Homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Anytime is the right time for ICE CREAM! I love ice cream but I don’t like all the added ingredients I can’t pronounce in the store-bought brands. Being able to read a list of ingredients and know what they are is nice and homemade ice cream is just that. Customizing the amount of each ingredient for your needs is another awesome thing about homemade ice cream. Our family has their favorite flavors and Peanut Butter Ice Cream is one of them.

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Peanut Butter Ice Cream The first time I tried making peanut butter ice cream, I followed the recipe in the book that came with my ice cream maker. It was good, but it didn’t have the little bites of peanut butter I was wanting. The next time, I used the base recipe I use for vanilla and chocolate ice creams. I didn’t mix up the peanut butter as much and the peanut butter cups I added was beaten down into small specks because I added them at the beginning. Still not what I was looking for.

I finally decided to hand mix everything before pouring it into the ice cream maker’s bowl. When I did this, I ended up with what I was wanting. Little bites of peanut butter in each spoonful, it was perfect!

Making homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream is easy. In fact, you probably have everything in your pantry and refrigerator right now. Peanut butter, sugar, milk, and heavy cream is really all you need. Vanilla does give it a nice flavor and the peanut butter cups gives it a nice little surprise with every bite.

Just a thought about vanilla. If you use pure vanilla wait until after the mixture has frozen before adding it. The alcohol works against it and makes it a little harder to freeze. When you pour it in, let the machine keep mixing for about a minute or two. I can’t say what will happen if you use imitation vanilla because I only use my own homemade vanilla.

Just a thought about the peanut butter cups. If you want little chunks in each scoop, wait until the end to add them.

Just a thought about the ice cream mixture. While the book to my maker doesn’t tell you to chill the liquid back down after mixing everything together, my mom’s does. I tried it to see if there was a difference and the only thing I found was that the ice cream was a little harder than soft serve.

I LOVE my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter (not natural)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 ½ heavy cup cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped peanut butter cups (optional)

Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl, mix peanut butter and sugar by hand until smooth. Add the milk and continue mixing until the sugar has dissolved and peanut butter has broken into little pieces. Stir in the cream. Cover and chill for up to 30 minutes in the freezer.

**Follow the directions for using your ice cream maker.**

When ready to make your ice cream, stir the mixture a little before pouring it into the maker bowl. Turn on the ice cream maker and pour the liquid into the bowl. Let mix until thickened about 15-20 minutes depending on your maker. This mixture will be a soft serve consistency, if you’re wanting a hard ice cream, pour the mixture into an airtight container and place in the freezer for about 2 hours. When ready to serve, remove from freezer 5-10 minutes before serving.

Mixed Berry Crumble

With our move coming up, we’ve been working on eating everything that is in the freezers. Last winter, I bought a bag of frozen mixed berries for frozen treats. As the months moved on, the bag was pushed further into the back and forgotten about. Sad, I tell ya! Two weeks ago, I decided it was time to do something with those berries. So I made a Mixed Berry Crumble.

Four years ago, I shared a Blueberry and Peach Crumble recipe and it has been one we eat often during the summer months while the fruit is in season. This crumble is basically the same just with different fruit. While I love anything peach, I think this may be a new favorite.

Mixed Berry Crumble

The Mixed Berry Crumble was gone by the end of the day. I found the pan soaking in the sink the next morning when I got up. My long legged boy ate the last of it as a midnight snack before heading to bed. He reminds me of my oldest brother because he has a midnight snack when he wakes up during the night.

The bag of fruit (strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries)was almost full, so I had about 5 cups of berries. I didn’t add any extra of the other ingredients and they turned out perfectly sweetened.

When you pull the baking dish out of the oven, fight the urge to taste it. Trust me, that hot fruit and thick juice will have you running like a scalded dog. ;)

Mixed Berry Crumble

Ingredients:

• 5 cups mixed berries
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour

The topping:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick cold butter, diced

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Place berries in a large bowl and add the lemon juice, sugar, and flour tossing well. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes before pouring into a 9x13 baking dish.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in a bowl. With a pastry knife, cut in the butter until it is the size of peas then rub the mixture with your fingers until you have big crumbles. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Fresh whipped cream is the perfect topping for this tasty dessert.

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

I love cookies! Who doesn’t right? Of all the cookies out there my favorite would have to be peanut butter. The softer, the better, there is no such thing as a crunchy peanut butter cookie. And if there is, I’m sorry... Over the years, I have tried many recipes and after a little tweaking, I have what I think is the best Soft Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe ever; at least, for my husband and son it is THE BEST!

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

I have one sweet memory of making peanut butter cookies with my Jamie. He was in preschool and it was Teacher’s Appreciation Day coming up. All week I asked him what he wanted to do for his teacher and all week he said the dreaded words, I don’t know. That Thursday morning when asked again, he said he wanted to make cookies for his teacher. I was excited because who doesn’t like to bake cookies, right? That night after work, I pulled out my cookbooks to find a recipe. There were several choices and I chose a flourless recipe because it made a smaller amount and to my surprise they were really good. After school the next day, I was asked by his teacher about the cookies and the recipe I had attached to the container, she told me peanut butter was her favorite.

