PB & Boysenberry Bars

This past weekend I put two more dessert recipes to the test and I (along with my 'taste-testers') loved 'em both! The first is a twist on the ol' PB&J sandwich with a peanut butter and boysenberry preserves treat. It's sooooo tasty!

Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen

* 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
* 3 cups flour
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups boysenberry preserves
* 2/3 cup roughly chopped nuts, if desired

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter/spray, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly using your fingers. Using spatula, spread boysenberry preserves on top of peanut-butter mixture.



3. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of boysenberry and again, use your fingers to spread out mixture evenly. Sprinkle with nuts if desired.

4. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Cool fully before cutting into bars.

ENJOY!!!

Note: original recipe (though very slightly modified here) from Marthastewart.com

PB & Chocolate Cake -- double delish!

Sunday was my baking day; one of my new dessert recipes included the following: a super moist PB&Chocolate Cake. My taste-testers enjoyed it, so I hope you will too!

~~ The Cake ~~

Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Generously grease bottom of large 12-inch round cake pan with shortening or cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, water, 1/2 cup peanut butter, the oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely.



The icing is a simple homemade chocolate butter-cream. Be sure to use real butter (no margarine here!) and mix well for a creamy, whipped texture. Apply generously.




If desired, top with chopped peanuts, almonds, walnuts or even crumbled peanut better cups. What a delicious finishing touch!


Note: original recipe (though very slightly modified here) from BettyCrocker.com