Whipped Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie

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This might be my perfect dessert. I made this recipe this past weekend when I had my family over for dinner. I figure it is a good sign when there is fighting over who gets seconds first. *hah* I love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, but this dessert takes it to a whole new level. The crust is made with crushed chocolate wafer cookies, butter and brown sugar. It’s sweet and crunchy and full of chocolate flavour. Mmmm! And the filling is ah-maz-ing! The peanut butter with the whipped cream makes the filling so light and creamy. You are going to LOVE this :) You’re welcome.

Ingredients
  • 1 and 3/4 cups wafer cookie crumbs or oreo crumbs
  • 6 tablespoons of butter; melted
  • 3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 6 ounces of cream cheese; room temperature
  • 3/4 cup of icing sugar/confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of coarse salt
  • 1 and 1/4 cup of peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups of heavy cream (whipping cream); chilled
  • 1 ounce of semi-sweet chocolate; finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons of peanut butter

Method

1. Make the crust: preheat the oven to 350’F. In a bowl, combine the wafer crumbs, the butter, the brown sugar and salt. Mix well, so that all the crumbs are moist with the butter. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Refrigerate until firm (about 15 minutes). Then, bake the crust until set (8 minutes). Let cool completely on a wire rack.

2. Make the filing: with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the cream cheese, icing sugar and salt until fluffy. Beat in the peanut butter and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the cream until soft peaks form (about 6 to 8 minutes). Whisk one-third of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whipped cream. Spoon the filling into the cooled crust. Freeze, uncovered, for 4 hours (or up to a full day).

4. Garnish the pie: melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water (ie. double boiler). (NOTE: I simply used 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and melted them with a teaspoon of water for 20 seconds in the microwave. Be careful not to melt them much longer than 20 seconds or the chocolate will burn.) Transfer the melted chocolate to a resealable plastic bag. Snip the tip from one corner of the bag to make a very small opening. Holding the bag about 5 inches above the pie, drizzle the melted chocolate over top. In a small sauce pan over low heat (or in the microwave), melt the peanut butter. Place in a resealable plastic bag and drizzle in the same manner as the melted chocolate. Let pie stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Source: Martha Stewart’s Pies & Tarts

Rosemary Potato Pizza with Caramelized Onions, Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts

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Every so often, I come up with an idea for a recipe and I have to try it out immediately! While at work the other day, I had a craving for pizza. But I did not feel like having a normal tomato-based sauce on my pizza. I wanted something rich and a bit different. So, I popped over to the store right after work and grabbed some garlic, some goat cheese, and a red onion. You cannot get much richer than goat cheese and roasted garlic, right? I was a little unsure which toppings to use for my pizza. When I got home, I saw that I had some small new potatoes. I decided to add thinly sliced potatoes with rosemary on top of the goat cheese/garlic sauce. I then used a little bit of parmesan cheese to keep the potato topping together and sprinkled on some toasted chopped hazelnuts to add a little crunch to the pizza. My unusual pizza turned out to be really delicious and hit the spot. Definitely something I will make again and again. 



Ingredients

  • 1 ball of pizza dough (either store-bought or using this recipe to make homemade dough)
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1/2 cup of red onion; chopped
  • 3/4 cup of goat cheese
  • 2 tablespoons of milk 
  • 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
  • 12 small yellow new potatoes (baby potatoes); sliced thinly
  • 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
  • 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese; grated
  • 20 hazelnuts; lightly toasted and finely chopped

Method


1. Roast the garlic: Pre-heat your oven to 375’F. Take a whole head of garlic and remove the skin (papery covering) as much as possible. Chop off the entire top of the head of garlic, so you can see all of the cloves fully exposed. Place the head of garlic on a piece of tinfoil. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil on top of the head of garlic and season with salt and pepper. Gather up the sides of the tinfoil and create a little pocket around the head of garlic. Place the tinfoil packet on a pan and place in the centre of the oven. Bake the garlic for 35 to 40 minutes; or until the garlic is soft. The garlic will smell sweet and caramelized. Once the garlic cools down, squeeze each clove out of it’s section into a bowl and mash.


2. Once garlic has been roasted, place a pizza stone in the oven and turn heat up to 400’F. Allow the pizza stone to warm up for at least 15 minutes. By warming up the pizza stone before putting the pizza in the oven, you’ll get a really nice light and crispy crust.