While I haven’t made that recipe in years, peanut butter cookies are Jamie’s favorite to make. This Soft Peanut Butter Cookies recipe will always be known in my recipe book as Jamie’s Peanut Butter Cookies.

Before you pass out over a whole tablespoon of vanilla... WE LOVE VANILLA, especially my homemade vanilla. If you are not a vanilla fan, you can definitely cut back on it.

When baking in my oven, I know I have to adjust the time for certain things. Luckily with these cookies, 9 minutes is the perfect time, every time for me.

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter
• 1 ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 ½ cup peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 3 Tablespoons milk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1 ¾ cup flour
• ¾ teaspoon soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

In mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and peanut butter until smooth. Add egg, milk and vanilla, mixing well. Add dry ingredients, mix until incorporated. Drop by rounded spoonfuls on cookie pans.

Bake 8-10 minutes. Let cool for about 2 minutes and then remove them to a cooling rack.

Do you like soft peanut butter cookies? What's your favorite cookie?

Simple Sweet Potato Pie {day 29}

Sweet Potato Pie is one of my two favorite pies – ever. The other being pecan but my Maw Maw’s Sweet Potato Pie recipe beats pecan any day of the year. Of all the desserts that were at my Maw Maw’s house during the holidays when I was growing up, sweet potato pie was the first I always enjoyed. The yummy sweet potatoes are all I really wanted. I love sweet potatoes and could eat them every day of the year. That would be a lot of sweet potatoes! I mentioned last year about the color variation and health benefits in sweet potatoes, not only are they yummy but they’re healthy too!

Simple Sweet Potato Pie

I’ll never forget my mom buying a store bought sweet potato pie. I was visiting and found it on her counter and couldn’t help myself. I was so disappointed because it tasted like pumpkin pie (I don’t like pumpkin pie), it had a ton of spices and that is all I tasted. So disappointed, I tell ya!

A Sweet Potato Pie should be simple with no added spices to overpower the sweet taste of the yummy potatoes.

My grandmother’s recipe calls for 1 cup of cooked sweet potatoes. Over the years, I have found that a can of Bruce’s Yams (1lb 13oz) are the perfect amount to use in this recipe and when I cook sweet potatoes, I use 2-3 potatoes depending on their size. I don’t change the amount of the other ingredients.

Simple Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cooked sweet potatoes
• 4 Tablespoons softened butter
• ¾ cup sugar
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 pie crust

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. In another bowl, cream butter and potatoes. Add sugar and egg yolks to the potato mixture and mix well. Fold in egg whites. Pour into pie crust. Bake for 30 minutes or until set.   (I usually bake for 40 minutes) If your crust starts to brown too much, place foil over the pie during the last minutes of baking.

When cooled serve with fresh whipped cream.

Have you missed any days of the 31 Days of Homemaking Series? You can catch up HERE

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet potatoes are one of the many healthiest foods we can eat. They contain vitamins A, B6, C, and D. They also contain iron, magnesium and potassium. Sweet potatoes are high in carotenes, which mean they help slow the aging process and fight cancer. Did you know the sugar in a sweet potato is released slowly in our bodies and won't cause our blood sugar to spike? No wonder these tubular roots are considered a superfood.

Sweet Potato Casserole

A fun fact, not ALL sweet potatoes are orange; there are also white/yellow sweet potatoes.  I used white sweet potatoes in the pictures below.

As much as we love sweet potato pie and the casserole that I'm sharing with you today, we love them mashed! Add a little molasses, butter, salt and pepper and you have a wonderful side dish. Who am I kidding, just give me a bowl of mashed sweet potatoes and I'm a happy camper!

I have my sister to thank for this recipe. She and her husband ate at a steakhouse in Atlanta for their anniversary one year and she told me about this sweet potato casserole they ate. Well, she went home and figured out how to make the recipe and shared it with me. YAY! Now, I'm sharing it with you.

Pecans (Pee-Kahn) are the way to go for this recipe. I'm sure some have tried walnuts, but for this southern girl, pecans are it. I'm a potato boiler for this recipe, because it is usually only made during the busy holidays. But, if I decide to make this at a different time during the year, I bake the sweet potatoes and just scoop out the insides. Baked sweet potatoes... they are melt in your mouth good.

Seriously, who would not want to try something that was sweet, crunchy, and oh, so delightful?

When we first moved here, I noticed  my oven does not bake according to time and temperatures. Any time I bake something at 350 degrees, I add an extra 10-15 minutes on the baking time. This recipe is no different for this oven, I baked this pan for 45 minutes.

Sweet Potato Casserole

 Ingredients:

• 4 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅓ cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla

Topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup flour
• ⅓ cup butter, melted
• 1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix together and pour into a 13x9 baking dish. * Topping: mix all the topping ingredients, this should be crumbly. Sprinkle over potato mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Dessert

Chocolate, Chocolate, and more Chocolate. What more could you ask for in a dessert.

