

filling: chocolate chips, nuts or jelly

1. Preheat the oven to 350º and line two cookies sheets with parchment paper.

2. Mix the dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in a medium bowl. Combine the peanut butter, oil, syrup, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and stir until creamy.

3. Add the dry into the wet and stir well- you may want to use your hands.

4. Roll the dough into balls about 1-1 1/2 inches wide and place them on the cookies sheets. Then press your thumb into the center of each ball and fill the center with anything you like! I used chocolate chips, but jelly/jam would also be delicious.

5. Bake cookies for about 15 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown. Let them cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a plate, or else they will crumble! They harden as they cool.

These cookies are the perfect mix of salty and sweet, so they will satisfy any late-night-study craving.