On the Eleventh Day of Homemade Christmas, I made Peppermint Bark Brownies.
brownies
Caramel and Bacon Brownies
I have to tell y’all a secret about bloggers and blogging. We have to work months ahead. It is one of the things I dislike because every year it seems bloggers are pushing things out earlier and earlier. That is why you have been seeing Christmas pins for well over a month now on Pinterest. Here is something about me. I just can’t. I know I need to organize and get my Christmas stuff going but when it is 75+ degrees out, it is hard coming up with 12 things for my Homemade Christmas posts, I’m just not ready to write about Christmas and the holidays. I have been working on new recipes, though. I have an awesome new brownie recipe that my family loves, Caramel and Bacon Brownies.
Peanut Butter Blondie Brownies
My family has an obsession and today is the perfect day to tell you all about it. My family has a peanut butter problem. I hear it is a common problem to have. There is just something about that creamy or crunchy stuff and January 24th is National Peanut Butter Day!
My family is ADDICTED to peanut butter, we easily go through a large jar in a week. I use to buy it at Sam’s and it seemed the more peanut butter I kept in the house the faster we would go through it. There are much worse things out there so I have no problem fueling my families addiction. Typically we eat peanut butter sandwiches or have it on rice cakes. We are huge fans of fluffernutters, simple peanut butter and marshmallow fluff yumminess. In my gluten eating days I loved fluffernutters made on white bread with sliced fresh strawberries, yum. My one son likes peanut butter sandwiches with grape jelly while another son likes peanut butter and honey. When not eaten in sandwich form there is always the classic peanut butter cookie, in candy like Buckeyes, in savory dishes like thai chicken or just straight from the jar with a spoon. I have discovered something else that is just as yummy with peanut butter for my family, Peanut Butter Blondie Brownies. The recipe is made with regular all purpose flour so I didn’t get to try them but my family loved them!
These Peanut Butter Blondie Brownies are the perfect treat for all the peanut butter lovers out there! Try them for yourself and see how the Blondie got even better!
Peanut Butter Blondie Brownies
Author:
Country Girl Gourmet
Peanut Butter Blondie Brownies from Allrecipes.com
Ingredients
- 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Beat peanut butter and butter together in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat brown sugar into peanut butter mixture. Beat eggs into peanut butter mixture 1 at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla extract.
- Gradually sift flour into peanut butter mixture and mix until batter is well-combined. Pour batter into prepared baking dish and spread evenly in the dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean, about 35 minutes.
- Cool in the baking dish for 15 minutes before slicing into 24 bars. Remove to a wire rack to cool until just warm.
From Allrecipes.com
Cherry Cheesecake Brownies -Gluten Free
Valentine’s Day, a holiday celebrating love or just a commercial holiday. How do you feel about it? Once upon a time I was the hopeless romantic and loved Valentine’s Day but then I got married. My husband is rarely home on Valentines Day. He is usually deployed or away training, it is always something. It is ok, we are used to it. I make they day special for my kids. I make heart shaped food, cupcakes and even more cupcakes for class parties and a special Valentine’s Day dessert with dinner. Simple and sweet is how we celebrate the day.
This year I have decided to try a Gluten Free diet. Not to lose weight or any nonsense like that but to see if it would help with some autoimmune issues I have. I have done pretty good so far. Just a minor blip where I had to stop for a few days. The blip showed me that yes, my body does react to gluten. I could feel the difference when I had eaten gluten and I was determined to get back to my gluten free lifestyle.
I do get cravings for all the sweet gluten filled treats like for cookies, cupcakes and brownies from time to time and I have been determined to figure out gluten free baking. I bought some King Arthur Multi Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend a couple weeks ago and a craving for brownies seemed like the perfect time to try it out. I didn’t make just plain regular brownies though. I kicked it up a notch and made Cherry Cheesecake Brownies. Oh my goodness is all I could say! They were delicious! I fed them to my family and they loved them and none knew they were gluten free. We tried them warm and later after being in the fridge a few hours. They were great both ways but especially cold. I think I have our Valentine’s Day Dessert!
Cherry Cheesecake Brownies
Ingredients
for the brownies-
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2t vanilla extract
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup gluten free multi purpose flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2t baking powder
1/4t salt
for the cherry cheesecake mix-
1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 21oz can of cherry pie filling
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9×13 pan.
2. In a microwave safe bowl melt butter, once melted stir in sugar and then cocoa powder. Then mix in eggs and vanilla and then finally beat in remaining dry ingredients, flour, salt, xanthan gum and baking powder.
3. Pour and spread batter into prepared 9×13 baking pan.
4. In another bowl use an electric mixer or whisk, beat together the cream cheese, egg and sugar until smooth.
5. Dollop the cream cheese mixture on top of the brownie batter.
6. Dollop cherry pie filling (focusing on the cherries not the cherry gel) on top of cream cheese mixture. Note- some brands are more cherry gel than cherries, you want more of the cherries than cherry gel. Leftover cherry gel is ok.
7.Swirl together using a knife.
8. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until brownies are set and pulling from the sides of the pan. If checked with a toothpick it will come out with fudgy crumbs.
9.Cool thoroughly, then cut into bars and serve warm or cold. Store in the refrigerator.
***NOTE- These can be made with regular All Purpose Flour instead of Gluten Free Flour Blend if desired***
Are you making something special for Valentines Day? What are you making?