Healthy Reeses Fudge

It's Thursday and I need some motivation to finish the week out!  Are you in the same boat?

How does a Reeses sounds?

How does a HEALTHY Reeses sound?  Now we are getting somewhere, eh? ;)

 

Did you know I didn't like peanut butter for the first 11-12 years of my life?  I think it was from one too many peanut butter sandwiches  (I also don't like grape jelly.  Never have, never will as far as I'm concerned.)

 

So, since I didn't like peanut butter, I obviously didn't like Reeses.  I began playing volleyball my 7th grade year and in junior high, we did a thing called "secret sisters."  You got a girl on the volleyball team and you secretly encouraged her with small gifts and notes throughout the year.  It was really fun!  Well, my secret sister (hi Anna M.!) chose Reeses as her favorite candy (we all filled out a questionnaire so as to be accurate with our gifts) and so I went out and bought one of those eight packs at Wal-Mart.  After a couple games, and giving her three or four of them, I still had half the container in my dresser.  One morning, I was hungry, and was like, hey, I'll try one of these!

 

Oh.my.gosh.  Love at first bite.

 

(I still love anything that involves peanut butter being mixed with sugar.  Sweetened peanut butter is the bomb.)

 

I then ate the remaining four Reeses.  Yes, I ate all of my secret sister's candy.  Now that I say that out loud, it sounds bad.  I wish I had been introduced to Reeses in an admirable way.  Unless you eat this  Reeses, your friend will die!  It is your choice!

 

Er, no, we'll just stick with the real story.

 

 

Notes:  The chocolate topping is dairy free and only needs three ingredients!  The coconut oil solidifies at cold temperatures, so you cannot sub another oil for it.  Oh, and this does have sugar in it, but there is only a heaping 1/2 cup for 12 servings.  I think that is pretty good!  The graham cracker crumbs may be subbed for GF graham cracker crumbs, if you want.  Finally, healthy doesn't mean low calorie. :)

 

This has a stronger peanut butter flavor than a normal Reeses, but other than that, the texture and flavor are spot on!

 

Healthy Reeses Fudge

Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life

Yield: 16 pieces

 

Peanut Butter Fudge:

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2/3 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup powdered sugar

 

Chocolate Topping:

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

 

Line a 9x9 pan with foil.  Lightly grease foil and set aside.

For the peanut butter fudge: Melt the coconut oil in a medium sized microwave safe bowl.

Stir in peanut butter and vanilla.

Add graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar.

Stir until combined (mixture will be a little grainy, that is ok)

Spread into prepared pan.  Set aside.

For the chocolate topping: melt coconut oil.

Add cocoa powder and powdered sugar.  Whisk until smooth.

Pour over peanut butter fudge, spreading if necessary.

Freeze for a couple hours before serving.

 

 

Oreo Cheesecake Reese's Brownies

This is the all around, make everybody happy, crowd pleaser brownie.

Oreos? Check.

Peanut butter? Check.

Chocolate? Cheesecake? Brownies? Check, check, check.

This is not an ordinary brownie. Nathan said it tasted like a giant Oreo and Luke asked for thirds. Elizabeth and Abigail liked the Reese's and Mom liked the creaminess of both the brownie and cheesecake layer. All I know I liked it. A lot. I needed some love after KU's loss to Michigan last night and these brownies were perfect. 

These are very creamy with a nice crunchy crust and peanut butter in the middle. The cheesecake layer is obviously creamy and the brownie layer is soft and fudgy, so I recommend letting this cool for several hours before cutting. I learned that the hard way by cutting too soon and having a Reese's volcano in my brownie! Delicious, but very messy! As if the kitchen needed more to be cleaned ... I create the biggest messes. Cocoa powder has this ability of flying everywhere.

Just look at those layers? I chose to use yogurt brownies because of (you guessed it) how moist they stay. Also, the number of Reese's depends on how many servings you want (or how much peanut butter filling you want in the middle! Have some fun and see how many you can pack in there!)

I added a little milk in the cheesecake layer to make it easier to spread. Have you ever made traditional cheese cake with a very thick filling? Trying to spread that over my crust ends up with me undoing all my careful pressing of the crust. Not good. So I eliminated that problem for my benefit (and hopefully your as well!) by adding milk. It doesn't change the end texture but makes the baking process easier.

Oreo Cheesecake Reese's Brownies

Crust:
14 Oreos, crushed
1 and 1/2 tbsp. butter, melted

Cheesecake:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 egg white
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. milk

9-12 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Brownie:
3 oz. vanilla yogurt
3 oz. plain or vanilla greek yogurt
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup flour
3 tbsp. dark cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9x9 pan.

2. Grind Oreos in food processor and add melted butter to crumbs. Press into pan.

3. Cream sugar, egg white, and cream cheese together. Add vanilla and milk. Pour over Oreo crust.

4. Press Reese's into cheesecake layer.

5. Whisk yogurts, egg, and sugar. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder and stir until mixed. Pour over Reese's.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The middle may be a little softer than the edges. Cover and/or refrigerate leftovers.

Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life

Yes, some cheering up was in order as the fun of bracket season has gone down the drain so to speak. I'm pretty sure a lot of other fans will be needing a hug and a brownie as well ... I should've made these when K State lost so you all would've had some creamy chocolaty happiness in a bite as well.

