Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites & Chocolate Cookie Dough Bites

Weather:  Right now it's 50 degrees and according to the weather it's drizzling, but I'm not seeing it!  The trees are moving pretty good, so it's pretty breezy again!
Listening To:  Jimmy Buffet's "Magaritaville."  I feel like a drink now.
Daylight:  9 hours and 51 minutes (which is 5 minutes and 38 seconds less than yesterday).

So here I am on Pinterest just minding my own business

(I can't really remember what I was looking for or at for that matter)

and saw some Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites.

I stopped and thought to myself, those look amazing and wait...

I have everything to make these!

I had a girl's night last Saturday, and I had made cookie dough dip served with pretzels and animal cookies (the husband really likes animal cookies with his cookie dough dip)

and left over chocolate fondue...

So things got real crazy.  *Wink*

So I gathered up my ingredients, 

and another cup of coffee.

I creamed some butter and peanut butter,

 Tossed in some brown sugar and powdered sugar,

and got a kind of "dough."

Shaped some peanut butter balls (about 1/2 inch in size, this will differ if you use larger pretzels), placed it on a pretzel and made it into a sandwich on some silicone mats (wax paper would also work).

This is what my little station looked like. 

I had some leftover cookie dough dip, so I used that with both the pretzels and the animal cookies I had.

Then I put them in batches in the freezer for 10-20 minutes or so.  Enough to harden them up a bit for dipping.

I heated up the leftover fondue I had (solid it's almost a fudge-like consistency),

let it cool slightly, and dipped it in.

Again I returned them to the silicone mats, and added some Halloween sprinkles (they were $1 at Target so I couldn't resist).

I then put them in the freezer for a little bit, to harden them up again.

Since these are being made with leftover fondue and not melted chocolate, they will never get truly solid again, they will stay a little sticky.  So when I was putting them together on a plate for my husband to bring to work, I made sure to layer them so they don't stick together.

I cut pieces of wax paper into circles (using the plates as a trace) and then layered accordingly.

If you use just a regular chocolate with nothing added they should harden nicely and not stick so badly.

I saved what was left over of the pretzels and the animal crackers that were broken and ugly for a project for next week.

There are several blogs that do chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites.  I used the recipe from Sallys Baking Addiction.

These are the ingredients for the peanut butter portion to the bites:

1 cup peanut butter (most recommend creamy, I used crunchy because it's what I had)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature1/2 cup powdered sugar3/4 cup light brown sugar

Cream together butters, then add the sugars until you form a dough.

Most recipes recommend using 8 oz of chocolate to dip, using baker's chocolate (if you do a regular chocolate do not use the unsweetened, because it's just that--unsweetened), chocolate wafers, or chocolate chips.  In my opinion baker's chocolate and chocolate wafers harden nicely for things like this.

I will do a later post on cookie dough dip...It's sinfully good!

Enjoy.

Goblin Good Gorp

Today's Weather:  High of 55, Low of 43.  Super breezy today, as it was yesterday evening into the night.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be breezy too.  Still warm though, 55 in mid-October?! Where's the snow?;)  Anywho,

Love, love, love Halloween.

Here is a snack mix that we like to eat at our house:

This came from a Pillsbury cookbook back in 2005:

I made these back in 2005 when my husband was in the Army and went out to training for a few weeks when we lived in Washington State.

They were a hit!

So they're my go-to Halloween mix.

I was going to make these for him when he ran off to training for a couple weeks to the Fairbanks area,

but then it got cancelled.

So, I made it for something festive to stick in his lunch.

Here is what you need:

Yes this is super easy.

Toss it all in a bowl and mix...

...and there you go.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups peanuts
• 1 cup miniature creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
• 1 cup candy corn
• 1/2 cup cheese-flavored tiny fish-shaped crackers
• 1/2 cup of raisins

Toss it all in a bowl, mix it up, and serve!

This makes 10 (1/2 cup) servings.  Depending on how much you buy--a bag of mini oreos, a bag of candy corn, raisins, and goldfish usually have enough for two batches.  Buy a larger container of peanuts and you will can easily double it for a crowd.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Weather Today:  High of 48, low of 41.  Blustery & chilly!  Staying indoors today.

Today's recipe comes from the blog Jamie Cooks It Up.  This recipe was adapted from her Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies.  Jamie's blog is pretty awesome, jump on over there and check it out.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

So to start, toss your butter and sugars into your mixing bowl then beat for a few minutes...

...until everything has lightened and starts to look like this:

To be honest, this is my favorite part and always tastes good.  I have try my hardest not to eat this.

Ok, maybe I try just a little.

Next add your vanilla and eggs, and beat again for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, you mix together your dry ingredients.  You have time.

Next add your dry ingredients to the rest of the mixture.  I usually add in bit by bit (like the photo) since the oatmeal mixture has a tendency to be so thick that the mixer starts to have a hard time.  If your mixer starts bouncing or struggling, make it stop and stir it by hand.  

Don't break your mixer, that would be sad :(

Add the chocolate chips and the butterscotch chips.

If your mixer can handle this, you can use your mixer.

Mine does not, and I actually don't like using the mixer because I feel like it starts to break up the chips and smaller pieces of chocolate are in your batter.

That bothers me, so I stir everything by hand.

Spoon (or use a cookie scoop) and drop into rounded spoonfuls onto your baking sheet.  You can also shape into balls, this batter holds a nice shape when baking.

Tip:  Use some sort of silicone mat or parchment paper for these cookies.  Chips that have a lot of sugar in them (pretty much everything except for chocolate) have a tendency to really stick.

Trust me, it's no fun figuring it out the hard way!

The original recipe calls for baking them for 8 minutes, and to not over bake.

My oven wasn't baking them that quickly, so I was baking them for 10 minutes or so.

Over baking will take a way the nice chewiness of the cookie.

Cool slightly, and then transfer the cookies onto a wire rack to fully cool.

Ingredients

• 1c butter, softened
• 1c sugar
• 1c brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2c flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 c oatmeal {quick cooking variety is best}
• 1c butterscotch chips
• 1 c chocolate chips

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of your mixer.  Beat for 3 minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and eggs to your bowl, and beat again for 3 minutes.
4. Mix together the dry ingredients {salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and oatmeal} and then add it to the butter mixture a little bit at a time.  Make sure that the dry mixture is incorporated before adding more.
5. Stir in the butterscotch chips and chocolate chips until mixed thoroughly.
6. Spoon or shape mixture into balls and place on the baking sheet.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookie looks cooked and slightly browned.  Do not over bake.
8. Let cool slightly on cookie sheet before removing it to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!