Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies from Table for Two

Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies - made dough June 23, 2025 from Table for Two

1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all purpose flour

6 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (84 grams) unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup (65 grams) plus 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (110 grams) brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

2 cups peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well combined and creamy, 2-3 minutes.
3. Add egg, vanilla extract and milk, mixing to combine.
4. Add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing on low speed after each addition, until just combined.
5. Fold in peanut butter cups, reserving a handful for later use.
6. Portion dough into golf-ball size dough balls and flatten slightly into thick discs. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space chilled dough balls. Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Remove from oven and gently press reserved peanut butter cups on top of hot cookies. Let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

If you've noticed I've been baking more lately, you'd be correct. I was able to score reasonably priced eggs which helps drive the baking muse when you have ingredients. But I also started baking more for local friends at the monthly trivia night I go to, friends in my quilting group, friends I met up with when I went on a road trip and my fellow volunteers who've become friends over the years I've been volunteering for the food bank. In other words, lots of people to test out new recipes on. With, I mean with.

Chocolate and peanut butter are a classic combination. I love chocolate and I like peanut butter well enough, especially when paired with chocolate. This is a great recipe when you have excess peanut butter cups to use up (remind me not to buy the big bag from Costco again, even when they're on sale) as well as milk you bought for a different recipe.

This turned out well and was a big hit with my fellow food bank volunteers when I brought them to a mobile harvest distribution. It doesn't spread much, the cookies are chewy and have a good balance between the chocolate and the peanut butter. Those are two dominant flavors but they played well together in this cookie. If you want to amp up the peanut butter more than the chocolate, add more peanut butter cups. Conversely, if you want chocolate to dominate, cut back on the peanut butter cups and add more chocolate chips. Either way, it's hard to go wrong.

Crumbl Cookies review #95 - Aloha Pie

Crumbl Cookies review #95: Aloha Pie - visited July 9, 2025

A Crumbl visit two weeks in a row after a 3-month hiatus sounds like I'm going back to my old habits. But not really. I waffled on getting the Aloha Pie as I knew I wouldn't like the whipped cream on top. Plus the only cookie part was the Oreo cookie crust. Still, I was out of frozen pieces of Crumbl and Crave cookies in my freezer since I hadn't been to either in awhile and my sweet tooth was giving me the stink eye.

On the regular menu this week, only the Molten Lava and Sugar Shark would've interested me as a repeat purchase but I passed on those to try the Aloha Pie for the first time.

It says to serve chilled but since I normally don't like chilled desserts, I let it come to room temperature before trying it. That turned out to be a bad idea. 

Since it's really mostly mousse and cream, both which should be served chilled, all you get at room temperature is mushy cream which doesn't have a lot of flavor.

So I put it back in the refrigerator to chill and tried it again later. That turned out to be a much better choice. I did scrape off most of the whipped cream though. It looked pretty but I still don't like whipped cream, chilled or not.

Which left me free to taste and enjoy the vanilla bean mousse paired with the fudge topping. Of the whole thing, I liked the fudge topping and macadamia bits the best. The description of the Aloha Pie says there's a "hint" of coconut. I have to say, there should've been a stronger hint as I didn't taste the coconut at all. As a coconut lover, that was disappointing. The Oreo cookie crust was okay but was a bit too crumbly.

If I was going to tinker with this to make it more suited to my taste, I would add more butter to the cookie crust to bind it together better, spread a thin layer of the fudge directly over the cookie shell before putting on the vanilla bean mousse, layer more fudge on top of it then, if you really want this to be more "aloha", sprinkle toasted coconut and macadamia bits over the top. And be generous with those sprinklings. The whipped cream decorations made it pretty but I'd cut back on those decorative swirls. So, ultimately, this was okay and at least I tried it but I probably wouldn't get it again. Cream pie desserts are just not my thing and this didn't have that much flavor.

