Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars

These little beauties are popping up on Pinterest, touting themselves as "Lunch Lady" bars. Apparently they are so easy to make that lunch ladies in schools all across America used to make them as a dessert for the kids. This was obviously before peanut butter was banned in most schools, and I don't remember these desserts at all from any of my school lunches. But I still had to try them. And I wasn't disappointed. So easy and so yummy! Perfect for summer BBQs and potlucks too.

It makes an entire jelly roll pan. And this one was my biggest pan!

The peanut butter bar with the chocolate frosting on top is a winner!

Peanut Butter Lunch Lady Bars

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups peanut butter (divided)
2 cups oatmeal (not quick)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Cream first 3 ingredients together. Add the vanilla, eggs, and 1 cup peanut butter and combine. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together. Spread dough on a greased jelly roll pan (18x13x1″). Make at 350 degrees for 15 minutes (until golden brown). While hot spread the other 1 1/2 cups peanut butter on top. Drop all over top by little spoonfuls. It will soften (melt) and make it easier to spread. Then let cool so that the peanut butter has become solid again (I usually throw them in the fridge so they set up faster and so I can eat them sooner!). Spread the chocolate frosting on top and cut into bars.

Chocolate Frosting

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1-2 tsp vanilla (depending on your taste)
3 Tablespoons cocoa 2-3 cups of powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients with a hand mixer until smooth and spread on top of bars.

recipe from Six Sisters Stuff

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

My favorite candy of all time is Reese's peanut butter cups. I get a Reese's Blizzard every time we go to Dairy Queen. There is no "branching out" for me. Cheesecake Factory has a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake that I get every time. I don't even care that it has enough calories to last me a week.

It runs in our family, too...sort of. Celeste's husband was convinced to find out the gender of their third baby (he wanted to keep it a surprise, something I feel is a bit like torture) when a friend baked him a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. It was just that good.

Oh, and they had a boy.

So when I went to the store to get school lunch supplies for the kids, I was bummed that there were no chocolate peanut butter cookies. For me, not for the kids. They got Chips Ahoy. So instead I grabbed a box of cake mix and decided that I would have to make my own, dang it!

Ever had cake mix cookies? They're a lot of fun, especially when you find a new flavor of cake mix, like strawberry or butter pecan. The possibilities really are endless, and they are so easy to make. Hardly any measuring and certainly less dishes to do!

I rolled the cake mix into balls about the size of a small ping pong ball. This allowed for same-size cookies, and they didn't flatten too much.

Be generous with the frosting, mostly because it's insanely delicious but also because the cookies are pretty thick and you don't want to lose the frosting in all the chocolatey-ness of the cookies.

See how the cookies are the same size? You could certainly make your cookies bigger or smaller, the key really is just making them the same size.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

by Girls in Aprons

Cookie mix:

1 package chocolate cake mix, any variety (I used devil's food cake)

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Peanut Butter Filling

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2-3 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an egg beater or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix cake mix, egg, water, and oil together on medium speed until well blended. Roll by tablespoonfuls and place on a greased cookie sheet one inch apart. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Meanwhile, mix peanut butter and powdered sugar together with a whisk. Add milk one tablespoonful at a time until smooth but not thick, about the thickness of canned frosting.

Place a cookie upside down in one hand and apply a generous amount of peanut butter frosting to the bottom end. Top with another cookie and place on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the cookies.

You can dust the cookies with more powdered sugar or roll the sides in crushed peanuts, too.

Jodi's Infamous Peanut Butter Crunch Cake

I always know a recipe is a keeper when my husband asks for it specifically. However, I have to say, I have recipe envy. My husband likes other people's food more than mine! He will deny this, but when I ask him what he wants for dinner next week, he will say "so and so made a really good curry - can we have that?" or "I wish you knew how to make so and so's ribs - they are soooo good." And even though I have recipe envy, it makes me strive to make yummy food so one day he will say he wants MY food!

Anyway, for Father's Day I asked Bryan what he wanted to for his dessert after dinner. I thought maybe cheesecake, or my caramel brownies...but he insisted on my Aunt Jodi's Peanut Butter Crunch Cake. Now seriously, this cake is amazing. Jodi is known for trying new things, and whenever we go to her house to celebrate a birthday she always has a yummy cake to share with us all! However, the Peanut Butter Crunch Cake has made an appearance several times.

It is sort of like a coffee cake because of the moist cake topped with a crumb topping, but the flavors are not cinnamon - they are made with the "holy trinity" of flavors: Peanut butter, Chocolate, and Love.

Nice.