This is a super quick and easy dessert. Each time I make it to take to a reunion or a church fellowship, I am asked for this recipe. If you are like me, depending on where it is going, I take this in a disposable bowl because it WILL NOT make it back home and the bowl can be tossed.

Over the years, I have come to not buy prepackaged items.  For brownies, I make a batch from scratch and keep the edges for me to nibble on. Also, whipped cream is wonderful for this, but it will not give the fluffy look like Cool Whip does.

This recipe can be doubled or even tripled very easily.This is beautiful when layered in a glass bowl.

Tip: be sure the brownies are completely cooled, and the cool whip is thawed.

Triple Chocolate Dessert

1 large brownie mix baked according to package
1 large chocolate pudding made according to package
1 large container of cool whip
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Chop the brownies into small bite size pieces. I do this by hand, so I can keep a “handle” on the size of the pieces. Place a layer of brownies in the bottom of a bowl or dish.Next spoon a layer of pudding. The next layer will be the Cool Whip. Top with a layer of 1/2 the chocolate chips and all the pecans. Continue with one more layer of brownie and pudding and ending with Cool Whip on top. Sprinkle on the chocolate chips.

 

Crackle Cookies

A sweet and chewy cookie, similar to a sugar cookie.

I stumbled across this cookie recipe while I was searching for something ~DIFFERENT.   I did not have any chocolate chips in the house, and I was needing cookies to feel the cookie jar and I did not really want to make the old stand by ~ plain sugar cookies.

After eating just one, I changed the name of the cookie because I can't figure out where the nougat comes from.  I know what you are thinking!  When I hear nougat, I imagine yummy nougat in a candy bar, yeah this is so not it. Since the sugar is crunchy, it "crackles" when you bite into a cookie.

The cooking of the sugar can be done earlier in the day, if you are pressed on time. If you've never cooked sugar until it turns brown... DO NOT leave it and walk away, because it only takes a couple of minutes.

Depending on the humidity, you may need a little extra flour while rolling the dough. This particular day was actually cool with very low humidity, but I lightly floured the counter anyway.

And what ever you do... be sure to grease your pan before putting the cookies on.  You do not want a mess to deal with. This photo is of my pan after I used it two times. Give your pan a few minutes to cool down and give it a good oil job. I'm thinking Baker's Joy may work for this, since it is a flour-oil mixture.

I have made these two times and both times the cookies turned out and were very good.  They remind me of a butter cookie with a little surprise. Jamie has asked for them again, so I'll be working on some tomorrow.

~Crackle Cookies~

½ cup white sugar
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup white sugar

Butter a small cake or jelly roll pan. If you use a jelly roll pan, you will not have to use the whole pan.

To prepare Nougat: In a frying pan place 1/2 cup of sugar over medium heat and stir. Sugar will turn into liquid caramel. When syrup becomes dark brown, pour into cake pan and let harden.

Crush cooled sugar into small pieces. I broke the sugar to fit in a ziplock bag and used my rolling pin.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Separate the egg and add the yolk and vanilla. Blend thoroughly. Stir in ½ cup of sifted flour and the sugar pieces. Mix well. Sift in the rest of the flour.

Knead the dough lightly on a board. Roll the dough into a 1-inch in diameter log. Slice into ½ inch thick cookies. Place on greased cookie sheets 3 inches apart and press down with a fork.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

My New Favorite Chocolate Cake! Crazy Wacky Cake

A perfect cake recipe for those with egg and dairy allergies. This recipe has quite a history  and it is known as the Crazy Cake. You'll have to scroll almost to the bottom of the linked page to read about it.

Yesterday was my husband's birthday; I normally make Lane's Chocolate Cake for his birthday but I did not have any milk.  So I searched for a cake recipe that did not call for milk and found THIS recipe.

Now, I do have to say this, I have become a second guesser when I read blogs with recipes because I've made several after pinning them on Pinterest and they turned out horrible. I did take into consideration that Mary baked this cake for her daughter's birthday, so I searched Allrecipes.com and found the exact recipe only it was for a full size 9x13 pan. I read the reviews and decided I would give it a go. I AM SO GLAD I BAKED THIS CAKE!

Crazy Cake/Wacky Cake

• 3 cups      all-purpose flour

• 2 cups      white sugar

• 1 tsp         salt

• 2 tsp        baking soda

• ½ cup      cocoa powder

• ¾ cup     oil

• 2 Tbsp     white vinegar

• 2 tsp        vanilla extract

• 2 cups      cold water

Sift flour, sugar, salt, soda, and cocoa together into a 9 x 13 inch ungreased cake pan. Make three wells. Pour oil into one well, vinegar into second, and vanilla into third well. Pour cold water over all, and stir well with fork.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Frost with your favorite icing.

The only thing I did different ~ I mixed everything in a bowl. Greased and floured my pan, so I could take it out and frost the whole thing. Super SCRUMPDILLYICIOUS!

I used my chocolate frosting RECIPE .   

Together, this cake is HEAVENLY! 

It makes a wonderful breakfast for champions the next day. Yeah, don't judge! :)