Disappointment isn't a lot of fun. I used to not be able to spell it until I read in a book how disappointment is an appointment that was missed. (Since appointment has two "p"s, I knew to spell it that way instead of with two "s"s.). Spelling lesson aside, last night provided yet another opportunity to practice dealing appropriately with disappointment. I am a serious grudge holder - and I'm not proud of it - and when people disappoint me, (or when I disappoint myself) I remember it.

While forgiving requires humility (a whole other topic) even after that, the memory remains locked in my head. Just because someone disappointed me or I disappointed myself does not give me the justification to run it over and over in my head. Yes, the thought may be there, but I can choose to let it go. Ahh, there is my problem. "Letting things go" is not my strong point. I have an incredible amount of respect and admiration for those who do. And the ones in my life who do are not doing it on their own strength. I cannot let go of things on my own. I can't forgive on my own. I can't rely only good deeds to compensate for letting myself down earlier. That is God's department. He takes disappointments and replaces them with His promises. His promise of strength to let things go. His promise of courage to move on. His promise of fulfillment when we fail.

Those promises are WAY better than my promise of decadent Reese's Cheesecake Brownies. Those promises last longer than a pan of dessert (which isn't saying much in this case) and are always true. They never disappoint. Which is good news because a lot of things will. But when they do, grab your Bible and a brownie (if the kitchen is more work than fun for you, just ask and I will gladly make you some!) and spend some time giving those disappointments to God. This time of year especially. Easter is a celebration of God's promises fulfilled in Jesus!

Reeses Pretzel Lava Cake

Molten lava cakes are elegant desserts, especially if you dust them them with powdered sugar.  They are my mom's favorite.  That soft brownie "crust" and then the liquid chocolate in the middle.  A couple years ago, I made regular lava cakes for her birthday breakfast.  Being the good mom she is, she ate them up with no qualms.  Now, I laugh at the absurdity of eating these for breakfast, but thankfully, my mom could care less about nutrition (I guess it was only one morning out of the year) but I still envision this possible conversation:

 

Friend: Happy Birthday! How's your morning been?

Mom: Oh, its been great.  Breakfast was delicious.

Friend: Oh, I know, nothing like a good meal to start off your day.  I had my power packed protein smoothie and egg white omelet.  You?

Mom: Molten chocolate lava cakes. 

 

Yeah, lava cakes . . . power packed, right?

 

 

Maybe not power packed, but they are unbelievable.

 

 

These have rich, melty chocolate.  Crunchy peanut butter pretzels.  And a Reeses in the middle.

 

 

Yum.

 

Reeses Pretzel Lava Cake

This version of a lava cake is not as formal, but one of my friends loves pretzels and informal things and I thought of her when I made this up;)  Omit the pretzel layer and Reeses for normal lava cake.

Yield: 3 lava cakes

 

Pretzel Layer:

40 grams pretzel sticks twists, crushed

2 tbsp. peanut butter

1 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

Lava Cake:

1/4 cup butter

2 oz. semisweet baking squares

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

3 tbsp. flour

Reeses (cup, heart, bunny, it doesn't matter.  Just small enough to fit in the middle of the lava cake.)

Presentation: Powdered sugar and whipped topping (optional)

 

For the pretzel layer: Melt peanut butter and butter and stir until smooth. Add vanilla and salt.  Stir in crushed pretzels.

For the lava cake: Melt chocolate and butter and stir until smooth.  Stir in powdered sugar.  Whisk in egg and egg yolk.  Finally, stir in the flour. 

Press pretzel mixture in 3 three inch round oven safe ramekins.  Divide batter between them and press a Reeses into the middle of each.  Spread batter over the Reeses if necessary.

Place on cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 12-14 minutes.  Carefully run a butter knife around the edge to loosen.  Invert and serve immediately.

 

 

We actually didn't have these for Valentine's dinner.  I made a vanilla cake with peanut butter frosting my mom's grandmother made for her growing up.  I don't care for cake, but that peanut butter icing was incredible.  It was more like caramel and an incredible dip for apples.

For Valentine's day, Mom gave us a Valentines Basket, with different books and CDs we can borrow from the basket for the next week or two.  I chose to read the first of "The Peleg Chronicles," "The Foundlings" by Matthew Christian Harding.  I love books like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Passages Series where they take Biblical stories and place them in a fantasy world.  It takes the predictability of Moses parting the Red Sea and recreates it, reminding me of how truly miraculous it was.  This is one of those series and this first one is timed after Noah and the flood.  There is dragons and paganism (not recommended for young ages) in this post Babel time period, but there is a dwindling group who still believes in God.  These are different because they still have the God of the Bible whereas in other series, they create a deity like God, such the Unseen One or Aslan.  But like those, this one has excellent analogies and lots of suspense.  However, it ends at a cliffhanger!  You have to buy the whole series to resolve the plot!  I do not like that - at all.  Especially when I began the book not knowing it.  So I have finished it and the characters are being hunted by deadly creatures and their only help is stuck in the city.  Such a satisfying end, you know? 

 

What did you do for Valentines?  Now that I'm done ranting about my book, did you have any special traditions or meals?