I recently shared this recipe for peanut butter/oat cups with a friend. We both thought it was super lame/disappointing to make a tasty crust but then just gloop some yogurt inside, so I decided to do better! An easy homemade strawberry jam goes well with the peanut butter in the crust, and then some chocolate on top because…well, it is dessert!
Ingredients:
Crusts:
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter, plus more if needed
- 3 tablespoons honey (or agave syrup to make it vegan)
Strawberry Jam:
- 1 pound bag frozen strawberries
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoons lemon juice
Ganache:
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Grease a muffin/cupcake tin. Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, stir together the crust ingredients, adding a bit more peanut butter if needed to hold everything together.
Scoop the mixture evenly between the 12 cups in the muffin tin, then use your fingers or the bottom of a small dish to press firmly against the bottom and sides.
Bake 12-15 minutes, until beginning to brown around the outsides. Let cool.
To make the jam, if you think of it ahead of time, let the berries start thawing. Combine the berries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently as they thaw.
Once the berries have thawed enough to crush, use a potato masher to crush the berries until only small lumps remain. Continue cooking over medium heat until the mixture reaches a boil, then add the lemon juice. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until your jam reaches 220 degrees, then remove from the heat.
Let cool, then scoop into the baked peanut butter/oat crusts. You may have enough jam for a sandwich or two leftover.
To make the ganache, first put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan on the stove until it reaches a simmer, then pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let sit without touching for 2-3 minutes, then stir until smooth.
Because this was so much chocolate to cream, I actually needed to give it 10 seconds in the microwave to fully melt the chocolate. Spoon ganache over the jam-filled cups to cover. Refrigerate until set.
Carefully run a knife around the oat cups to free them from the pan. Store in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer, and take out before dinner to allow them to come back up to room temperature for dessert.
Strawberry, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate Mini Tarts
Crusts from Peanut Butter & Co., jam from Kylee Cooks.
Crusts:
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter, plus more if needed
- 3 tablespoons honey (or agave syrup to make it vegan)
Strawberry Jam:
- 1 pound bag frozen strawberries
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoons lemon juice
Ganache:
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Grease a muffin/cupcake tin. Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, stir together the crust ingredients, adding a bit more peanut butter if needed to hold everything together. Scoop the mixture evenly between the 12 cups in the muffin tin, then use your fingers or the bottom of a small dish to press firmly against the bottom and sides. Bake 12-15 minutes, until beginning to brown around the outsides. Let cool.
To make the jam, if you think of it ahead of time, let the berries start thawing. Combine the berries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently as they thaw. Once the berries have thawed enough to crush, use a potato masher to crush the berries until only small lumps remain. Continue cooking over medium heat until the mixture reaches a boil, then add the lemon juice. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until your jam reaches 220 degrees, then remove from the heat. Let cool, then scoop into the baked peanut butter/oat crusts.
To make the ganache, first put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan on the stove until it reaches a simmer, then pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let sit without touching for 2-3 minutes, then stir until smooth. Spoon ganache over the jam-filled cups to cover. Refrigerate until set.
Carefully run a knife around the oat cups to free them from the pan. Store in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer, and take out before dinner to allow them to come back up to room temperature for dessert.
Beat in the eggs.
Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low speed until completely mixed, then press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Stir the cup of jam and then spread over the base.
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, salt, and oats of the topping. Stir in the melted butter until clumpy, then spread over the raspberry jam.
Press down lightly. Bake 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.
In theory the center should be sent, so I baked mine the extra 5 minutes, but it was extremely jiggly at that point still. I’m not actually sure that waiting for something with so much jelly and butter to be firm makes sense – by the time it cools out of the oven it may be rock hard!
Remove from the oven and let cool. Slice, and serve.
Ingredients (pictures show a doubled recipe, ingredient list is still for a single batch):
Add the peanut butter and milk.
Spread evenly over the frozen crust, then return to the fridge for an hour or until firm.
Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Let sit for one minute, then stir until smooth.
Sprinkle with chopped peanuts if desired. Chill until set. Remove the foil from the pan, slice into small squares, and serve.