Soft Sourdough Discard Sugar Cookies from Molly's Home Guide

Soft Sourdough Discard Sugar Cookies - made dough June 9, 2025 from Molly's Home Guide

226 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

250 grams granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

75 grams sourdough discard, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

300 grams all-purpose flour

10 grams baking powder

6 grams salt

100 grams granulated sugar, for rolling

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating on low speed until just combined.
2. Add sourdough discard and vanilla extract, mixing until combined.
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt, mixing on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
4. Portion into golf-ball-size dough balls, cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Coating the chilled dough balls in the granulated sugar and evenly space on baking sheets.
6. Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are golden and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet for several minutes before transferring cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

Simple sugar cookies are good any time of the year but especially during summer. Easy to make, relatively shorter baking time if you make the cookies small to regular size and there's no frosting or add ins to melt in the summer heat.

These were good and didn't spread much. As is often the case so far with the sourdough discard recipes I've tried to date, you can't taste the tang from the starter. Starter is basically flour and water that's fermented over time. I don't think my starter is particularly tangy, which is probably why I can't taste the difference between a discard recipe and a non-discard one, as it appears I'm just adding flour and water to the dough.

But that's okay by me as the flavor is still good, the texture is spot on with crisp edges and chewy middles and I like being able to use up the discard and not waste a gram of it.

Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake from Recipes Tasteful

Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake - made June 15, 2025 from Recipes Tasteful

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

Cream Cheese Glaze

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan or Bundt pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
5. On low speed, alternately add flour in 3 additions and buttermilk in 2 additions, mixing until just combined after each addition and no floury streaks remain.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before turning out onto serving plate.
7. Make the frosting: beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour over cooled cake. Serve immediately.

Unlike what the recipe says, I didn't make a cream cheese glaze for this one. Instead, I made a simple glaze with powdered sugar, vanilla extract and just enough milk for a slightly runny glaze. I don't like thick glazes as they're reminiscent of frosting, which I prefer to eat sparingly.  A runny glaze doesn't make for the prettiest of blog pictures but alas, this light touch works perfectly for me. It adds just enough sweetness to a buttery cake without overwhelming it.

I liked this cake. It has the perfect pound cake texture and as long as you use fresh butter (which is a must) and real vanilla extract, you'll get a nice buttery, vanilla flavor as well. Organic eggs don't hurt either and I was lucky enough to have some on hand to use for this cake.

If you prefer it plain, you can leave off the glaze entirely or else go with the original recipe and try the cream cheese glaze. Either way, it's a fantastic cake with the perfect pound cake texture.

Crumbl Cookies review #94 - Lemon Cake

Crumbl Cookies review #94 - Lemon Cake, visited June 27, 2025

I haven't done a Crumbl review in almost 3 months and that's because I haven't gone to Crumbl in nearly that same amount of time. Even when they featured some of my previous favorites, I didn't go. Have I broken the Crumbl spell? 

In any case, I ended my streak by trying out the Lemon Cake on offer this week. Crumbl does a good job with their cakes and I've liked almost all of them.

The Lemon Cake was no exception. Fluffy, cakey cake layers sandwiching lemon curd and frosted with lemon cream cheese frosting. I know a lot of people are tired of Crumbl frosting so many of their products with cream cheese but I don't mind it. They make it sweet enough that I don't get the typical tang from cream cheese which is fine with me.

But what really made this cake for me was the lemon curd between the layers. The cake itself isn't that lemony but the lemon curd was perfect. Not too tart, not too sweet and it added the perfect lemon flavor. I also liked that this didn't taste of artificial lemon like you'd get with lemon extract but it was real lemon flavor.

Thumbs up on this one. Today's the last day it's available so if you've been unsure and like lemon, get off the fence and grab one. This had an upcharge of $1.49 over the price of a single regular cookie so it came to $6.47 (including tax) in my area. It's also supposed to be served chilled but I don't like chilled cakes so I let it come to room temperature before trying it and that was perfect.

Sourdough Discard Texas Sheet Cake from Little Home in the Making

Sourdough Discard Texas Sheet Cake - made June 12, 2025 from Little Home in the Making

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup salted butter

3/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sourdough discard, room temperature

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

1 cup pecans, lightly toasted, roughly chopped

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

6 tablespoons buttermilk or whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt, mixing to combine.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk well to combine. Add boiling water and whisk to combine until mixture is uniform.
4. Pour chocolate mixture over dry ingredients and stir until smooth and well combined.
5. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk with sourdough discard. Whisk in eggs, vanilla extract and baking soda until combined.
6. Pour buttermilk mixture into the chocolate mixture, mixing until smooth and lump-free.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth to an even layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. 
8. While cake is baking, make frosting: melt the butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa powder and stir until smooth and combined. Remove from heat and add buttermilk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Whisk until completely smooth. Fold in pecans.
9. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes then pour frosting over warm cake. Serve immediately.

