Peanut butter is so much more than just an ingredient for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It can be used in stir-fry, incorporated into savory sauces, and, my favorite way, added to desserts.
“I love chocolate covered pretzels,” reveals April McIver. “That combo of sweet, salty and different textures is so good! These Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes also add in peanut butter, which makes everything chocolate better.”
When you bite into the cupcake, you get a burst of flavor from a creamy peanut butter filling. Paired with the salty pretzel crust and a moist chocolate cupcake, I see these going fast wherever you bring them.
“When a friend was describing what the perfect cookie would be if it existed, I decided to create a recipe to give her as a Christmas present,” shares Cathi Mims (Lees Summit, MO). “The following recipe is what I came up with and was a huge hit with her and her family.”
Cathi came up with an amazing Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Caramel Pecan Cookie that needs to be saved to your recipe box.
There’s quite the ingredient combination in this treat. The cookie itself is filled with chocolate and peanut butter. There’s a bit of crunch from chopped pecans. It’s a great surprise when you bite into the middle of the scrumptious cookie and find even more scrumptious caramel. So good!
The Kitchen Crew is plain nutty for Lisa Allen’s Peanut Butter Balls. “We have made these yummy peanut butter balls every Christmas for 24 years,” says Lisa. “I always make them with my mother-in-law. Now my little girl loves making them with us.”
These balls are so good you’ll be finding excuses to make them. The filling is a mixture of peanut butter, butter, graham crackers, and powdered sugar. It’s sweet and nutty. Once formed into balls, those are dipped into chocolate. OMG, it’s the perfect pop of yumminess.
If pie is more your thing, try Heather M. Baker’s (Grove City, PA) Nutter Butter Peanut Butter Pie. Besides being seriously easy to make, it’s delicious.
“I won my very first pie baking contest with this pie…1st place and best in show,” explains Heather. “I used Nutter Butter cookies for the crust because you can never have enough peanut butter as far as I’m concerned!”
This cool creamy peanut butter pie is to die for! The Nutter Butter crust is a nutty base for the cool and creamy peanut butter mousse-like filling. A layer of hot fudge over the crust prevents it from getting soggy but also adds another flavor element to this no-bake pie.
Patti Smith’s (Calhoun, GA) Peanut Butter Fudgy Brownies are easy to make and just melt in your mouth.
“Don’t let all of the steps fool you, this is really easy to make,” thinks Patti. “It’s basically layer, layer, and layer! This is a favorite to put into lunchboxes and to serve as an afternoon snack.”
Rich and chewy with layers of fudgy goodness, these aren’t your typical chocolate brownies. Patti starts with a boxed vanilla cake mix that gets mixed with peanut butter. This gets layered with a mixture of melted chocolate and condensed milk. Once baked, these are heavenly. Snack time never tasted so good.
In my mind, peanut butter can’t be beat. If your peanut butter love goes deeply too, try one of these dessert recipes. Your family will go nuts for them. Happy Pinching!