Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream & Brownie Sundae

Hi, everybody! I'm Michelle from One Ordinary Day and I'm excited to be Ingrid's guest blogger today. She's off enjoying her vacation, and while she's away it seems like the perfect time to make something dark and chocolaty. Are you with me?

There's a lot of pressure when you're writing for someone else's blog... I don't want to spell any words wrong. I want to share a great recipe with you. I want to make my friend happy. And I really want to make a good impression. With those things swirling around in my head, I just couldn't quite make up my mind about what to bake. My indecision turned out to be a good thing, because instead of posting only one recipe, I'm sharing two! It's a two-for-one! Come to think of it, if I give you the recipe for my chocolate sauce then you're really getting three recipes. Woop!

Let's start out with the brownies. You can definitely use a boxed mix, but if you have the time to make Ultimate Brownies, you won't be disappointed. The name says it all. They are seriously good and pair perfectly with this ice cream. Come to think of it, they pair perfectly with anything and everything. But since you can find that recipe on my blog, let's move on and meet the real star here. Chocolate-peanut butter ice cream. Hello, new best friend.

I love peanut butter. My kids and I could possibly starve if peanut butter was taken from us. I swear, at least one person eats a peanut butter sandwich in our house every single day. And chocolate? I can't even describe my baby girl's love of the stuff or how smitten Sam and I are with anything dark and fudgy. Jim's got a sweet tooth too, and he would surely never turn down dessert. So it comes as no surprise that this sundae was a hit with all of us.

This chocolate-peanut butter ice cream recipe comes straight from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. The man knows his ice cream. His recipes never disappoint, and this one has the added perk of requiring no eggs and very little prep time. And, people, I can't even put into words how delicious this ice cream is. Is it appropriate to use the word "luscious" when you're describing ice cream? Yes? Good, because this is absolutely luscious!

Don't let summer pass by without building a big, beautiful sundae with all the trimmings. It's the perfect way to end a sunny day.
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Recipe: Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream
The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 c. half and half
1/4 c. unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 c. granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 c. smooth peanut butter

Whisk together the half and half, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil. (It will start to foam up.) Remove from heat and whisk in the peanut butter, stirring until thoroughly blended.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions. (I find that chilling the ice cream mixture in an ice bath is the fastest way to get to eat my ice cream. I fill a big bowl with ice and water, then set my saucepan inside. You can also just use the fridge, but when I'm craving ice cream, I want to use the fastest method I can!)

Makes 1 quart.

Recipe: Homemade Chocolate Syrup

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. water
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Whisk cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a pot until combined. Add water and whisk or stir until well blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove syrup from heat and allow to cool. When cooled completely, stir in vanilla extract until well combined. Pour syrup into an airtight container and refrigerate.

Makes approx. 1 3/4 c. of syrup and will keep nicely in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.

Just the Ganache Please

This isn’t about the brownies though they were very good.  This is about the ganache that I topped the brownies with.  Now this isn’t any ordinary ganache.  Not your run of the mill ganache.  No, ma’am! This is a finger licking, last drop getting peanut butter chocolate ganache!  Do you see where I’m going with this?  It was insanely good. 

For me the ganache was the perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate.  It was so silky and smooth when I poured it over the brownies.  I don’t know if it was because the brownies were not long out of the oven but the wonderful aroma of chocolate and peanut butter was intoxicating.  I know I’m going on and on but think about it. I don’t even really like peanut butter or chocolate.  I generally avoid the two unless they’re together.  Together they’re better, good even and sometimes like with this ganache, they’re magical!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Ingredients You Will Need: (I only made half the recipe)
1 cup heavy cream
1 ½ cups chocolate chip morsels (I used a combination of Ghirardelli semi-sweet & dark)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ cup smooth peanut butter

In a small saucepan, combine the cream, powdered sugar, chocolate chip morsels and butter over low heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add the peanut butter at the same time. Stir until smooth.

Ganache will be too hot to spread or pour. Set in the refrigerator for several minutes. Then place the ganache on the counter and stir once or twice over the next ten minutes until it has reached the desired consistency.  (I was in a hurry so I didn’t follow this step completely.)

The brownies were for a BBQ that my neighbor across the street was having.  They started with a box mix.  I’m not certain which but I added some Reese’s mini baking cups.  From the photo you can see how they sunk to the bottom.  I hate that.  Luckily I had the peanut butter chocolate ganache to consol myself with.

* Here are some photos of the Twins playing baseball at Cooperstown.  These were my faves!  Jalen’s pitching and Devon’s batting.

      

    

Technorati Tags: baseball,brownies,ganache,peanut butter

Thank you(s) are in order

Unbelievably in March I won THREE different giveaway!  I probably should have played the lotto. 

The first giveaway I won was Grace's Barney Butter.  Unlike many I'm not a fan of peanut butter and will shy away from it unless paired with chocolate, so I was super psyched to be selected as one of the Barney Butter winners on  A Southern Grace. 

Barney Butter is an almond butter.  It is healthy and yummy alternative to peanut butter.  To read more about the health benefits of it click here. 

 

As soon as my jar of Barney Butter arrived I quickly grabbed a spoon, broke the seal, and dug into the jar of crunchy almond butter.  I admit to preferring almond butter over peanut butter when straight from the jar but I'm still unconvinced that I like it with chocolate over peanut butter. 

