homemade peanut butter cups

i love peanut butter. i love chocolate. i really love peanut butter cups. so i made some. its so simple and involves only 2 ingredients, chocolate and peanut butter!
so first, you need chocolate. today i did a combo of baker's chocolate and this coffee flavored milk chocolate. really you can use any combo and any type of chocolate you want. to prepare the chocolate, microwave it in 30 second intervals, stirring between each one, until the chocolate is the consistency of chocolate sauce. then you either need a mini muffin pan or mini cupcake tins. (those paper things that hold the cupcake in). i would recommend the cupcake tins over the pan because even if the pan is covered in nonstick spray, its still hard to get the chocolate cups out when they are done. now when the chocolate is melted, do a thin layer in the bottom of the cupcake tin. then scoop on some peanut butter and another layer of chocolate on top. the amount of each is really up to you. i like more peanut butter than chocolate, but some like it the other way around. when the tin is filled with chocolaty peanut butter goodness, freeze until the chocolate hardens (about 10 mins) and enjoy. this recipe can be used with other things too. for example, instead of peanut butter, try almond butter, coconut, whole nuts, other types of candy, popcorn, or really anything else you can think of. delish.

Good-For-You Chocolate Chip Cookies.

love me some chocolate chip cookies. love not being fat. here is a happy medium. you need.
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 dashes cinnamon
1 dash ginger
1 dash nutmeg
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 stick butter
2 ripe bananas
2 egg whites (crack 2 eggs above a bowl and only let the not yolk part of the egg into the bowl. this can be a challenge if you have never done it before, but i have faith in you)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups quick cook oats
1 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup water
3 hand fulls nuts
chocolate chips. (a note about this. i happened to be out of chocolate chips, but i had those 60 calorie sticks of Hershey's special dark chocolate. so i stepped on those with a boot when they were in their wrapper to crush them into chunk size and added them to the batter like that. but you can also just use regular chocolate chips. and add however many you want)

preheat over to 375'. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and spices. set that bowl as side. mix together the sugars, maple syrup and butter. (i usually microwave the butter for 30 seconds on a plate before adding to mix. wana keep that stuff nice and soft). when that is all nicely mixed, add the bananas, egg whites and vanilla extract and mix. when that is all blended to a beautiful consistency, add the oats, wheat bran, water, nuts, chocolate chips and mix. scoop about a tablespoon or so amount of dough onto a greased cookie sheet. bake for 10- 12 mins. until they look done.

B-A-N-A-N-A BREAD!

Banana bread is times 10 delsh. all you need are a few brownish bananas, few basic baking ingredients and a oven. it makes a great dessert when mixed in with chocolate chips or a breakfast snack when mixed in with nuts. it only takes about 15 mins to mix and it bakes for an hour. so you could study for the hour and reward yourself for all the hard studying with the bread (or you could spend 45 mins on facebook and study for 15 but its your choice). i use my kitchen aid mixer because i just have to dump everything in the bowl and turn it on, but you can use a hand mixer if you please. or even use your hands, it would be like playing with a giant dough stress ball.
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Crisco, margarine, butter or shortening. (whatever one you have on hand)
2 eggs
2 brown bananas, (it needs to equal a cup when mushed up)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts) or chocolate chips.
put sugar and butter in mixer and blend until they are at a creamy consistency. crack 2 eggs into a separate bowl and put 2 bananas in that bowl as well. use a fork to mush the bananas up and whisk the eggs. you want the bananas nice and mushy otherwise there will be big chunks of 'nana in the bread. add the egg/banana mixture to the sugar and butter. mix until well blended. add the dry ingredients, buttermilk and nuts or chocolate chips (or both) and mix to dough consistency. pour into a loaf pan, bake for an hour at 350'
be sure to stick a fork in once it comes out, there is nothing better than warm, soft, mushy bread.

BIRTHDAYYYY

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! w00t! so to celebrate i wanted to bake a cake of some sort, but we have no cake mix, and i dont feel like starting from scratch. but i found brownie mix, and mini muffin pans. my fave brownie mix is the Ghiradelli kind, much better than betty crocker. so i made the brownie mix according to the box, tossed in some nuts and a little cinnamon to the mix. then i poured the mix into a greased mini muffin pan and baked until a toothpick came out clean when i stabbed it into the little brownie. (this will take longer than you think.) pop em out of the little tray, and you have mini brownie cupcakes for everyone! yay! or u can eat them all (they are decadently delicious when they are warm, and look very tempting). to really add some flare, spread with frosting. this is the recipe for my fave cream cheese frosting:
melt together in a small sauce pan over medium heat 8 ounces (2 packages) cream cheese, 1/2 cup softened butter and one teaspoon vanilla extract. stir in slowly 2 cups of confectioners sugar.
spread this on your brownie bites and you will have a delicious excuse for not buying a cake! (so u could share these with everyone instead!)

Easter hang-over

its the day after Easter
either you feel fat from stuffing all those peeps and chocolate eggs down your throat
or you have nothing to do with that basket filled of picked through chocolate. Well, here are some solutions.
-use your chocolate bars to create delish chocolate covered strawberries
1. melt plain chocolate in the microwave (this works best with Hershey's kisses and little chocolate bars) stirring every 30 secs to min in the microwave.
2. stir strawberries (or bananas, peaches whatever you have on hand) around in chocolate and place on plate.
3. cover plate in foil or plastic wrap, freeze until chocolate is solid.

or put those mms and recces to use!
1. stir mms into your fave cookie recipe instead of chocolate chips
or
2. instead of stirring in any chips, push a Reece cup (or any other hunk of chocolate) on top of the raw cookie. bake normally.

now, its hard to bake with peeps, but there is still tons of fun to have with them, try
1. microwaving them, see what happens
2. let the sit out and harden, then throw them at freshman.
3. mush them into some form of modern art

if your feeling way to stuffed and need away to make the candy disappear try
1. placing all of the candy in a bowl and placing the bowl in your common room, on your desk, on your adviser's desk, at your office,
2. better yet, use it to bribe your friends.

and don't forget to freeze a few chocolate bars, you never know when the craving for one will strike.