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Friday, July 15, 2011

Peanut Butter Cream Pie and Strawberry "Ice Cream"


Finally! I am BACK! We're completely moved in (I might post a picture sometime later) and I love our new place! It's adorable and pretty and wonderful :). And I finally have a kitchen all to myself!!! So, to make up for the fact it's been like a month since I shared a recipe I'm giving you all a double dose! These are the two first new things I've made in this kitchen and they are delicious, yum yum yummy desserts!

Peanut Butter Cream Pie
Here, have a bite. It's the least I could do.

Yesterday I made peanut butter pie. It's a recipe I've had sitting in my recipe box since I was in high school that I had pulled out of one of my mom's old magazines. It seemed easy, refreshing (a prerequisite for a dessert Michael will love), and it has peanut butter sooo....you can't go wrong. Funnily enough, although I thought the fact that it was chilled would mean Michael would like it, he wasn't very excited, he feared it would be too "rich" (*eye roll*). But I persevered and made it anyway. And I am soooooo happy I did! It is amazing! And when Michael took his first bite, he looked at me with wide eyes and then gave me a big peanut buttery kiss. He approved. It's a super easy to make recipe, requires very few ingredients, and not too bad for you either, especially if you opt for lower cal ingredients (ie. fat free milk, etc.).


Peanut Butter Cream Pie

From "Food and Family" magazine

Peanut Butter Cream Pie
Ingredients:
  • 1/4-3/4 cup hot fudge dessert topping (or, if you are me, melted dark chocolate. Or you can use milk chocolate. However, I found doing so makes it very difficult to cut into the pie later on, so you can also use no chocolate--which when I suggested doing so made Michael stare at me in horror--or use less, so there's a thinner layer. I used 1/2 cup so next time I may use 1/4 cup. Also, I didn't drizzle the chocolate on top. I was just lazy, I'm sure that would be delicious.)
  • 1 graham cracker pie crust-about 6 oz. (I used Keebler ReadyCrust, the recipe recommends Honey Maid Graham Pie Crust, or you could even make your own. Whatever floats your boat.)
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used natural peanut butter)
  • 1 1/4 cups cold milk (Skim Plus all the way for me, you'll find this is a recurring theme. It's what I like to use.)
  • 2 pkg. (4 serving size each) Jell-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
  • 1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed, divided (I used Cool Whip Light)
Peanut Butter Cream PieWarning: There is a 3 hour refrigeration time....where you will consistently peek in the refrigerator and glare at the clock.

Preparation:
  • Spoon however much fudge topping or chocolate you choose onto bottom of the crust. Place in freezer for 10 minutes.
  • Mix peanut butter and milk with wire whisk in large bowl until well blended.
  • Add dry pudding mixes-beat 2 minutes or until well blended. Mixture will be EXTREMELY thick. (Seriously...after "beating" for a few seconds I could barely move my whisk...it's a little tricky.)
  • Gently stir in half of the whipped topping.
  • Spoon over chocolate layer. Top with remaining whipped topping.
Peanut Butter Cream Pie

It should look like this. Delicious.
  • Refrigerate 3 hours or until set (I warned you). Drizzle with chocolate or fudge if you like just before serving (or refrigerate it that way if you want...I don't see how it could hurt). Store leftover pie in the refrigerator.
Peanut Butter Cream Pie
Makes about 8 servings....that's 1 serving, right? Apparently I thought so :P But forreals....look how yum!
Peanut Butter Cream Pie
 ...There is so much fun to be had with drizzling chocolate. So pretty!
Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Whilst looking at food blogs one day while my mother was still helping us move, I saw a recipe for "ice cream" that you make using a brown banana that you freeze and then put in a food processor or blender. This appealed to me because it sounded easy, so good, and it would mean I could play with my new food processor or blender! The only issue is Michael loves that kind of stuff...but not bananas. So when I realized the strawberries his mom had sent up for us were just a little too ripe (getting squishy) I decided to experiment! I froze the strawberries, then woke up this morning, looked at my food processor and said today is the day! I took the strawberries out, realized I should have cut them prior to freezing them, let Michael cut them (having a man around is nice sometimes :D), then put the chunks in the food processor! Once it was finished I feel like it sort of looked like a sorbet and gave it to Michael to try. He was very excited after looking at it, and liked it, but asked me to stir some sugar (and by some I mean probably about 6 spoon-fulls) and then he was a haaapppy camper, and he has some other ideas for next time to play around with it (perhaps I'll update you with them, if they are worthy). He ate half of it for breakfast, and spooned the rest over a piece of cheesecake tonight. Apparently I'm a great girlfriend.

Strawberry "Sorbet"

Adapted from buns in my oven's Banana "Ice Cream"

Strawberry "Ice Cream"
Ingredients:
  • Strawberries (too ripe, starting to go bad so they are softer), chopped, and frozen.
  • Sugar, added to taste.
  • Anything else you think might be good.
Preparation:
  • Take the chunks of strawberry and put them in food processor or blender. You can throw in some sugar or whatever else in now too, if you'd like. Process until creamy.
  • Seriously...that's pretty much it. Do what you will with this.

Yay! I'm excited for more recipe sharing to come!!

Update (7/26/11): I've made this with the chopped, frozen bananas about a million times. Seriously. It's like ice cream. But it's just banana (and...ok...I add in peanut butter). I've also made this strawberry "sorbet" again but with lots of sugar and some milk added, it made it much more ice cream-y, Michael liked it. He hopes to try it with cream or whipped cream at some point.

 
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