Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Tea time will be back soon.  I am sconed out at the moment and needed a breather from all that scone baking, In the mean time, I bring you this lovely cheesecake.  Swoon.

Some time ago it was my husbands birthday.  We celebrated with some delicious chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. I made a few mistakes but in the end it was okay.

One of the mistakes I made was that I overfilled the water.  When I make cheesecake, at least in recent times, I put it in a water bath.  I find the cheesecake to be more moist and it bakes better.  You will see this idea in a lot of recipes. It helps with not getting that infamous crack on top.

You need to have a piece of foil large enough to cover the bottom of your cheesecake.  I find that the standard foil here in the US is narrow, not wide enough to get a nice seal on the bottom of a 9" round. Most times I do not have the wider heavy duty foil.  If you want to do the water bath I recommend getting the wider foil.

The other mistake I made was not putting enough of the batter mixed with the peanut butter.  It got too thick and dint go on the cheesecake evenly.  Also the chocolate portion was dulled by too much batter.  Next time, half and half.  This will make the chocolate portion of the cheesecake more chocolatey and the peanut putter portion more pourable and spreadable.

Yes, there will be a next time because it still was good.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

crust
1 cup finely ground chocolate wafer cookies (4 ounces)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar

filling
4 ounces semisweet chocolate (55 to 61 percent cacao), finely chopped
4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
Pinch of coarse salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grind chocolate wafer cookies into crumbs, mix with melted butter and sugar. Line bottom and a little up the sides of a 9 inch round cheesecake pan, Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.

In a mixing bowl place cream cheese and sugar and salt.  Blend together for about 3 minutes.  Add in vanilla.  Add in eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. Scrape down sides. Mix just until blended. Divide batter in two.

In the same mixer with half the batter, add peanut butter and blend until combined.  Pour into a bowl and set aside.  Melt chocolate in bain marie or microwave, making sure just to heat it until it melts. In that same mixer combine the reserved half of batter and add in the chocolate.

Pour the chocolate batter into the prepared crust cheesecake pan.  Spoon peanut butter batter over the top. Smooth.  Place in oven on center rack.  Bake for approx. one hour and 10 minutes.  Keep an eye on it.  You want it to be slightly jiggly in center before you take it out.

This following alternate way of baking is not necessary but it will yield a very moist cheese cake.

If you would like to bake it the way I did (ensuring that you cover the bottom better than I did), cover the bottom of cheesecake pan in foil, making sure it is tight around.  Place in in a larger baking pan. Pour in some water to the larger baking pan (under the cheesecake pan) about an inch.  It should not be anywhere near the top of the foil on the cheesecake pan.  Once the cooking time is complete, open the oven door a crack and let the oven cool to room temperature before removing the cheesecake.

Banana Bread Muffins

When bananas are overly ripe they get this funny taste that I dont particularly care for.  My husband doesn't even seem to notice it.  If you don't like that taste, you can put a bit of cinnamon in.  If my bananas are more towards the brown side I use it.  If they are just starting to brown I don't. You don't especially notice the cinnamon but it balances everything out, in my opinion.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins With Peanut Butter Frosting

4 ounces butter (1 stick)
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 large bananas, mashed

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about five minutes.  Add in eggs one at a time.  Add in vanilla.  In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda and cinnamon.  Stir in banana to butter sugar mixture and then dry ingredients.  Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.  Spoon into muffin papers in a muffin tin 2/3 full.  Bake at 350F for about 20- 30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2-4 tablespoons milk

Blend together peanut butter and butter.  Add in the vanilla and milk and finally the confectioners sugar.

Kabocha Peanut Soup

The other day I had one kabocha squash left over from the market in October.  Yes, you read that right.  This is the first time it has lasted so long!  I cut it in half and roasted it in the oven.  The taste was still very good.  Apparently, someone had taken the time to wax it or at least it seemed that way since it lasted so long.

Anyway,  I gave the dog a little of it because she really likes squash and I heard that squash settles their stomach.  So I thought what the heck and threw in a spoonful of peanut butter for good measure. I tasted it just because I am a little crazy like that.  It was delicious.  I thought I need to experiment with this later.

