PB & J Sweet Rolls

Are you ready for this? Yeah, it's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich...in Cinnamon Roll form!

So awesome. 

Okay, so they take a little bit of time. But it's so worth it! Besides, using yeast is fun, especially when you get it right. You'll feel accomplished, I promise. 

The Dough:

• 1 Cup very warm milk (can go anywhere from skim to whole to buttermilk...obviously depending on how many calories you want vs. how much flavor) 
• 1/2 Cup White Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Packet Active Dry Yeast (I've tried extra active and I don't like it as much)
• 1/2 Stick Butter, melted
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 Cups all Purpose Flour (I know this is a big range, but different flours have different moisture and you might need more or less)
• Optional: 1/2 Cup mini Chocolate chips, 1/2 Cup chopped peanuts (honey roasted are delicious in these)

1. Heat milk to at least 110 Degrees (pretty hot to the touch)
2. Combine milk, Sugars, and yeast and mix very well (you can use the dough paddle of a stand mixture for this) 
3. Add the melted butter, then the egg 
4. Add one cup of the flour and mix with the dough paddle (or a hand mixer) until well incorporated. If using your stand mixer, switch to dough hook. Continue adding flour until a slightly sticky dough is formed. Let the dough work on the stand mixer for ten minutes. Kneading by hand can also be done, but takes much longer to form gluten. At the end of kneading, add in the chocolate chips and/or peanuts if desired. 
5. The dough is done when you can stretch it out without it breaking right away. Because this is a sweet roll, I find that you can get away with under-kneading it a little more than with regular breads. When you're done, put it in a floured bowl in a very warm area covered with a wet towel. Let it rise until it is doubled in size. 

The PB & J Filling:

• 3/4 Cup Peanut Butter (Crunchy gives nice texture) 
• 1/4 (1/2 Stick) Butter, melted and hot
• 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Jam (any kind-pick your favorite)

1. Soften Peanut Butter in Microwave or add to butter while it's still really hot so it melts into it easily. Add brown sugar and stir. 
2. Add the jam to a plastic ziplock bag (when assembling the rolls you will cut the tip off of the baggie)

To Assemble:

1. Place the raised dough on a floured surface and roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness into a large rectangle. 
2. Spread the peanut butter mixture first onto the dough rectangle. Then, cut the tip of the plastic baggie off and drizzle the jam evenly onto the entire rectangle as well. 
3. Finish by tightly rolling the rectangle along the LONG edge and using a floured knife to cut the rolls out. I wasn't very good at it at first, but after a while I got the hang of it! 
4. Place the rolls on a greased baking sheet and preheat your oven to 350 Degrees. Allow them to continue to rise as your oven is preheating. When it's done, put them in!
5. Cook about 12 minutes or until you can press on the tops and it springs back and it is slightly golden brown, 

Enjoy your PB & J!

Chocolate Pie

So, I was a little scared to try this one out. I've actually never had much luck with pies.

But boy was this pie good.

You can use a home-made or store bought crust. I'm sure graham cracker crust would be fine, but I think that buttery pastry is the best for this pie. The bottom is made of condensed milk and chocolate. Then, a second layer of more rick chocolate filling. I finished it with a meringue topping that was absolutely airy and perfect.

First, prepare your favorite crust.

For the Filling:

• 4 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/4 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips
• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 1 Can Condensed Milk (I used unsweetened because I wanted to control the sugar content)
• 1/2 Stick of Butter (1/4 Cup)
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Instant Coffee Grounds (optional, but it brings out the taste of the chocolate-you won't be able to taste the coffee) 

1. In a saucepan, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and sugar. 
2. Add the condensed milk and begin heating the mixture on low heat. 
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Add the butter to the heating mixture, wait a few minutes until almost all the way melted, and whisk the egg yolks (RESERVE THE WHITES FOR THE MERINGUES LATER!) into the saucepan. MAKE SURE your saucepan is on VERY low heat or your eggs will scramble. Cut off the heat, take the saucepan off the stove, and add the chocolate chips, whisking until they're all melted and well incorporated (you can add the coffee with the chocolate chips if desired). 
4. Pour the mixture into the pie crust

For the Second Layer:

• 1/2 Cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 Tablespoons Milk or Cream (heavy cream is the tastiest)

1. The easiest way to do this is placing both ingredients into a bowl and heating it in ten second intervals in the microwave. Stirring each time, you can stop as soon as the chocolate chips melt. Pour this mixture evenly over the bottom mixture into the pie crust. 

For the Meringue:

• 3 Reserved Egg Whites from Yolks used above
• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar (whoops, I didn't have this...It worked out fine for me but it stabilizes the meringue!)

1. Beat the egg whites until they start to stiffen, then slowly add the sugar and cream of tartar. 
2. After a few minutes, the egg whites will be shiny and stiff. Beat until it forms stiff peaks, but don't overbeat or you'll lose the smoothness!
3. Place in a piping bag with desired tip, or if you prefer you can just spoon it onto the pie after it's baked and create a more "homey" look. 

How to bake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 Degrees.
2. Place the prepared pie into the oven and bake until almost set. It's hard to tell when this is sometimes, but I waited about 30 minutes and when I shook it it didn't "wobble." 
3. Remove the Pie from the oven and get ready to pipe! Using your piping bag or a spoon, apply meringue topping as you desire. 
4. Place the pie back into the oven, and up the temperature to 400 Degrees. It should only take five or six minutes at the most to finish off the meringue. Remove the pie as soon as the tops of the meringue begin to turn golden brown.
5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in refrigerator for at least four hours. 
6. Enjoy!

 

Super-Moist Chocolate Cake (with Cream Cheese Glaze)

There's nothing like a good, moist and rich chocolate cake.

We're a family of four, so I don't make cakes very often. I'm always afraid they'll sit on the counter too long and get stale. But when I made this cake, it was gone in record time.

For the Cake:

• 1 Stick of Butter (I used Light Butter) 
• 1 Cup of Granulated Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Dark or Light Brown Sugar (optional, but I love the taste)
• 2 Large Eggs (or three small eggs)
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1 3/4 Cup Cake Flour
• 1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder (I used dark chocolate)
• 2 Tablespoons Baking Powder
• 3/4 Cup Milk (you can use skim, 2%, whole, or even buttermilk, depending on the flavor you want and the healthiness you are concerned with) 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees. If using dark or nonstick cake pans, you might need to change your oven temperature to 325 Degrees. 
2. Place sugar and butter (at room temperature-this is very important!) in the bowl of a stand mixer and begin creaming at medium speed. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can do it by hand, but it does take longer. You should cream until the sugar is completely dissolved in the butter. The longer the mixture is creamed, the fluffier your cake will be! This should take about five minutes in a stand mixer and ten by hand. 
3. Add the vanilla then one egg at a time to the butter and sugar, incorporating it fully before you add the next. Beat until creamy. 
4. In a separate bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix well. 
5. Alternately add the dry ingredients then the milk to the egg and sugar mixture until all ingredients are well incorporated. DO NOT overmix! It will make your cake rubbery!
6. Place on well-greased baking pans. Choose whatever shape you like, but make sure to check the cakes towards the end of baking because different pans will finish at different times. Start checking the cakes at twenty minutes into baking, inserting a toothpick and removing them from the oven when it comes out clean. 

For the Cream Cheese Glaze:

This is super easy to make! 

• 1/4 Cup Softened Cream Cheese (I used five second intervals in the microwave until the cream cheese was softened)
• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1. Mix all ingredients together until smooth and well incorporated. 
2. Spread on cake as desired, between layers and on top. Finish with sprinkles!