Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls/Bars

Hi everyone!

I've been making these ever since I was a little kid sticking my fingers in the dough for a taste. They are super simple, and the hardest part is rolling them into balls and dipping them (not hard, just time consuming), but you can also skip that and make them into squares instead. These are super delicious and definitely top a Reese cup, and these would be great to make with kids too, if you need the helpful hands for rolling! This recipe can also be scaled up or down to make a larger or smaller batch very easily. Let's get started!

Ingredients for the dough- put it all in a bowl, and mix well.

Your finished PB mixture

The finished bars with chocolate on top- delish!

Peanut Butter Balls/Bars
-1 pound peanut butter
-1/3 pound butter, softened
-1 pound confectioner's sugar
-1 scant cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1 scant cup milk chocolate chips
-1 tablespoon paraffin wax
Mix together peanut butter, butter, and confectioner's sugar. You can try using a spoon or fork, but I have only ever been able to get results by mixing with my hands (wash first!).
Roll peanut butter mixture into 3/4 inch (approx.) balls. Chill.
Melt chocolates and paraffin together, either over a double boiler, or in 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring well.
-Either dip peanut butter balls in chocolate and lay on baking sheets, chill, then store in a tin, or
-Press peanut butter mixture into greased and/or parchment lined pan (size is your choice, depending on the thickness you like), then pour chocolate mixture over top. Chill, and break into pieces.

Finished chocolate peanut butter bar pieces

Savor it!
love, rue

Spice Cookies (Moravian)

Hi there!

This is a kind of cookies not too many people have heard of. It's very simple and molasses and spice heavy, and came to my family through the Mennonite and Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. You mix up the dough super stiff, then roll out paper thin. Bake for just a few minutes so they don't burn, and you have perfect spice cookies. My sister is the best roller of these cookies in our family- it's not a job I enjoy, but these are a traditional Christmas cookie for us, so we do it anyway! Thanks to my mom and sister for the aid in making this post.

Mix up the wet ingredients, then add in the dry.

Mix well, then add even more flour- this is too sticky still!

Add flour and mix well until you get a dough like this- pretty much impossible to stir more flour in!

Roll dough out paper thin and use cookie cutters of your choosing.

Spice Cookies
-2 cups molasses
-2 cups white sugar
-1 cup butter, softened
-2 teaspoons baking soda + 6 tablespoons warm water
-1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
-1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
-1 teaspoon ground ginger
-flour until very stiff (around 4-5 cups)
Cream butter and sugars. Stir in molasses and baking soda/water mixture.
Add in all dry ingredients and mix well. Add flour and stir in until you can't add any more- make the dough very very stiff- these are to be rolled paper thin!
Chill dough for several hours.
Roll out dough on a floured surface until it is paper thin, about 1/16th of an inch.
Cut out with cookie cutters of your choice then bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350 F until edges are just starting to brown- check after 4-5 minutes.

Finished spice cookies- thin, crispy, beautiful, and delicious.

Savor it!
love, rue

Chocolate Waffles

Hey there everyone!

This is something I've been wanting to make ever since my first year of college (quite a while ago now!). That spring, my Mom came out to visit me at school and we stayed at a B&B for the weekend- breakfast was chocolate waffles. Ever since then they've lived legendarily in the back of my mind, but with Jordan's help, I finally put it into practice! I looked for recipes all over the place, and they varied wildly, so I decided to take what I had learned from the other recipes and modify the Fannie Farmer Special Waffles recipe that I use most often. Here are the results! Chocolatey and waffley and delicious. Let's get started!

The start of the recipe: milk, eggs, and butter mixture with dry ingredients on top.

Here's the batter mixed up, but without the egg whites.

Mix in a 1/3 of the whites, then fold in the rest.

Your finished batter- isn't it beautiful?

Make in your favorite waffle maker (or the one you have!)- I used my Belgian one.

Chocolate Waffles
-3 eggs, separated
-1 3/4 cups milk
-4 tablespoons butter, melted
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1 1/2 cups flour
-1/2 cup cocoa
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-6-7 tablespoons white sugar
Beat yolks lightly, then whisk in milk and butter. Mix in the vanilla.
Add in all the dry ingredients (not including sugar!), and mix well.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, adding the sugar in at the very end.
Whisk 1/3 of the whites into the batter, and fold the rest in.
Make in your favorite waffle maker and enjoy! Customize however you like.

Finished waffles! They are so chocolatey and delicious- I hope you try!!

Savor it!
love, rue