Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1 stick butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1½ cups flour
• 1 cup mini Reese’s Pieces (or regular if you can’t find minis)
• ½ cup milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add peanut butter, egg and vanilla and continue beating until creamy.
2. Add baking soda, salt and flour. Mix until well combined. Add chocolate chips and mix on low until chips are mixed in. Gently stir in Reese’s Pieces.
3. Using a cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat liner. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Don’t overbake, they will look undercooked when you take them out. Allow them to rest on cookie sheet for about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

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Peanut Butter Marbled Brownies

I made these the other night for a get-together with some friends and they were gobbled up!  I think this may have been the first time I've ever made brownies from scratch!  I usually just use a box mix and add things to it.  I love the combination of peanut butter and cream cheese in the marble part of this mix.  This recipe comes from The Sisters Cafe.

Peanut Butter Marbled Brownies

6 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tb milk

1 cup butter, melted *for lower fat version read note
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, beat together the first 5 ingredients until smooth.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, 2 cups sugar, and vanilla.  Mix in eggs, one at a time.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.  Mix into the batter.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread batter into prepared pan. Drop the peanut butter filling on top by large spoonfuls.  Using a butter knife, gently swirl peanut butter filling through the chocolate batter to create a marbled effect.  Once you are done swirling, you may need to tap the pan on a towel covered counter to make the batter settle.  Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted one inch from the edge comes out clean.  Cool completely, then cut into small squares.

*To cut calories you can substitute 1/4 cup of applesauce for 1/4 cup of butter.  In fact, with most recipes you can substitute up to 1/3 of the fat with applesauce without compromising the taste.

Peanut Ginger Chicken with Mango Salsa & Coconut Rice

I made this the other night because I had some mangoes in my fridge that were really ripe.  The dish blends all kinds of great flavors together and I thought it was delicious.  It's really rather simple to make too if you break it up into three parts: marinate the chicken overnight, prepare the salsa in the afternoon, and then prepare the rice and cook the chicken just before dinner time.

Peanut Ginger Chicken with Mango Salsa & Coconut Rice

Peanut Ginger Chicken Marinade
3-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or you can use tenders
½ cup boiling water
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup bottled chili sauce (I found this with the Asian food in a small bottle...there were various kinds and I opted for a sweet one...but there are definitely ones with kick too.)
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. olive oil
2 T. vinegar
1 T. grated fresh ginger or 1 t. ground ginger

In a medium mixing bowl, gradually stir water into peanut butter.  Stir in chili sauce, soy sauce, olive oil, vinegar, and ginger.  Add chicken; stir to coat it with marinade. Chill in refrigerator for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours. 

Mango Salsa
1 cup chopped fresh mango
1 cup peeled, seeded, and diced cucumber
3 ½ T. sugar
1 T. canola or olive oil
1 T. vinegar
1 T. lime juice
½ c. fresh cilantro, chopped 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine chopped mango, cilantro, cucumber, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, and lime juice. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours.

Coconut Rice
2 c. coconut milk (I used the stuff in a can, also found with the Asian food.)
1 ½ c. white rice
1 c. water
3 ½ T. sugar
½ t. salt  

Combine the coconut milk, rice, water, sugar, and salt for the rice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir once, then cover and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until rice is tender. Fluff with a fork, cover, and keep warm until serving. (You can also use your rice cooker.)

To Serve:
At dinner time, grill the chicken.  You can also broil the chicken in a broiler safe pan lined with tin foil.  Just make sure if you do it this way that your chicken isn't too thick or it will burn before it's cooked through.  Spoon extra marinade on chicken and stick under broiler (about 10-12" from broiler) and bake until slightly blacked on one side and then flip over, spoon more marinade on and broil on that side until cooked through.  Serve chicken with the mango salsa over the hot coconut rice.