Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

I love all things peanut butter. I love the salty sweet taste of a Reese's peanut butter cup so much, that I follow them on Facebook! A few years ago, I switched to natural peanut butter. The ingredients are peanuts and salt. Nice and simple. It makes an awesome PB&J, but I do not use it to bake. I bake with Peter Pan. I needed a quick, tasty cookie to make for a Chief's football party.

Enter Dorie Greenspan's Peanut Butter Crisscrosses. This is the first recipe I've baked from Baking: From my home to yours. I've been reading this cookbook for the better part of 2011. Reading it is like talking to a good friend who knows everything about baking.

This peanut butter cookie does not disappoint. I've been searching for a peanut butter cookie recipe for many years. Often, I find peanut butter cookies kind of oily and kind of tacky. These cookies are sandy without being dry. The peanut flavor is strong. I used Planter's Sweet & Crunchy peanuts because that's what I had in the cabinet. The recipe calls for the dough to be rolled into balls, then rolled in sugar before being flattened with the tines of a fork. I added about 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt to the sugar which added a nice kick of salt when you bite into the cookie.

The recipe says it makes 40 cookies. I made about 56 cookies about 2 1/2". The cookies were a huge hit at the Chief's party (sadly, the Chiefs tanked).

Play Like a Toddler

It's awesome to be Stella's Mom. She's 2 1/2 which is a fun time filled with exploration and learning. The real cool thing is I get to play, too. I'll admit that sometimes I'm not necessarily in the mood to color, but after I join Stella, it always lifts my mood. We build tall towers with blocks. We empty the coins from the piggy bank and separate them by size. Quarters are "big money" and dimes are "teensies". We read books like Where the Wild Things Are, Pinkalicious, and I Spy With My Little Eye (the art work is amazing). We draw and color monsters and birds and airplanes and elephants.

The other day I told Paul that I can't wait until we can start making crafts with construction paper and glitter and glue. Stella will soon be able to wield children's scissors, but what am I waiting for? Why not buy the supplies now and get our craft on?

Need proof that playing is good for the soul? Check out this article from Tiny Buddha.

Club: BAKED: Boston Cream Pie Cake

This is the latest installment for Club: BAKED. Brooke is our hostess this week. Be sure to check out her creation.

I must say a smile spread across my face when I learned that we were making Boston Cream Pie Cake! I made Nigella Lawson's version a few years ago when we hosted my in-laws for Christmas Eve dinner (see How to Be a Domestic Goddess, p. 21). Looking back, it was pretty brave/crazy to select a dessert that I'd never made before. Nigella's version is only 2-layers, but it was a perfect ending to a perfect holiday celebration.

Then reality set in and I found myself with not enough time and a too-short serrated knife. But you know what? This pie cake is very forgiving. In fact, it's so forgiving that I promise to make it again after I eliminate the time crunch and buy a longer knife. I baked the cake on Saturday and froze it to make it easier to slice as suggested by the authors. I cooked the yummy custard too fast (or whisked too slowly?) which made one lumpy vanilla custard. The cake and custard languished in the freezer and fridge while life kept moving until Tuesday night.

After putting Stella to bed and relaxing for a few minutes with Paul, I decided to assemble the cake pie around 11:00pm. The chocolate ganache is perfect. I sliced the layers with my too-short serrated knife. I slathered on the lumpy vanilla custard. In my excitement, I quickly poured the chocolate ganache over the cake which made a chocolate landslide on one side of the cake. Paul exclaimed that it was a beauty as I despaired over what went wrong as I begrudgingly slid it into the refrigerator. It was too late to even taste it.


Finally, on Wednesday, we ate this cake. Well, not the entire cake, but we each enjoyed a slice. I love the classic flavors. I love the 4 layers. I love the custard. Yum, I will definitely make you again, Boston Cream Pie Cake!