3. Caramelizing the onions: heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat. Add chopped red onion and cook for approximately 10 minutes; or until the onions have reduced in sized and browned significantly. Add the onions to the mashed roasted garlic.


4. While onions are caramelizing, parboil the potatoes: place the thinly sliced potatoes in cold water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, allow the potatoes to cook approximately 5 minutes; or until semi-tender. You want the potatoes to be tender, but still able to hold their shape. Drain the potatoes and rinse them with cold water. Put them aside.


5. Sprinkle a pizza peel with cornmeal. A pizza peel works great to help you get the pizza onto the hot pizza stone. Roll out the pizza dough to your desired pizza size. Slide the pizza from the pizza peel to the hot pizza stone. Bake the pizza crust for 8 minutes. Note: make sure you prick the surface of the pizza crust with a fork a few times before placing it on the pizza stone to prevent the crust from ballooning in the oven.


6. While the crust is pre-baking, in a small saucepan on low heat, melt the goat cheese along with two tablespoons of milk. Add the mashed roasted garlic and caramelized onions. Season with kosher salt and pepper.


7. Spread the goat cheese mixture over the slightly cooled pizza crust. Layer the cooled potatoes on top of the goat cheese mixture. Sprinkle the potatoes with some rosemary and grated parmesan cheese.


8. Bake the pizza for another 8 minutes at 400’F or until the crust is a light golden brown. While the pizza is baking, add the hazelnuts to a non-stick frying pan and toast on low heat for about 4 minutes. Once cooled, chop the hazelnuts.


9. Garnish pizza with finely chopped hazelnuts while pizza is still hot.


Source: a Courtney Jones original recipe

West African Peanut Soup

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Throughout the winter, my boyfriend and I end up eating a lot of soups. I love soup. So versatile, so delicious…and if you plan it right…soup can be very healthy and filling. I find that soup is perfect for both vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Soup tends to have a healthy dose of veggies and protein. And they certainly warm up very cold winter days. 
Even though spring is slowly approaching (too slowly!), the evenings are still pretty chilly here on the prairies. So, I was craving some soup earlier this week. I decided to try and re-create my boyfriend’s favourite soup – West African Peanut Soup. Every few weeks, we find ourselves at Prairie Ink Café at McNally Robinson Booksellers and he almost always gets a huge bowl of this West African Peanut soup. I don’t blame him; it is really, really good! Enjoy! :)

Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup of carrots; peeled and diced
  • 3/4 cup of celery; diced
  • 3/4 cup of white onion; diced
  • 1 tablespoon of canola oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic; minced
  • 4 cups of sweet potato; peeled and chopped (about 2 medium sweet potatoes)
  • 1.5 cups of smooth peanut butter
  • 5 cups of water or vegetable stock
  • 14 ounce can of canned whole tomatoes; drained
  • 1 teaspoon of cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
  • 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
  • 1/2 to 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt (to taste)

Method

1. In a large pot over medium-high heat, sauté onions and celery in canola oil for 4 minutes.

2. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add carrots and sweet potato. Cook for about 3 minutes; stirring frequently.

3. Add vegetable stock (or water). Let the mixture come to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes have softened.

4. Add the canned tomatoes, cumin, salt and cinnamon. Slowly stir in the peanut butter. (note: I think crunchy peanut butter may add some nice texture to the soup)

5. Purée the soup with a hand immersion blender in the pot or in a food processor. If you use a normal blender, make sure to cover the top/lid of the blender with a thick tea towel, so you do not get hot liquid on your hands. If you do not have a way to blend/purée the soup, you can leave it as is and have a chunkier soup. Still very tasty!

6. Heat blended soup and add cayenne pepper to taste. 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon should be plenty to add some nice heat. Garnish with a touch of smoked paprika and/or chopped peanuts. 

NOTES

To bump up the protein, you can easily add chickpeas to the soup. Just add a 15ml can of chickpeas (rinsed well) to the soup while the sweet potatoes cook. You could also add the chickpeas after the soup has been puréed for a different type of soup.

If you find that the consistency of the soup is too thick, add another cup or two of water. This soup is a thicker textured soup, but can easily be thinned out depending on your preference.

If you find that there is not a strong enough flavour of peanut butter, add another 1/4 cup. 

Source: loosely based on Prairie Ink’s West African Peanut Soup