Hubs LOVES these Peanut Butter Balls! Heaven forbid I lose the recipe!

Peanut Butter Balls

1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Tbsp Butter, room temperature
Pinch of Salt
Splash of Vanilla
1 cup Icing Sugar
1 cup Dark Chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp Salted Roasted Peanuts, finely chopped

Stir peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt until well combined.
Stir in icing sugar until smooth.
Scoop out heaping 1-teaspoon portions and roll into balls.
Place on a parchment covered baking tray and freeze until firm, about an hour.

Line a second baking tray with parchment paper; set aside.
Melt chocolate in a small heat-proof bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth; remove from heat.

Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate and roll to coat.
Remove with fork, tapping edge of bowl to shake off excess.
Transfer to prepared sheet, then sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Refrigerate peanut butter balls until chocolate is firm, about 15 minutes.

So today I am making some Vanilla. It is going to take ages but I am hoping it will be worth it in the long run. After all, a bottle of spirits and few vanilla pods are far less expensive that a trip to Mexico, right? And I won’t be bothered with sand wedged into numerous spots I would really rather NOT have sand wedged into!

I bought these vanilla pods, read  label on the back  that told me to go forth and purchase some spirits. I chose vodka, not sure why but I will try again with bourbon and rum…I am thinking vanilla spiced rum would be to die for!  Not that I DRINK alcohol but  I do so love the smell of Rum…Bundaberg Rum, in particular.  Anyway, I did as the label directed:

Removed Vanilla Pods from bottle,
Split each Pod and returned to bottle
Poured Vodka into bottle to cover Vanilla Pods
Put the cork back on
Now all I have to do is put the bottle in a dark spot, return to it …daily?…to give it a shake,” just for fun”, so the label says.

Check back with me in 6 weeks time and I will let you know how the Vanilla turned out.

I recently cleaned out my fridge freezer; waaaay too many gooopy bananas in there! I usually make Banana Bread but well, I had enough for Banana Bread AND something else. My Cookie Jar has been empty since the Christmas Bake Off so I thought this might be a good time to fill it up again. Google to the rescue…again.
I found this recipe for Peanut Butter and Banana Cookies over at AllRecipes, clicked on it, was NOT phased by all the ingredients listed by metric weights, owing to the fact that I have a lovely lil digital kitchen scale that I ALWAYS use to measure butter and shortening and anything I don’t like scraping out of a measuring cup!
Did I mention that I had oodles of gooey banana muck in the freezer? Enough to double this recipe and still have a bit leftover for a lunchtime smoothie; I really must remember to use up my frozen bananas more often! This particular recipe might just be the answer! The cookies are crunchy and yummy like a peanut butter cookie while also being chewy like a perfectly baked chocolate chip cookie….oh yea, I added extra Chocolate Chips and a handful of Butterscotch Chips to the recipe…Yum!

250 g (1 cup) mashed Banana
260 g (1 cup) Peanut Butter
140 g (1/2cup)Brown Sugar
200 g (1 cup)Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla
330 g (1 1/4 cup) Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
80 g (1/2 cup) Chocolate Chips
50 g (1/3 cup) Butterscotch Chips
* My conversions to standard cup measures are APPROXIMATE – for best results, please do use the metric measures on a kitchen scale.

Line 4 baking trays with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 375F. (190C)

In small mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
In standard mixing bowl, on low speed, mix together banana and peanut butter until well blended.
Add brown sugar, sugar and vanilla; beat for 2 minutes.
Stir in dry ingredients until no flour remains.
Fold in chocolate and butterscotch chips.
Using a #3 scoop, drop cookie dough onto prepared baking trays.
Bake in 375F oven for 12 – 15 minutes, rotating trays half way through baking time.
Allow cookies to cool on baking tray for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 3 dozen large cookies

I used Weekend Bakery’s conversion chart to estimate the standard measurements.

I love the taste of Lemon. These cookies are far simpler to make than Lemon Meringue Pie and you still get that zesty Lemon flavour. I found this recipe in my trusty old Company’s Coming Cookie Cookbook, page 136. Good thing I know the basics of cookie-making because the page with the directions is long gone.

1/2 cup Butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon grated Lemon Rind
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

1 1/2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Sugar, for rolling cookies in

Preheat oven to 375F.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In mixing bowl cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar.
Add egg, lemon rind, lemon juice and continue beating for 2 minutes.
Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Using a small Pampered Chef #2 scoop, scoop out cookie dough, roll between your hands to form a ball; roll in sugar.
Place 2″ apart on cookie sheet.
Bake in preheated oven for 6 – 8 minutes.
Remove from oven, allow to set on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 3 Dozen Cookies