So yesterday was my good friend Rebecca's birthday and I was in the mood to bake (shocker, I know). I asked her if she had any requests, or flavor favorites (or flavorites?) and she mentioned something chocolate or peanut butter or coffee (which she said in jest since she knows I dislike all things coffee). So I said, Challenge Accepted!

I began to think of some ideas that included both chocolate and peanut butter...maybe cookies, maybe cupcakes and then I remembered these individual Oreo turtle cheesecakes I had made a few weeks ago, that were incredible. I only needed to make some modifications and we'd have our something chocolate and something peanut butter! The other reason I liked this idea is because this recipe is super easy to put together and I already had all the ingredients - so no special trip to the grocery store!

The concept is this: use a whole Oreo cookie as your crust, quickly whip up your filling, add your toppings and bake for 15 minutes. That's it!

So let's get started. First, gather all the ingredients. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners and place a whole Oreo in the bottom of each liner.

Then you mix your filling ingredients all up in a bowl. The batter will be pretty thick.

Scoop the filling on top of each Oreo - once again, I used my trusty #40 scoop to portion out the filling. You may need to press down the filling a bit to get it to spread completely over the cookie.

For the topping, I chose mini Reese's peanut butter cups (no unwrapping of foils!) and chopped them up into pieces. And since these were for Rebecca's birthday, I added some chocolate sprinkles to make them extra festive and made a special rainbow sprinkled one for the birthday girl.

Then it was into the oven for these guys for 15 minutes at 325. Then just let them cool and then refrigerate until chilled. When I served them at the party, I added a little sea salt caramel sauce drizzle to give them that little somethin' somethin'. And they were a hit! The birthday girl loved them and she lived happily ever after (or something like that)!

Here's the full recipe:

PEANUT BUTTER OREO CHEESECAKES

12 Oreo cookies
1 8-oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter, smooth
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped Reese's peanut butter cups
1/4 cup caramel sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 325. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners and place one Oreo in the bottom of each tin. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, egg, sugar, peanut butter and vanilla until blended and smooth. Scoop out cheesecake filling across the cookies evenly. Sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups over each cheesecake. Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until cheesecakes are set. Bring to room temperature. Unwrap cheesecakes from their paper linings and refrigerate until chilled. When ready to serve, arrange on a plate and drizzle caramel sauce over the top.

Yields 12 individual cheesecakes.

Note: To make the original Oreo Turtle Cheesecakes, omit the peanut butter in the batter. Before baking, sprinkle chopped toasted pecans and mini chocolate chips over each cheesecake. Before serving, drizzle caramel sauce over top.

Greetings, friends! Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was very good but quite full of brunches, parties and baking!

So one of the parties I went to this weekend was a homecoming celebration for the fiancee of a family friend who had been away on deployment with the Navy. I wanted to bring something special to the party, and since the bride-to-be is gluten free, I had the perfect party treat in mind: homemade nutter butters (you may begin drooling now).

For years, I've been making my go-to recipe for peanut butter cookies, one that I discovered while watching Sara Moulton on the Food Network (remember Cooking Live?). It's a simple, flourless peanut butter cookie, which really lets that peanut butter flavor take center stage. One of my complaints with traditional peanut butter cookie recipes is that once you add the flour, it dilutes the flavor. But not with these. These little gems taste like pure peanut butter and just melt in your mouth. So, as I said, I've been making these for years, and was quite content with just eating them as they were.

But one day, I was browsing the interweb (I make up words from time to time) and came across the idea of making a homemade version of Nutter Butters. I immediately went to my kitchen, whipped up these cookies and then made a peanut butter frosting filling. They say peanut butter and jelly are the best combination but I say peanut butter and peanut butter trumps all. Just make these nutter butters and I think you'll agree!

Let's get started. One of the best things about this recipe is that it requires 4 simple ingredients and can be mixed together by hand. No special equipment required! So grab a large bowl and a rubber spatula and mix together your peanut butter, sugar, egg and baking soda (really! that's all the ingredients!). This recipe is easily doubled, as one jar of peanut butter is equal to two (2) cups - so I often double the recipe because 1) it's peanut butter cookies and 2) I'm too lazy to measure out just one cup of peanut butter.

It will be very thick and should look like this. Then use a tablespoon to measure out scoops of dough. Roll them into balls and place on a cookie sheet about one inch apart.

With a fork, make the traditional criss-cross design as you flatten the balls of dough. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Now as the cookies cool, make that yummy frosting. Start by blending peanut butter and butter (or margarine). Add powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to get the desired consistency. Mix until lighter in color and fluffy.

Now to get that frosting happily sandwiched between the cookies, you can use a knife to spread a glob of frosting on the cookie or use a scoop to portion out equal amounts. I used my #40 scoop to make generous dollops of frosting on each cookie. If you've gone this far, you might as well keep going with a big 'ol heap of frosting, right?!

Then top off those open-faced peanut butter sandwiches of goodness with another cookie and voila! Homemade nutter butters! Hardest part is not eating them all!

Here's the full recipe:

Homemade Nutter Butters

Cookies:

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients until well combined. Using a tablespoon, measure out scoops of dough and roll into balls. Place them on a cookie sheet about one inch apart. With a fork, flatten the dough making a crosshatch pattern. Bake cookies until puffed and pale golden, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheet for two (2) minutes then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Frosting:

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup peanut butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 teaspoons milk

In a large bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter and blended and smooth. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Add vanilla and mix. Add enough milk to get the desired consistency then mix until lighter in color and fluffy

Assemble the nutter butters by spreading or scooping a generous amount of frosting onto the bottom of one cookie and topping it off with another.

Yields: 20 nutter butter sandwiches

Peanut Butter Oreo Cheesecakes

Homemade Nutter Butters!