So whip up this cake for your next celebration or gathering, and people will be asking for YOUR cake the next time they get together!

Combine cake mix, brown sugar, and peanut butter on low until it looks like crumbs.

Remove 1/2 cup. Save for later (and feel free to taste - this would be yummy over ice cream!)

To the remaining cake mixture add eggs, water, and oil. Fold in 1/4 cup peanut butter chips and 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

Combine the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips and chopped peanuts with the reserved 1/2 cup cake mixture. Sprinkle over the cake batter and bake. AFTER it's baked sprinkle with 1/4 cup (I may have used more) peanut butter chips. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Crunch Cake

by Girls in Aprons

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 C brown sugar
1 C peanut butter, crunchy or smooth
 1 C water
1/4 C oil
3 eggs
1/2 C chocolate chips, divided
1/2 C peanut butter chips, divided
1/2 C chopped peanuts

Combine the yellow cake mix, brown sugar, and peanut butter in mixer at low speed until it looks like crumbs. Remove 1/2 cup.

To the remaining mixture add the water, oil, and eggs. Mix until combined and then at high speed for 2 minutes.

Fold in 1/4 C chocolate chips and 1/4 C peanut butter chips.

Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

Combine the remaining 1/4 C chocolate chips, the 1/2 C chopped peanuts, and the reserved 1/2 C crumb mixture. Sprinkle over the top of cake and bake ABOUT 40 minutes at 350.

Immediately sprinkle with 1/4 C peanut butter chips when you take it out of oven.
Do not sprinkle the peanut butter chips on top before. They burn too easily.

Classic No Bake Cookies

Okay this is a recipe that brings back some serious memories for me. I can remember clear as day my mom stirring the ingredients for these cookies over the stove, and then spooning them on wax paper, and me waiting impatiently for the cookies to set so I could eat them (although to be honest they are super yummy while they are hot still, you just have to eat them with a spoon!).

If you've never had no bake cookies, you are missing out. They are awesome because, well, they taste yummy! Peanut butter, oats, and chocolate. And I add a little coconut too! You don't have to slave over baking batches and batches. Waiting for one to finish cooking, spooning more dough on a pan, and waiting again. You cook over a stove for like five minutes, spoon onto wax paper or foil, and wait for them to set. That's it. It's like magic!

These cookies are easy to make, but a little tempermental if you over or under cook them. But no worries! They are yummy either way - and if you overcook them and they get hard and crumbly? Crumble them over ice cream or in yogurt. Add them to trail mix. Something! Did you undercook them, and now it's runny and won't set? Spoon it over ice cream (see a theme??) or do what I do...grab a spoon and a bowl, and eat way too much.

But don't you fret!! I will tell you how to make these perfect EVERY TIME- and you will only over or under cook your no bake cookies if you want to. You know, because you want to eat them with a bowl and spoon. I do it all the time, so it's perfectly okay!

Combine the sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa powder in a pan over medium-ish heat.

I love Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder. For a while I couldn't find it and my world starting crumbling...but then it reappeared on my grocery store aisle and all is well now in Celeste World!

Anyway, you stir the first four ingredients until they boil. Wait for it to be at a FULL boil (not just a pretty simmer) and set your timer for 1 minute 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add vanilla, peanut butter, and oats (and coconut if you choose to use it). Stir well.

Spoon your mixture onto foil or wax paper into little mounds (the size is completely up to you!)

Serve with a glass of milk and will power - because it's very possible to eat the whole batch!

Classic No Bake Cookies

by Girls in Aprons

1 3/4 cups white sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

4 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (you can use creamy if you prefer)

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional: 1/3 to 1/2 cup shredded coconut

In a medium saucepan combine the sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa powder. Bring to a full boil, and cook for one and a half minutes (set the timer!). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats. Also, if you are using coconut, stir it in at this time as well. Drop by spoonful onto wax paper or foil. Let is set until cool, about one hour.

**Tip - to measure peanut butter and other sticky foods, spray your measuring cup with cooking spray. The peanut butter will slide right out!



Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Cupcakes

There's a rule in my house. No snack foods. No sweets. No chips, cake, chocolate. Nothing.

Obviously, this rule gets broken a lot, otherwise I'd have a really sad family (aka husband).

Honestly, I try to keep Doritoes and Cheetos out of my shopping cart because I know that my willpower at 10pm isn't that strong. At that time of night I'm always on the lookout for something to munch on, and I'd much rather go for the puffy cheesy Cheetos than the carrots sticks with hummus. I also prefer to make my own cookies, although I'll admit I got the Birthday Cake Oreos a few days ago because, well, they're "limited edition" and I didn't want to miss out!

