Flavorful recipes you can look forward to serving tonight
Guaranteed worth getting out of bed for: a slice of Brown Sugar Pecan Banana Bread, toasted in the toaster, spread with butter, and sprinkled with flaky sea salt. Sigh… I love it. I’ve been plating this up for breakfast all week and, really, it’s the best. Can we talk about that dark brown, toasty crust on the exterior? Thank you, brown sugar. The only downside to this banana bread? I don’t think dogs are supposed to eat pecans and Bear desperately wants Joey and me to share.
Can we get a high five for one more peanut butter recipe in life? And another indulgent use for overripe bananas? I know I’m not alone when I say I could live off of peanut butter. And, bananas really become their best selves in peanut butter’s company. So, why not give them both a home in some sweet, creamy homemade ice cream?
Continue reading “Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream”When life gives you beets… turn them into chocolate cake. Specifically, a deeply flavored, mouth-wateringly chocolately cake with a delicious sweetness from sugary roasted beets. Not saying this cake is “healthy” – there is plenty of sugar, flour, sour cream, etc. in there, too. But, I am saying this is an excellent thing to do with a bunch of roasted beets, and it’s so, so good! Somehow, even though it doesn’t have the cream filling, this cake tastes just like Hostess HoHo’s to me. It puts me right back in the elementary school cafeteria, circa 1990, in the best way.
Typing this with marshmallowy fingers and I don’t care! Big, chunky, Rice Krispie treats speckled with little vanilla-y pops of Golden Oreos and the occasional hit of salty tahini. Where have you been all my life😱 !
Dessert is a once-a-week endeavor for me and we have been snacking on these little monsters ever since I made them last Sunday. I remember Rice Krispie treats back in the day used to become cement blocks after the first day, right? I’m not sure if things have actually changed or if it’s the slick little trick this recipe includes that makes them still completely chewy and tasty a week later. Either way, they last as long as you can resist eating them.
Sweet and salty lovebirds, this one’s for you! This recipe is like magic, somehow transforming salty, super-umami-y miso into a deep, dark caramel flavor, bouncing around with peanut butter goodness. Also amazing? The texture! Again, there is miso magic happening here making the custard part of this ice cream – before you even churn it – incredibly thick and almost fluffy. Peanut Butter Miso Ice Cream, I can’t with you. You’re too perfect.
Do you guys have an ice cream machine yet? I’m telling you, it is one of my most used appliances. My ice cream/gelato recipes are generally pretty simple and this machine just makes it that much easier. I think the price has dropped on this since I got mine so it’s an even better deal now. Get one and you, too, can have ice cream in your life at all times, like every good human should.
Oh heeeeyyyy, sweet, creamy, pumpkin-y dessert! Other than my brain not fetching a better word than pumpkin-y, there is nothing wrong and everything right about this Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream. I’m not always a huge dessert person because… there’s wine for that. But I am weak for this ice cream, specifically for its super smooth and perfectly thick texture. We’re not messing around: there are 6 egg yolks and 2 cups of cream in here – please don’t try to sub milk or leave a yolk out. You deserve all the fatty richness this ice cream provides, I promise. It’s good stuff. It also offers some bonus texture of crushed ginger snaps. I highly recommend this Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream for your Thanksgiving dessert if you’re not in the mood to make a pie. Or, whatever, serve it ON your pie. No judgement here.
Continue reading “Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream”Muffins and a hurricane. Dorian passed through last week and we are fine and grateful but other parts of the OBX were not so lucky. Here is a great way to help a very special foodie in Ocracoke whose business was destroyed. Meanwhile, Joey, Bear, and I spent hurricane day watching the storm and making Banana Pecan Muffins with Streusel Topping. Dramatic skies and a neighborhood on the verge of disruption really brings out the need for comfort food and these muffins hit the spot. Let’s talk nutty, cinnamon-y baked goods, shall we?
Costco strikes again, convincing me that stocking 5 lb bags of things in my pantry is how I should be living my life. Is it because everything is large and excessive at Costco and it messes with your perspective? I don’t know but I can say that a 40-pack of sparkling water is a fine idea. A 5 lb bag of candy, in June, without a trick-or-treater in sight and only 2 people living in our household … just stop it. I mean, it’s whatever, I have self control. It’s just like, what are you even doing here, mini Snickers and Milky Ways? Get a life, I don’t need you around every day.
Buuuuut, turns out leftover/excessive candy is pretty incredible folded into peanut butter cookie dough. So, let’s just focus on that.
These start with a basic peanut butter cookie recipe (delicious on it’s own, too), chopped up candy bars stirred in, and topped with a sprinkle of sea salt. The good stuff. Bonjour, guys.
P.S. I used a combo of mini Snickers, Milky Ways, and Baby Ruths and the cookies leaked out a little caramel in baking. I find that 100% acceptable because it caramelizes and gets extra delicious (see pic below). If you don’t like those lacy, caramely edges (huh?), choose candy without caramel.
If you are a cookie hog, like me, and want more, try these Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies!
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Chopped up candy bars, folded into peanut butter cookie dough, and topped with sea salt – an easy, dreamy snack and a great use for leftover candy.
I used a combo of mini Snickers, Milky Ways, and Baby Ruths and the cookies leaked out a little caramel in baking. I find that 100% acceptable because it caramelizes and gets extra delicious (see pic below). If you don’t like those lacy, caramely edges (huh?), choose candy without caramel.
Cruising into this summery weekend and feeling really good with this Mint Thai Basil Gelato by my side. Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer on the OBX and I am reeeaadddyyy to partyyyy! And by party, I mean work and probably hang out with myself on Memorial Day because Joey is on call for work. But whatever, more gelato for meeee!
Well, these little superstars were a big surprise. They were voted Fan Favorite by everyone I know. OK, nobody actually voted or called them that, they just said they were really good. Like, reeeaaalllyy gooooood. Bonus: Because I made a batch for some of Joey’s beer-drinking friends, we also learned they pair incredibly well with beer. I kinda want to change the title of the recipe to Beer Pairing Cookies. Yes?
Speaking of the title, I do want to point out there is no peanut butter, in its true form, in these Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies. The peanut butter is inside the peanut butter pretzels – you know, PeanutButterPretzels? The kind with big salt crystals that come in the big jugs.