Here's another recipe for Texas sheet cake; the difference with this one is it uses up sourdough discard. At this point, I think I'm only feeding my starter to make these discard recipes rather than using it for sourdough bread. But it's easier to give away these kinds of baked goods than slices or half-loaves of sourdough bread (because I've got to keep half a loaf for me, naturally).

Case in point, I baked this cake and shared it with the people I go to Trivia Night with (we don't win but it's still fun). They liked it as did I. But it's hard not to like a Texas sheet cake. It's easy to throw together and always yields a soft, fluffy cake with the right amount of chocolate and sweetness. If you don't have a sourdough starter or any sourdough discard, you can use any other recipe for Texas sheet cake to get similar results. Because I have to admit, I couldn't taste any tang from the starter and this seemed like any other non-discard Texas sheet cake. Which is fine because that means it was still good.

And I kept my starter alive for another week/month.

Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies from Grandma Recipes Flash

Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies - made dough June 8, 2025 from Grandma Recipes Flash

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup peanut butter cups, roughly chopped, optional

1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter and beat until well combined.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed until just combined. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add in 2 additions on low speed, mixing just until combined. Add peanut butter cups, if using.
4. Portion dough into golf-ball size dough balls and chill for 30 minutes.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll chilled dough balls in granulated sugar and evenly space on baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the pointed side of a meat mallet.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

The original recipe had these as plain peanut butter cookies with no add-ins but I have a Costco-sized bag of Reese's peanut butter cups I got awhile back that I need to chip away at so I chopped up some of those and added them to the cookie dough.

These were billed as being thick and chewy. But they did spread a bit (I baked from frozen dough) and their thickness remained uniform throughout instead of being domed in the middle. The dough was a bit soft even after being chilled so I should've guessed they would spread as much as they did. They also had that light, airy crispness to them rather than being soft and chewy. Interestingly, it's the kind of texture that's achieved in peanut butter cookies that normally have shortening in the dough but this only had butter. So if you like that crisp, light texture without having to use shortening, this is the cookie for you.

Flavor-wise, they were good with classic peanut butter flavor. I probably should've added even more peanut butter cups to add more chocolate but I can see these would also be good plain if you're a peanut butter purist.

Chewy Sourdough White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Cookies from Heart Beet Kitchen

Chewy Sourdough White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Cookies - made dough June 4, 2025, modified from Heart Beet Kitchen

8 tablespoons (1/2 cup, 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, browned and cooled

160 grams brown sugar

140 grams granulated sugar

1 large egg

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

80 grams sourdough discard, room temperature

235 grams all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 1/2 ounces white chocolate chips or chunks

3 1/2 ounces macadamia nuts, lightly toasted, roughly chopped

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted

1. Whisk together cooled browned butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined.
2. Add sourdough starter and whisk to combine. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating until well combined.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
4. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, mixing to combine.
5. Fold in white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts and toasted coconut until evenly disbursed.
6. Portion into golf-ball-size dough balls. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls on each baking sheet. Bake 12-13 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

I modified the original recipe to add toasted coconut to the cookie dough. You can leave it out and keep this as just a coconut macadamia cookie but if you're a coconut lover, I recommend adding it in. Toast the coconut first to add more texture to the cookie and let it cool before adding to the dough.

Overall, this was a good cookie. The flavors blend well together, the cookie didn't spread much during baking and the texture was just right with crisp edges and chewy middles. As with all the sourdough discard recipes I've tried so far, I'm not sure what the discard actually adds or doesn't add. I couldn't taste it and there was no particular tang in the flavor. Either my starter isn't that "sour" or I haven't been letting the flavor develop in the starter between uses of the discard. But that's fine as the cookies are still good and I didn't waste any starter. Which is the point.