Green Panda Bear

My newphew Kyle decided that he wanted a panda bear for his birthday party so I decided to make him a 3-D bear, as the kids always seem to love them.  His favourite colour is green, so we decided to make a green and white panda, instead of black and white.  For a special little touch, I put his initials on the paws...all of the kids noticed this detail right away- before the adults!

    

By doing the bear with these colours, I saw how easily the 3-D bear could be made into a Care Bear too!  I might need to try that this summer.

Check back in the coming days for more peanut butter treats.  I made some but they all got eaten before I took pictures so I will need to make another batch!  But trust me, they are delicious, and pretty easy too!

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Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Peanut Butter Recipe #2: Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I was first introduced to Peanut Butter Cup Cookies by my sister-in-law a few years back.  Since then I have found the following recipe online at allrecipes.com and I use it all the time.  I make these cookies at Christmas to share with family and friends and they are always a hit.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

2.Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk.

3. Add the flour mixture; mix well.

4.Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
 

 

5.Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

A few changes I have made:

I usually make them in a regular size muffin pan. Of course, you will only get 20-30 cookies instead of 40. 

I used half a teaspoon vanilla extract and half a teaspoon almond extract last time and they turned out great.

ENJOY!



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Peanut Butter Goodness!

Peanut Butter.  Yum!  What more do I need to say?  I have several delicious recipes that I am going to share over the coming week that will make you love peanut butter too.  Please feel free to leave a comment with more delicious peanut butter recipes! mmm!

There is a super cute cupcake and candy store here in OKC called Pinkitzel.  I admit that I may have eaten a few delicious cupcakes from this lovely store, but I always think that I can make them too- and for alot cheaper!  Just the other day, one of my good friends got a craving for a Peanut Butter Cupcake after trying one from this store.  I convinced her to let me make her some (yes, it was REALLY hard to convince her of that- haha!) and set off to find a recipe.

I ended up making German Chocolate cupcakes (yes, from a box) with Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing.  Since I did Wilton cake decorating classes, I like to use their recipes since I know they will be good for decorating.  It is delicious and went great with the chocolate cupcakes. 

The following recipe yields about 3 cups of icing.  I halfed the recipe and had more than enough icing for 12 cupcakes and a small cake.  ENJOY!!

Wilton Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

•1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
•1/3 cup butter
•3/4 cup peanut butter
•1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
•4 cups (approx. 1 lb.) confectioners' sugar, sifted
•4-6 tablespoons milk

Cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add peanut butter and vanilla.  Add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well. Next, add milk, one tablespoon at a time, and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

 Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Re-whip before using.


For a little added touch of peanut butter goodness, I cut a Reese Peanut Butter Cup into several pieces and stuck it into the icing on top.

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