Honey Vanilla Bean Peach Freezer Jam

I love peach season! Peaches are my all time favorite fruit and I have been so excited to have so many peaches this year! I don't have any canning equipment so I am finding new ways to preserve my peaches for year round eating.  Freezer jam is an obvious, easy and delicious choice. Besides Peach Raspberry freezer jam, this is my new favorite recipe! 

I love this recipe because unlike most freezer jams that are runny and syrupy, this one is thicker like regular canned jam.  I also love that the sugars are from natural sugar forms- 100% juice and honey! It always bothers me that there is SO MUCH SUGAR added to fruit to make jams, so I love that this one doesn't have all that extra gunk!
I hope you enjoy this as much as we have!

Honey Vanilla Bean Peach Freezer Jam

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Makes about 5 pints

1 ½ cups 100% apple juice

6 Tbsp Ball no-sugar needed pectin (or 2 1/75 oz packages)

6 cups diced and slightly mashed peaches

1 ½ cups raw natural honey, melted

2 vanilla beans

Peel, dice, and slightly mash peaches to create 6 cups.

Remove seeds from vanilla beans by slicing open bean and gently scraping out the seeds.

Add vanilla seeds to peaches and gently stir.

Heat the juice in a large pot at med-high heat until it comes to a boil.  

Whisk in the pectin and continue to whisk to dissolve while bringing to a hard boil.

Boil for 1 minute.

Add peaches/vanilla seeds, and honey.

Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Using a liquid measuring cup, pour into prepared containers, leaving ½ inch room at the top to allow for expansion during freezing.

Place lids on top and let sit at room temperature until completely cooled (12-24 hours).

Store in fridge for up to 1 month or in the freezer for up to 1 year.

Enjoy!

Magic Middles

I wanted to make these cookies yesterday and was shocked that I hadn't put them on the recipe blog yet.  These were always a favorite growing up! Soft chocolate cookie with creamy peanut butter goodness magically on the inside.  Recently starting a gluten free diet, I wanted to test out my new "all purpose flour" to see how it would transfer to a cookie.  I figured a cookie with creamy peanut butter filling would be a good gateway to gluten free cookies because the peanut butter part should be enough to overthrow anything that could possibly go awry, right?  Turns out, I was right! While the unbaked dough by itself tasted AWFUL (very bitter), the baked cookie magic was delicious!  If you had never had these cookies, I'm sure you wouldn't even be able to know they were gluten free.  As a disclaimer, the GF ones had a slightly different taste (not quite as sweet), but the texture was spot on and the taste was very close to the regular version!
See, they even look the same! The ones with colored sugar sprinkles are regular (from Christmas baking), the ones without are GF.  Same same.  Win Win.  :)

If you are not worried about eating gluten free, go ahead and use the same amount of regular all purpose flour. I used Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour and was happy with the outcome.

Magic Middles

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Chocolate Cookie:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Filling:

3/4 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl beat the sugar, brown sugar, butter, and 1/4 cup peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Stir in flour, cocoa, and baking soda until blended. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine filling ingredients, blending well.

Roll into 30 (1 inch) balls. Shape about 1 tbsp of chocolate dough around peanut butter filling, covering completely. I do this by flattening a ball of chocolate dough in my hand, placing the peanut butter ball in the middle, and then folding all around to cover and rolling into a ball shape.

Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.

Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes or until set and slightly cracked.

Cool on wired racks.

Enjoy!

The Best Brownies plus Peanut Butter Frosting

Um, holy crap.  It's been almost two years since I've posted a recipe. TWO YEARS.  That means I've now officially been working for House of Antique Hardware for two years.  And I've been the Accounts Payable (which is a big job!) for almost a year now.  Life is busy.  And maybe I don't post as many recipes because I don't cook anymore.  Sad, but true.
But today turned into a SNOW day and I feel like tomorrow will be one too, so to celebrate, I made the BEST brownies.  No really, in my cookbook they're called Best Brownies.  And while they can easily stand on their own, it's also fun to mix in chocolate chips, nuts, Reeses Pieces, or any other mix in that strikes your mood.  My favorite mix in?  Peanut butter goodness! I made the Best Brownies even better with peanut butter frosting from Our Best Bites found here.  I made their cake and frosting recipe for my birthday treat to my coworkers and while I thought it was really yummy and I had many compliments, I strongly felt that the frosting recipe belonged more on brownies and not cake.  After taking one bite of these puppies, I knew I was dead right.  So delish.  Hope you think so too!

The Best Brownies

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½ cup melted butter

½ cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup flour

⅔ cup cocoa

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine melted butter, oil, and sugar in medium bowl.  Add vanilla and eggs.  Stir well.  Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined.  Pour into greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until brownies are done and pulled away from sides of pans, and toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool before frosting or devouring serving.