It definitely needed some type of acid to balance it out.  I thought the limes would be perfect with it. Kind of reminds me of an African Yam and Peanut soup.  Its a little simpler.  I thought of throwing in some coconut milk but wanted to keep it more light.  The peanut butter in it was already adding a few calories.

I am recording it on the blog because we liked it that much and I want to remember what I did. It really didn't need any more flavor.  It had enough just like this but I imagine some cumin or if you like cilantro, it would be a welcome addition.

Kabocha Peanut Soup

4 cups kabocha or butternut squash puree,
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
juice of 4 limes
3- 4 cups chicken broth, depending on the thickness you desire
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or more if you like a little more heat)

Mix everything but the peanut butter and bring to a boil.  Add the peanut butter, it wont take long to melt once the mixture is hot.  Simmer 20 minutes and serve.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Muffins

Ignore my frosting.  I wasn't really into the frosting so I just mixed up a little bit- kind of threw it together.  What I really wanted to tell you about was the muffins themselves.  Except for this muffin I ate them all with no frosting.

I love the muffin.  It tastes delicious for about three days.  After that it starts to get dry and that would be when frosting might come in handy.  But, honestly, I still would rather dip it in my tea instead. 

Now, don't think that all I will be posting is gluten free.  My family still enjoys their cakes and cookies... 


Peanut Butter Gluten Free Muffins

1 1/4 cups all purpose gluten free flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a 12 cup muffin pan -standard size.

Mix dry ingredients, set aside.

In a large bowl beat butter, sugar and peanut butter.  Add vanilla and beat three minutes.  Add eggs one at a time and beat for one minute after each addition.

Beat in dry ingredients alternately with milk ending with dry mixture.  Divide amongst muffin cups evenly.  Smooth out tops with a wet finger.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

Frost if desired.

Peanut Butter Cookies; The No Flour Version

I found some motivational videos on You Tube this morning.  I love them.  I think I need to listen to them every morning.  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  How to get your butt going?  Maybe I should put it as my alarm setting.  A great video/message to wake up to! I included my two favorites to share with you.

The one far below is for women! The right below is for men and women alike.  Not necessarily for people who are going to be Olympic athletes or for the world changers, but even for the small goals in your life that you have not yet achieved.  For passing a math test, for getting a degree.  These videos are filled with a lot of physical things, but our goals are sometimes things we can not easily see.  What is your goal?



Peanut Butter Cookies

2 cups peanut butter
2 cups white sugar
2 egg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a medium bowl, stir peanut butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Press a criss-cross into the top using the back of a fork.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

Swirly Twirly Delicious Crunch Bars.  Don't they look all cream and coffee like?  They have nothing to do with coffee.  They have everything to do with peanut butter, chocolate and rice crispy-ish cereal.

My kids went crazy over these even my daughter who is not necessarily a fan of peanut butter.  I will tell you they are pretty rich.  To be true I would like them just as well without the topping.  Just the crunch part.  Next time I make them I will just drizzle a little chocolate over top or stir it into the mix. (This may be one of those times when I am being like my Mom- scraping frosting off of cake- yes, she is one of those).

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars
Super crispy.

3 cups crispy rice cereal
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons shortening
1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips

Lay parchment or foil in a 8 x 8 square pan. Set aside.


In a microwave safe bowl or on the stove combine corn syrup, sugar and peanut butter.  Heat for one minute, stir.  Heat one minute more.  Combine this mixture with the vanilla and then the rice cereal. Press into prepared pan, smoothing the top.  Chill for at least an hour.

Melt chocolate chips with shortening, stirring frequently.  Once melted spread over top of rice cereal mixture.  Next, melt peanut butter chips, stirring frequently as well.  Once melted place blops, a very technical term, of peanut butter in various places on melted chocolate.  Take a toothpick or a skewer and swirl the peanut butter blops into the chocolate.  Chill.  Best if you chill overnight.  Its really difficult to wait that long.