Perfect Peanut Butter Bars

Hey, are you here to check out my giveaway? If so, scroll down to the post below, or just click here! There is still one more week left to enter, so don't miss it! :)

Our church is having a dessert auction tonight, to raise money for Wordsowers International. Since Jeremy and I love peanut butter and chocolate so much (remember these Buckeye Balls I made in April?), we decided to stick with that theme.

Jeremy made the most delicious peanut butter bars ever, and I cut them up, drizzled the white chocolate, and did the fancy display. There wasn't enough room on the platter to include all the bars, drats! I guess I'll have to eat some myself!


The pressed glass serving platter was a thrift store find, in perfect condition, so pretty and only $2! I also found about 2 yards of gorgeous linen (the background for these pictures!), a wooden spool and bobbin holder, 4 Land Before Time movies for Kade, and a cool old glass jar I'm going to use for a moss terrarium! I love thrift stores :)

So, these bars are too good to not share the recipe! Here ya go:

*Perfect Peanut Butter Bars*

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter
• .5 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. Refrigerate.

2. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

3. Melt the white chocolate chips in a glass or ceramic cup. Pour or scoop into a zip lock sandwich bag. Cut off one of the corners, make the opening as small as you can. Squeeze the bag gently and move your hand back and forth to drizzle the white chocolate over the bars. Refrigerate until white chocolate hardens, about 15 minutes.

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I hope they do well at the auction, especially since all the money is going towards a really great organization! I know bars aren't the fanciest dessert ever, but that's about as fancy as we get here in this house! Unfortunately, Kade has one of his mysterious fevers again, so we are stuck at home snacking on the leftover bars, while Jeremy goes to the auction. Now I'm going to go read, "Are You Ticklish?" for the 8th time! :)

The last snow of the..spring? Maybe? Hopefully?

Last year, it snowed on April Fool's day, and I thought J was playing a joke on me when he came and woke me up at 5 AM to tell me. This year was a little better, the last snow (I hope!!) was on March 29th. Sunday morning, K got to play in it a little bit before church. He would have liked to have a snowball fight, build a snowman, make angels, and the whole shebang... sorry kid. Running in circles will have to do this time. Luckily, I think he had just as much fun anyway.


OH! Look what I made! I had to snap this picture secretly, before I announced they were done, because they promptly disappeared afterwards.


You *have* to try this recipe. If you like Reeces peanut butter cups, you will love these! Maybe I am the only person who has never heard of these before. That wouldn't surprise me, I guess. Sometimes I am so excited to tell J the latest news on whatever, and he just finishes my sentence and says, "yeah yeah, I heard about that 2 weeks ago." Why does he always know everything first? What inside contact does he have, who is his source? He even knew about these Buckeye Balls, and when I made them, he said, "finally!! I have been wanting you to make these for like the past 10 years!!" Well, there's nothing like asking!!

On with the recipe! It is so easy, you can't go wrong with these. I have a very hard time with anything fancy, like fudge, candy, even frosting (yes, I consider frosting fancy... that's how bad I am). However, these were simple and look great too!

*Buckeye Balls*

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening

DIRECTIONS

1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar with hands to form a smooth stiff dough. Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate.

3. Melt shortening and chocolate together in a metal bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. (Or in the microwave for 15-30 seconds at a time.) Stir occasionally until smooth, and remove from heat.

4. Remove balls from refrigerator. Insert a wooden toothpick into a ball, and dip into melted chocolate. Return to wax paper, chocolate side down, and remove toothpick. Repeat with remaining balls. You can smooth over the toothpick hole with your finger, and you can't see it anymore. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.

Yum yum! That recipe made enough to cover 2 dinner plates - maybe 40? They are already gone! I think K has been sneaking them in the middle of the night, because I only let him have one or two a day. He thinks he deserves one every time he does something right -

"Can I have chocolate ball? I slept last night!"
"I want my chocolate now, I went potty!"
"Where is my chocolate? I didn't eat my buggers!!"
"I'm going to get my chocolate now, I drew a circle!"

And when I say, "sorry kiddo, no more," apparently it is the end of the world. So many disappointments, life is hard when you're 4 years old!

BusyFingers BabyBuddies

I have introduced a new item into the shop! They are infant toys made of fleece, with ribbon tags. My mom came up with the name BusyFingers BabyBuddies. I think it is a cute name, plus it describes what the toy is! I have 6 more designs coming soon, and some ideas not drawn out yet. These are the three designs available right now:

*Lavender Flower*

*Blue Whale*

*Red Bird*

There is a local boutique that might have these in their store on consignment, along with my sock monkeys, little girl purses, and plush owls! They have already been selling the bottle cap magnets for quite a while, which do well there. I am going to take some items down there this week for the owner to see. I've got to get working so I have enough stuff to take in. Fun stuff!

Something else fun in my life lately is a little tradition that my sister and I are starting. Once a month she comes over to our house and we cook an international meal together! I love international food, but cooking intimidates me! Everything has turned out really great so far. Here is what we have tried, along with the recipes:
India - Palak Paneer
Greece - Spanakopita
Thailand - Peanut Sauce on Sukhothai Pad Thai
(minus sauce, plus chicken & mushrooms)
Tonight we are doing Italy - Spinach and Sausage Lasagna with White Sauce
(seemed fitting since Valentine's Day is this week)

Cooking internationally (as opposed to restaurants and take out, which we do quite often with Indian and Greek food especially) has been great for me - I find that I can actually cook these wonderful meals, it is not any more expensive than cooking "normal" food, it makes K want to try more things (He loves Gyros, and the spicy feta dipping sauce), and.... it is just yummy! It makes cooking enjoyable for me, and I know J appreciates that I am cooking more!

I'll add on more recipes each month as we try them out! I think next month will be Ireland, since St. Patty's day is coming up!

Today I'll be making some Valentine's Day cards with K to send out to his Grandparents and some other special people. I'll post the results later!