Peanut Butter Frosting

www.ourbestbites.com

⅓ cup butter

⅓ cup milk

1 10 oz package peanut butter chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Combine the butter, milk, and peanut butter chips in a medium saucepan and heat, stirring frequently, over medium heat until the chips are melted and the the mixture is combined. 
Remove from heat, then whisk in the vanilla extract and the powdered sugar until smooth and fluffy (you can use an electric mixer if you’d like). 
Pour the frosting over the brownies and smooth with a spatula.

If desired, top with Reeses Pieces (mini or full size- I  chose both!)

Enjoy!

Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies, yum yum yum. Sugar cookies, I'd like one.

SUGAR COOKIES

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1/2 cup margarine

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Mix margarine, shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Blend in flour, baking powder, and salt. Roll dough out 1/2 inch thick onto lightly floured surface and cut into desired shapes.

Bake at 400 for 6-8 minutes.

Enjoy!

Reindeer Feed

Christmas time is here! It has snowed in Utah and Portland is... sunny? I'm not complaining :) This recipe was found on Pinterest and it is yummy for Christmas! Who doesn't love a good Chex mix treat?

Reindeer Feed

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6 cups Rice Chex or Chocolate Chex cereal
1 bag (12 oz.) white vanilla baking chips (or white almond bark/candy coating)
⅓ cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy canes

Line cookie sheet with foil or waxed paper.

Place cereal in large bowl.

In microwavable bowl, microwave white vanilla baking chips uncovered on high about 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until chips can be stirred smooth. Stir in half the crushed peppermint candy.

Pour over cereal; toss to evenly coat. Spread mixture in single layer on cookie sheet. Immediately sprinkle with remaining candy. Let stand until set, about 20 minutes. Gently break up coated cereal. Store in airtight container.

Enjoy!

Oreo Truffles

My recipe of the week is not a main dish, though these are so addicting that they can become the main dish if you're not careful. I just whipped up a mint batch of these for my Relief Society cookie exchange going on tonight and I know they'll be a hit.

Because it's the holidays (and because I think I like it better than the regular version), I have included the mint variation. Happy holiday baking!

Oreo Truffles

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1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1 (16 oz) package Oreo cookies
12 oz. chocolate of your choice (white candy chocolate recommended)

Finely crush Oreo cookies and reserve ¼ cup.

Mix cream cheese and crushed Oreo cookies until well blended. Let mixture sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Shape mixture into small balls and put back in fridge for 1 hour or freezer for ½ hour. Can keep in fridge or freezer longer if desired. (I’ll let mine sit in the freezer overnight)

Coat balls in melted chocolate and sprinkle with reserved ¼ cup crumbs to garnish. Refrigerate until firm. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Mint Oreo Truffle variation:
Because the Mint Oreo cookies have more creme filling than regular Oreos, either use less cream cheese (6 oz. or so), or remove the creme filling from 10 cookies when finely crushing. Dip in melted semi-sweet chocolate chips with a little oil to make the chocolate smoother. Garnish by drizzling with melted green mint chips.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Photo from The Non Pareil Baker, whom I originally found the recipe pinned to :)

Here's a recipe I found on Pinterest. After all my Thanksgiving pumpkin foods I made last week, I had just enough pumpkin for this muffin recipe. I just have to say that when I made these, I was STARVING, and starving people don't always make rational decisions or wait patiently. This recipe calls for the cream cheese goodness to be in the freezer for 2 hours. Like I was gonna wait 2 hours to alleviate starvation. So I did what any starving irrational person would do and I stuck the whole bowl of the stuff in the freezer (no spreading it out nicely to make a cream cheese log), and it was only in there there for as long as it took me to make the muffin and crumb topping mixture. And it turned out JUST FINE. I have no idea why you'd need to freeze it for that long. And since I didn't roll it out into a log formation, I just used 2 spoons to top the muffin batter with it, like scooping cookie dough with 2 spoons type scooping action.

I think theses turned out fantastic and I would make them the same way I did when I was starving, only double the cream cheese amount. I was hoping they would be like pumpkin cake roll and they kinda were, but not very cream cheesy and I like cream cheesy :) Try it out for yourself, let me know if you freeze the cream cheese part and if there are any perks to doing it that way :)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

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Muffins:
1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Crumb topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Make the filling by combining the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl and stirring until smooth. Scrape the mixture out onto a piece of plastic wrap at least 12 inches long. Form the mixture into a 12-inch log, wrap tightly, and freeze for at least two hours.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Make the crumb topping by using a fork to combine the flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and melted butter in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, thoroughly combine the sugar, canned pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir gently with a spatula just until completely combined.

Remove the cream cheese filling from the freezer and cut it into 12 one-inch pieces. Divide the muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups. Press one piece of the cream cheese filling into the center of each muffin, then sprinkle each muffin with about one tablespoon of the crumb topping. Gently press the topping into the batter to ensure that it sticks.

Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins in the pan for about five minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 12 muffins.

Enjoy!