Chocolate Cookie Peepza Pie

Happy Friday friends! I'm so happy that it's Friday. I have a big, fun weekend planned and I am ready to get it rolling!

So I've been cooking up an Easter dessert storm this week. This particular one might not be the prettiest or most sophisticated dessert I've ever made, but I'm almost positive that it's the most fun. And ok, your teeth might be coated in sugar after a slice of this. But it's all in the name of fun. After all, these little guys invade our grocery stores, our homes, and our Easter baskets. They become a foodie sensation! It's only fair to give them their own dessert. Though I doubt Jesus intended for his holy resurrection to be celebrated with giant globs of sugar and gelatin, let's face it, it's not really Easter without Peeps.

So as if eating straight up sugary marshmallows wasn't enough, I devised the ultimate Peep dessert...Peepza Pie!

Oh and it couldn't be easier. I simply layered a giant sugar cookie, chocolate and Peeps to create my peepza. I had even planned to use a package of premade cookie dough, however, I couldn't find any at my local bodega and somehow whipping up a quick batch (via my Betty Crocker Cooky Book) seemed more desirable than driving to the store.

Chocolate Cookie Peepza
1 recipe sugar cookie dough (or premade sugar cookie dough)
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips (or a can of chocolate frosting)
2 pkgs marshmallow Peeps (in any color you want)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (or whatever temp your store-bought dough suggests). Grease a pie plate with butter and flour, or Baker's Joy butter-flour spray (that's what I used). Press the dough into the plate and bake according to the package. You will likely need to add a few more minutes to the cooking time in order for the cookie to cook through.

Remove from oven and let cool completely (!). Next, add the melted chocolate or chocolate frosting (or any other chocolate idea of your choice).

Add half of the Peeps on top, pushing them into the chocolate.

You can leave it here, or go a step further as I did. Put the peepza back in the oven for a few minutes to melt the Peeps. Using a spatula, flatten them out and top with more Peeps.

Enjoy!

I hope you don't have a dentist appointment planned anytime soon...

What's your favorite way to eat a Peep? What are your weekend plans?

For more Easter desserts, check out:

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs
• Pink Coconut Cupcakes
• Jelly Bean Brown Sugar Cookies

Jelly Bean Brown Sugar Cookies

Good morning! I'm so happy it's Thursday. That means it's almost the weekend and I'm super excited for the weekend! Shaun and I have plans with family and friends all weekend long to celebrate the holiday. It includes dinner with great friends, a city day with my mom, sister, cousins and aunt and celebrating Easter with both sides of our family. Busy-ness!

Ok so I tweeted yesterday that I had devised the dessert to top all Easter desserts and that I couldn't wait to share with you today. Well, it's not quite ready to be shared. I need a little more time to perfect it so I'll be sharing it tomorrow, I hope you'll stick around until then!

Instead, I'm sharing another fantastic, fun and unusual recipe that can be enjoyed by all, be it for Easter or not. With a $1 bag of jelly beans, I changed up a classic sugar cookie, making it not only pretty to look at, but also a satisfier for any sweet tooth. I love adding some seasonal treats into a classic cookie to turn up the fun.

This is adapted from a classic recipe that I found in my sweet Betty Crocker Cooky Book. It is so basic and simple and that's really all you need when it comes to cooking and baking. Oh and it includes a whole cup of shortening. My grandmother would be so proud.

Jelly Bean Brown Sugar Cookies
*Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book
1 C shortening
2 C packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C buttermilk (I made my own by combining lemon juice and milk)
3 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 bag (about 1 1/2 C) small jelly beans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together (via stand mixer, hand mixer or a good ol' wooden spoon) the shortening, sugar and eggs very thoroughly. Stir in the buttermilk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the sugar mixture and mix until completely combined.

Slowly stir in the jelly beans, careful not to overmix the batter. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Once chilled, drop teaspoon or tablespoon (I used the latter) sized dough balls onto a greased baking sheet. Make sure to get jelly beans into every cookie, preferably near the top of the cookie.

Bake 8-10 minutes until the bottoms start to brown and the tops are slightly firm.

So there you have it. A quick and easy cookie with a little extra sugar fun thrown in for good measure. Hope you enjoy! What's your favorite seasonal dessert or candy?

For more Easter desserts, check out:

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs
• Pink Coconut Cupcakes

Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

I've never been a big candy eater.

Believe it or not.

It just doesn't interest me. Mostly.

Only at Easter time do I really get my candy on. The focus of my seasonal candy love? The Reese's Easter Egg.

 

This peanut butter chocolate mound is not your standard peanut butter cup. Oh no. It's oversized and stuffed - I mean, stuffed - with peanut butter goodness. There's really nothing better.

Of course I'm always up for a challenge in the kitchen, so I decided to try my hand at creating some Reester eggs of my very own.

These were super simple and so fun to make. Of course, anything that is dipped in chocolate, in my book, can be a serious drain on the fun logistics-wise. But since this recipe doesn't make a huge amount of eggs (and let's face it, even the sweets lovers out there could only devour one or two of these rich confections), I didn't mind the whole melted-chocolate-in-places-I-didn't-know-exist thing.

These eggs would be so fun to bring to a gathering on Easter Sunday...or to any gathering really. I mean, who doesn't love chocolate, peanut butter and sprinkles? Please find me one person. It won't happen.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs
*Makes 16 large eggs
1 C peanut butter
1 C confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped*
3 C chocolate chips of your choice (I used milk and semi-sweet)
sanding sugar, sprinkles or candy decorating materials of your choice

In a stand mixer, mix the peanut butter until fluffy.

Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/4 C at a time until completely combined. Add vanilla extract and chopped peanuts and mix. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for 1 hour to chill.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a melon baller or tablespoon, scoop out the peanut butter mixture and form into large egg shapes, placing on the lined baking sheet.

Put the sheet pan in the freezer while you prepare the chocolate.

I made these 2 ways - using semi-sweet morsels, and milk chocolate morsels. Place 1 1/2 C of semi-sweet morsels into a bowl. Heat in the microwave at 15 second intervals, mixing after each one, until melted. Remove the tray of eggs from the freezer. Working very quickly (so that the pb eggs don't soften and fall apart in the chocolate), coat each one in chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Add sprinkles or sanding sugar after every 2 eggs are dipped as the chocolate hardens very quickly. Repeat with the milk chocolate or any other chocolate of your choosing (extra dark, white, etc), returning the undipped eggs to the freezer for a few minutes while you make the second batch of chocolate.

Let the chocolate harden and enjoy!

So there you have it. The tale of how I recreated my favorite Easter candy of all time. They tasted extremely on point with the original Reese's version, without being quite as processed. And let's face it, sprinkles just make everything better. So what do you think? What is your favorite candy? Have you ever tried to recreate it in your own kitchen?

*I thought that using creamy peanut butter was the way to go, however, once mixed, I realized that the pb mixture was way too smooth. Wanting to emulate a real Reese's pb egg, I decided on a whim to add the chopped peanuts. This process can probably be eliminated by simply using chunky peanut butter, though I cannot vouch for how finely chopped the peanuts will be. I wanted mine to be super fine, so even in the future, I would choose to do it as noted above. However, to make the process quicker and with fewer ingredients, give the chunky pb a try.