The following night Babygirl and I slathered some of the almond butter on to graham crackers and topped it all off with a dollop of marshmallow fluff!   Oh, man, talk about good! We wolfed those down as we played cards.  The other dessert I made was one I saw on Sydney's blog, The Crepes of Wrath.  I made some changes to the recipe and have noted them in red.  The bars were made for Babygirl's art teacher's birthday. She said her art teacher shared them with everyone and that there were no complaints.  :-)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
from Velvet Lava

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (1/2 cup, 1 stick)
1 cup crunchy peanut butter (1/2 cup almond butter)
3 cups powdered sugar (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used 18whole graham crackers to make the crumbs)  (9whole graham cracker sheets)
1 2/3 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (1 cup semi-sweet)

1. Line and grease a 9×13 (7"x11") inch pan with aluminum foil. In a food processor, grind up your graham crackers (unless you have store-bought crumbs).
2. Add the butter, peanut butter, and sugar to your crumbs and process until a ball forms (you can also beat everything together in your mixer if your processor/blender/whatever can’t do it).
3. Press the mixture into the pan. I found that using my hands worked best.
4. Over a double-boiler, or carefully in the microwave or in a small sauce pan over the stove, melt the chocolate chips, stirring often to prevent burning. Spread the melted chocolate over peanut butter mixture.
5. Chill in refrigerator for about an hour. (When I pulled my bars out of the fridge the chocolate looked like it had bloomed and had dots when it came to room temp. You can see them in the photos.) Allow to come to room temperature before cutting into squares. Store in the refrigerator, or better yet, the freezer! Makes 20-24 bars.(I cut mine smallish so I got about that many.)

I would make them again but I'm not certain I'd use the almond butter.  I think I'd like to try them with peanut butter.

The second giveaway I won was over at  Bunny's Warm Oven.  The  name that was selected would win a $20 Macys gift card which happened to be me!  I haven't used it yet. I'm saving it for something special!

The last  giveaway I won was on A Duck in Her Pond. Though it was totally awesome that I won the other two giveaways this one was special.  I won a short story/book written especially for me by Duckie!  She has been working on it and sent me a rough draft the other day.  I'm so excited and can not wait to see and read the finished book. 

Thanks, Grace, Bunny, and Duckie for the chance to win such cool prizes!  For a chance to win a couple of (I hope) cool prizes please click here and leave me your opinion! 

Technorati Tags: almond butter,Barney Butter,bars,peanut butter,chocolate,giveaway

She says brownies, I say blondies!

Miss Bunny from the blog, Bunny's Warm Oven mentioned in an email that she had a peanut butter brownie recipe that she thought my family would enjoy.  She also said that it was made in one pot!  The idea of dirtying only one pot had me making a batch that night for the Twins' baseball practice.  It didn't hurt either that Bunny recommended them.  Folks, Bunny, I'm sorry but these aren't brownies.  They're blondies!  Peanut butter blondies and they are GOOD.  Better than good.  I've already made them two times and I'm thinking about making up another batch.  Besides being terrific these bars were quick and easy to put together!  

I followed the recipe with my only change being instead of using vanilla extract I used vanilla bean paste. I really like how blondies taste using it instead of regular extract. I also tested my blondies (not brownies) two minutes earlier than called for and took them out when the tooth pick still had a few moist crumbs clinging to it. They were purrrrfect!  I hid a few for a photo shoot when I had a moment and they were still moist and yummy.  I actually (third day) warmed up the last one in the microwave and topped it with some Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream.  I don't even know how to describe just how good it was.  

   

I don't have photos but I also made this recipe which I saw on Bakerella.  The brownie part was good, nice and moist but I the "cookie" was dry. Unlike Bakerella I didn't add a frosting.  If you click here you'll see that Nikki of Pennies on a Platter  also made them but used peanut butter cookie dough instead of chocolate chip cookie. 

FYI~ Sorry if I haven't stopped by and commented.  I've been crazy busy! Both Twins had a project due tomorrow and one of the Twins has TWO MORE due THIS Friday.  Oh and in case you were wondering two of the three projects were just given this past Monday.  After Friday things should settle back down & I'll catch up on my reading & commenting.

LiveJournal Tags: bars,brownies,blondies,chocolate,peanut butter

Peanut Butter Mousse Bars

I LOVED this dessert!  With that said I have to tell you a something about myself.  I'm not a fan of chocolate or peanut butter.  I won't eat peanut butter on it's own and well, unlike many I don't go gaga over chocolate.  Yeah, I'll eat a brownie if it's been kicked up a notch but that's about it for me.  If and when a recipe calls for chocolate I use  dark and when I can, I'll leave it out all together.  Here's where I'm  really strange.  I like peanut butter and chocolate together.  A lot which is why (along with yummy pictures) I decided to give this a try.   

I initially was going to make this to bring to the Twins' baseball practice, but I ran out of time and made them Cheater Snicker Brownies instead.  Am glad I ran out of time!  I would have gotten one little piece had I brought them to baseball. Greedy but true!  This was soooo good!  And I LOVED the peanut butter mousse!  It was "lick the bowl" good!  I wanted to but I restrained myself and used the spatula to get every last little bit of it.

 Okay, back to this delish bars.   Another thing I loved about the bars was how lovely they looked after cutting them.  You can clearly see the contrasting layers.  The ganache topping didn't  harden up so much that it cracked when cut making for a smoother cut.

This bar recipe comes to you courtesy of Dianne's Dishes who as you may remember is my blogging Mama!  Please check her out she has  a lot of great recipes, including gluten free ones, and healthier ones for those of you making a lifestyle change.  You want bread ?  She's got bread! Take a look!

On another note:  Baseball did not go as well as we would have liked this weekend.  We won both our games yesterday but lost today's which was the one that mattered.  The Twins' personally did NOT have their best stuff though Jalen did a good job pitching.  In 1 & 2/3 innings he struck out 4, walked 2, hit a batter, gave up only 1 hit & did not give up a run. We ended up 2 & 1.

LiveJournal Tags: peanut butter,chocolate,peanuts,mousse,graham crackers,ganache,bars,brownies