However, as much as I love to bake, I certainly don't make cupcakes very often. They're more of a special occasion kind of thing. I think it's because a mix makes about 24 of them, and with only 5 people in the family and my children only eating the frosting off the top....well, I'd end up eating most of them. My friend was celebrating her birthday, and I'd been dreaming up a peanut butter chocolate cupcake that I was so excited to make for her. And even though our plans fell through, I made them anyway.

And....

Best cupcake I ever made! I'm a huge peanut butter and chocolate fan. Reese's peanut butter cups and I are best friends. But these cupcakes rock the house. Or the party.

You start with Carissa's doctored-up chocolate cupcake mix. You end with Celeste's chocolate buttercream frosting. In the middle, you add my delicious creamy peanut butter mix. The end result? Like Reese's peanut butter cups married a cupcake and had babies.

After making the cupcake batter and the peanut butter filling, you fill the cupcake liners about 1/4 full with the chocolate batter, then add a layer of peanut butter filling. If you dip your fingers in a little bit of water, you can maneuver the peanut butter filling around to cover the chocolate bottom. Finally, top the peanut butter with another layer of cupcake batter. Your liners should be about 3/4 full.

Pipe some chocolate frosting on top of the cooled cupcake and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Check that out. Beautiful middle. In fact, I would have been more generous with my peanut butter but my kids fell in love with the filling and kept sneaking bites. I need to hire new sous chefs! :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Cupcakes

by Girls in Aprons

Cupcakes:

1 box chocolate cake mix

4 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 cup sour cream

1 small box instant chocolate pudding

 

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Filling:

4 oz (1/2 brick) cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

 

Mix all ingredients for cupcakes together for 30 seconds on low, or until slightly combined. Increase speed to medium for 2 minutes, or until thick and completely combined.

 

 

Cream all the ingredients for peanut butter filling on medium speed until well blended.

 

Line muffin pans with cupcake liners (the cuter the better!). Fill each liner up 1/4 with cupcake batter, about 2 Tbsp batter. Top the cupcake batter with the peanut butter filling. With a small bowl of water, get your fingers wet and gently press the filling down to spread around the cupcake liner. Add another 2 Tbsp or so with cupcake batter. You should have three layers in each liner - cupcake batter, peanut butter filling, and cupcake batter. Your cupcake liners should be about 3/4 full.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

 

Chocolate Frosting

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening (I used Crisco butter-flavor)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder if I can find it)
4 cups powdered sugar (about 1 pound)
4 T milk
1 tsp vanilla

Start by creaming your butter and shortening together. Cream it to death. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time (or you will have a huge white mess in your kitchen). Add cocoa a little at a time, scraping the edges often. Add milk and vanilla and mix until creamy. Using a piping bag fitted with a large tip (or a gallon-size Ziploc with a corner cut off), add your frosting to the bag and pipe onto your cupcake. Finish with a sprinkling of chopped peanuts.
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Peanut Butter Crescent Rolls

I was going to name this post: "According to my kids the best snack ever" but I felt it just didn't fully describe the recipe. And they are a little biased - like their dad, they think anything with peanut butter is manna from heaven.

So anyway, as a mom, I always have this ideas in my head of the "perfect mom". You know what I mean, right (right? or am I the only one?). The mom who gets up early enough to do her hair and makeup, whose children never have messy faces or stains on their clothes, whose car is never a pile of toys, hamburger wrappers, and Diet Coke bottles rolling around the floor. I am not one of those moms, but in my weird little head, I also have this idea that "perfect moms" always have a homemade afterschool snack for their kids.

Well by golly - call me perfect. Well, at least for today.

My kids came home today, hyper because it's the weekend and excited for the movie night planned with their cousins. I happened to have a free moment to think about a snack instead of shoving a handful of Nilla Wafers at them - and created "the best snack ever". You be the judge! But really these are easy to whip up (if I can do it with four crazy boys underfoot you can too!). And they are so verstatile - I used peanut butter with chocolate chips and peanut butter with raspberry jam. Add Nutella (which sadly we are out of), raisins, thinly sliced apples, honey, or any other combo that works for you and your family.

All you need to get started!

Place about a teaspoon or so of peanut butter (more or less depending on your preference) along the bigger end of the crescent roll. Place chocolate chips or about a teaspoon or so of jam. Roll up like normal and shape into a crescent shape.

Bake at 375 for about 10 to 12 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and inhale. Or chew and swallow.

Submitted by Celeste - Girls in Aprons