Peanut Butter and Jelly Bundt Cake ~ #BundtBakers

What's better than a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich?  A Peanut Butter and Jelly 

Bundt Cake that will take you back to your childhood as you savor each bite.

Peanut Butter Cookies ~ #CreativeCookieExchange

"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best."

~ Tim Duncan. A great quote for basketball, and life in general.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Cake ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

It is time for The Cake Slice Baker's to announce our new book - the one we will be baking from throughout 2018.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bundt Cake #BundtaMonth

I was definitely excited when I found out that the theme for this month's #BundtaMonth was candy. Who wouldn't be thrilled to be asked to "bake us a bundt using your favorite candy"? Now my only problem was that I have two favorite candy bars - one from Australia and one from the US.  Which one should I use to make my bundt?

A mix of chopped cherries and coconut, smothered with Cadbury dark chocolate, the Cherry Ripe has always been from favorite chocolate in Australia.  It is also the oldest chocolate bar in Australia. However, I can't seem to resist little cups of chocolate filled with peanut butter - the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - that has always been my favorite chocolate in the US.  In the end it was an easy decision because I did not have enough Cherry Ripes in my secret stash, and Reese's Peanut Putter Cups are more readily available for the majority of people.  The Cherry Ripe bundt will have to wait for another day.

I wasn't sure if I should just wing it, but then I found this recipe at Wee Eats and it seemed to be just what I was looking for. After a few slight changes I was ready to bake.  To get a deep, dark chocolate color and flavor this recipe uses Dutch-process cocoa.  This type of cocoa is produced from beans that have been treated with an alkali that neutralizes the acidity.  It therefore it does not react with baking soda and needs to be used in recipes that contain baking powder, or a recipe that has other acidic ingredients in proportionate amounts, hence the sour cream. For a more detailed breakdown I found that David Lebovitz has an excellent explanation on his website, which can be found here.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chubby Tates

Heaven help me if there is an open container of peanut butter filled pretzels in my household. They sing like a siren beckoning me to them and I am just not able to resist their sweet-salty deliciousness.  I don't buy them all that often, but when I do it is usually because one of my girls has been shopping with me and somehow they end up in my cart. The safest thing is not to have them around for too long so they are bagged as snacks for school, taken to the movies (shhhh!), and in this case used in baking cookies.

One of my favorite cookie recipes is the Chubby Tates from Tate's Bake Shop - Baking for Friends.  I decided to add one of my favorite snacks to one of my favorite cookies, and the Peanut Butter Pretzel Chubby Tates were born.  In the cookbook, the author Kathleen King suggests that you eat them while they are still warm and I would definitely second this.  One bite of the a warm cookie fills your mouth with crumbly cookie, melted chocolate, and gooey peanut butter and sends your taste buds into another universe.  Add an ice-cold glass of milk and I am set.  Another option would be to sandwich these cookies around some ice cream.  Flavors such as vanilla, peanut butter, chocolate, or banana come to mind and all would be excellent choices.

































These cookies freeze very well, and with the holiday season fast approaching I think I just may bake another batch and do just that.  I discovered that if I scoop them out onto a cookie sheet and freeze them individually and then store them in a plastic freezer bag - rather than placing the the whole dough in the freezer - I will be able to grab as many as I want to bake quickly if friends drop by.


Peanut Butter Pretzel Chubby Tates

(Printer Friendly Recipes)

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour or bread flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) salted butter, at room temperature 
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed 
• ½ cup granulated sugar 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter filled pretzels

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325℉. Line two sheet pans with Silpat liners or parchment paper. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt, set aside. 
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar and sugar and mix on high until combined, about 1 minute. 
4. Beat in the vanilla, egg yolk and egg. Scrape down bowl and turn the mixer to low speed. 
5. Add the flour mixture and mix till just combined.
6. Mix in the chocolate chips and the pretzels, and turn the mixer up to high for about 30 seconds to break up the pretzels.
7. Using an ice cream scoop or two tablespoons, drop cookie dough onto prepared sheet pans 3 inches apart. 
8. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Repeat with the remaining dough on cool baking sheets.

Recipe slightly adapted from Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friends.