Peanut Butter and Chocolate
Welcome back to On the Edge with Edmund after a month’s hiatus – darn that school taking over people’s lives! As a thanks for being patient with me, and just because I love this flavor combination, this month’s theme is: PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE! Has ever a greater combination existed? I think not! This month, I’ve chosen to spotlight to very special recipes in my household – one is made at least once a month, and the other is so easy to throw together that it can be used for any party or get-together. Let’s get started!
Think of a time when you were cold. In your house. Now imagine that your belly was full of delicious Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake. I don’t know about you, but this recipe always hits the spot when I want something sweet and warm (or even when it’s summer!)
For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients, separated into the topping category and the batter category.
Batter:
- 2 cups flour (We’ve experimented with all sorts of flour, and here’s one place where using 1 cup of whole wheat flour can really make it even more chewy and delicious)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (make sure to keep your baking powder and soda separate so you don’t get confused!)
- A pinch of salt
Stir all of these dry ingredients together in a bowl (mixing or by hand), then add the following:
- 1 cup milk or milk substitute
- ½ cup peanut butter (Okay. Let’s be honest. Add as much as you want, I usually use ¾ - 1 cup XD)
- 2 eggs
- Half a stick of butter
Beat this mixture until blended (if there are a few chunks left, that’s just fine). Spread the mixture into a 9x13 pan, and add the topping, which is as follows Topping
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup flour
- ¼ cup peanut butter (again, use however much you feel is a good idea; ½ cup is a great amount I’ve found)
- 3 tablespoons of butter
Cut the butter and peanut butter into the dry ingredients ( a pastry blender works really well, but using two knives, you can get the same result)
Sprinkle this delicious and highly nutritious topping all over the batter, pop it in the over at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean when you poke it. Believe me, you’ll be smelling this coffee cake throughout your entire house as it gets close to completion. If you don’t believe me, here’s a picture of one such cake made in my house!
YUM! Now, if you don’t have enough time to make a coffee cake, here’s a simpler recipe to get your choco-peanutty fix. You may know it as Puppy Chow or Muddy Buddies, but whatever you call it, it’s certainly delicious! For Muddy Buddies, you only need 5 real ingredients.
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 9 cups Rice Chex (or other cereal of your choice, they all taste delicious when coated with chocolate!)
- 1 cup peanut butter
- ¼ stick of butter
- Powdered sugar
Simply melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a bowl (if you use a microwave, remember to do it in phases so your butter doesn’t overheat and splatter all over the microwave). Once completely melted, pour the goo all over the cereal pieces in a large bowl, then just mix it all up with a wooden spoon or metal spoon or even your hands! You may feel as though there isn’t enough chocolate mixture to cover all the pieces, but keep mixing, and you’ll soon find that it’s more than enough!
Once you’ve got a giant bowl of chocolate cereal, you get to the fun part! This is great fun for anyone, but younger members of your family will especially enjoy the next step. Put all the coated cereal pieces in a large plastic bag (not too thin or it’ll rip and make a mess). Pour powdered sugar into the bag, make sure the opening is sealed, and shake shake shake! You just shake the bag until you can’t shake any more, and when you open it up again, you’ll see all the pieces coated in powdered sugar!
Now you’ve got a delicious snack that can be eaten cold (really cold is fantastic!), eaten at room temperature, eaten while watching movies, or even as cereal! (Don’t knock it until you try it!) I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s recipes! Now go eat some chocolate and peanut butter and enjoy the rest of this term!