Ingredients:
Combine the sugar, vinegar, salt, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan over high heat.
Stir constantly until the mixture begins to boil, then stop stirring and begin measuring with a candy thermometer, until the mixture reaches 260 degrees F.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and butter until the butter is melted and fully incorporated. Drizzle over the popcorn while stirring, fully coating the popcorn.
Continue stirring the popcorn until it has cooled enough that you can touch it with your bare hands without burning. You can grease your hands if you want (I didn’t find it necessary), then press handfuls of the popcorn mixture into balls. Place the balls onto the prepared pan and let cool completely.
Once fully mixed, drop teaspoons of the batter 2 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Flatten the mounds of batter to 2″ rounds using the back of a spoon that’s been dipped in water. (The water didn’t do much in my experience.)
Bake for 5 minutes, or until the edges are browned. While one pan’s worth bakes, you can prepare the next batch of cookies.
Let the baked cookies rest on the sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a wire rack with a spatula and let cool completely.
Ingredients:
Stir the chicken and grapes into the mayo mixture. Cover, and refrigerate at least an hour. (Hardest step!)
Serve the chicken salad in a tortilla with a few big handfuls of spinach.
Ingredients:
Heat 1 cup of the broth to boiling, then add the gelatin and stir until dissolved. Add the remaining broth, lemon juice, and salt.
I used better than bullion, rather than cubes, and did not need any extra salt at all. Let cool to room temperature. Put the mayo into a bowl and add a bit of the room temp broth mixture, stirring until smooth.
Add the rest of the gelatin mixture and stir again until smooth.
Refrigerate until syrupy – that was most of an hour for mine.
Stir in the turkey and celery and pour the mixture into a greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish.
Chill until set.
Stir in the lemon juice and salt. Combine the gelatin and cold water and let set for 5 minutes.
Add the boiling water, and stir to dissolve. Combine the gelatin mixture and cranberry sauce, stirring until smooth.
Pour over the set turkey layer and chill for several hours.
Ingredients (for one loaf):
In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, applesauce, and oats.
Add the raisins and oil.
Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
Transfer the mixture to the bread pan and bake for 1 hour. One of my bread pans is an 8×4, so I put the bread pans on a bigger pan in case there was too much batter and it overflowed, but that didn’t turn out to be an issue.
I let them cool for ~10 minutes in the pan, then carefully ran a knife around the inside of the bread pans and turned the loaves out to cool the rest of the way on a wire rack.
A delicious way to get some fruit and whole grains into your carbs!
Beat in the salt, vanilla, and yolk.
Add the flour and beat, scraping down the bowl, until no dry patches remain.
Shape into a ball, flatten somewhat into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Roll out the chilled dough and place in a 9″ tart pan, removing any extra by running your thumb over the edge of the pan to cut off the excess. My house is about a million degrees, so the dough instantly went back to floppy and was a nightmare to roll out, but even the cookbook mentions using excess dough to patch any holes. Prick the dough all over with a fork, then freeze at least 10 minutes.
Preheat oven toe 350, then bake the crust for 15 minutes, taking it out halfway through to check if there are any bubbles forming in the crust, and pressing down on them if so before returning to the oven. Set the crust aside to cool.
Once the crust is cool, put the bittersweet chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream over high heat on the stove until it just starts to boil, then pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit, undisturbed, for 30 seconds, then gently stir until the chocolate is evenly melted into the cream. Don’t stir too vigorously or you may end up with air bubbles in your chocolate.
Pour the still warm filling into the crust.
Ingredients:
Press evenly into a 9″ pie pan.
Bake for 10 minutes, then allow to cool. You’re done with the oven at this point.
To make the filling, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl and beat until smooth.
Add the caramel sauce and beat in.
In a large bowl, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
Gently transfer into the cooled crust, and sprinkle with…the sprinkles, if using.
Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving. I waited until the next morning to cover with plastic wrap, and at that point it had enough of a surface that the plastic wrap barely stuck to it.
sparecake 