Peanut Butter Brownie Bars

Don't forget my giveaway, it closes tonight at midnight, but you can still enter today! You can find all the details here!

This is the new plaque that I made for my living room. My neighbor was so nice to cut the wood for me. I love how it turned out! If you want to order a vinyl Holy Names you can find it at I Show Off.


I've been having fun making different kinds of brownies. My neighbor loved the cream cheese brownies, so I remembered that he likes peanut butter, so I thought I'd try making a peanut butter brownie. These turned out really yummy, and everyone liked them!

Peanut Butter Brownie Bars

2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups flour

Peanut Butter Layer

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons cocoa
3 1/2 - 4 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with Pam.

In a bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa.

In a mixer beat the sugar and shortening for 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients. Scoop into prepared pan and smooth.

Peanut Butter Layer

In a mixer beat the sugar, peanut butter and shortening. Add the egg and beat well. Mix in the dry ingredients. With your hands scoop up 2 tablespoon blobs of dough and put on top of brownies. You'll have some dough left. I just kind of spaced them out a little, about 4 down and 6 across. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool.

Frosting

Whisk powdered sugar and cocoa. In a mixer beat the powdered sugar mixture with the melted butter and vanilla. Add enough milk to make a smooth frosting. Cover cooled bars.

Beneath My Heart is one of my favorite blogs, and Traci has a great giveaway going on for $50 in wall vinyl! Go check it out!

Metamorphosis Monday and Choco-Cloud Brownies

Today I'm sharing a furniture makeover. This is a dresser that belonged to my mother in law. I had it in the basement and was going to put fabric in it when I realized that it would be perfect under the mirror by our front door. It's a perfect catch all for all the things that hang around there!



Here it is after my sweet hubby spray painted it. He bought these nice little wood medallions at Home Depot and glued them on before he painted. I couldn't decide what kind of knobs I wanted on it so we just painted the wood ones with a hammered gold spray paint we had. I really liked how they turned out, so I may keep them.



The mirror is one we had in our dinning room. It was white and my sweet hubby spray painted it black for me. Gosh I'm liking black spray paint!



I need your help! This is a crystal lamp that I've had forever, and I'm tired of the old faded potpourri that is in it. I'd like to put something else in it, but I don't know what! It can't be anything to heavy. Leave a comment for me if you have an idea for what to put in it! Don't worry, I'm going to replace the lampshade.

Be sure and check Between Naps on The Porch to see what everyone else is up to for Metamorphosis Monday! And also check out Making The World Cuter for more fun ideas!




I found this recipe in my Taste of Home Cookies Cookbook (I told about the cookbook here). This one didn't even have a picture, but the description made it sound yummy! This is a nice mild brownie, nice and chewy with lots of fluffy vanilla flavored frosting. I love this kind of frosting. It's kind of an old fashioned frosting made by cooking flour and milk until thick then beating sugar and butter until fluffy, then adding the cooled flour and milk mixture. This makes the nicest fluffiest frosting. I've made this kind of frosting before, and it's great for frosting cakes and cupcakes.

Choco-Cloud Brownies

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
7 oz milk chocolate candy bar, melted (I did it in a small bowl for 15 sec. intervals in the microwave, stirring in between)
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting

5 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with Pam.

In a bowl whisk the flour and salt. In a mixer beat the butter and sugar for 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and the eggs one at a time. Beat in the melted chocolate bar and beat for 2 minutes. Mix in the flour mixture. Spoon into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and the middle is firming up. Cool completely.

For Frosting

In a small pan whisk the flour and milk. Heat until it boils, lower heat and boil and stir for 2 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and cool completely.

Beat the butter and powdered sugar for 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and the cooled flour and milk mixture and beat for 5 minutes. Frost cooled brownies.

Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake

My daughter told me that back in New Hampshire she's seen a lot of little pumpkins lined up above the doors on the lintel. The kids and I love little pumpkins, so we went out to the fruit stand and found just the right size to fit up there!

Sometimes we get kids smashing pumpkins in the neighborhood, they'll never reach these!


I found this recipe over at Megan's Cookin. I'm telling you, she has the best recipes! My family loved this cake, I made it for breakfast on Sunday morning and they gobbled it up! Give it a try!


Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sour cream, I used yogurt
1 3/4 cup pumpkin
1 egg slightly beaten
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Streusel Topping

1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, cut into small pieces
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts, I left them out

Cream butter, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla for 3 minutes. Add the 3 eggs beating well. In a bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and soda add to the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream. Spoon half of this batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan.

Make the streusel topping. In a small bowl cut the butter into the sugar and cinnamon. Add the nuts. Sprinkle half of this mixture over the first layer.

Combine the pumpkin, beaten egg, 1/3 cup sugar and pumpkin pie spice, mix well. Pour over the streuel. Cover with the rest of the cake batter, then the rest of the streusel.

Bake at 325 for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.

White Texas Sheet Cake and some Decorating

This is the chandelier my sweet hubby made for our dinning room. It's another of my favorite things! I had seen something similar on a decorating show on TV, but we added a little more to it. Yup, that is a clock hanging down in the middle and yes it does work! The lights have metal colanders above them and forks and spoons are hanging down from wires. He used metal pipe and fittings to suspend them from the ceiling. I love it for it's whimsical uniqueness!



I found this terrific cake recipe a while back. It's a White Texas Sheet Cake. It's very similar to the regular Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake except there is no cocoa powder and it calls for sour cream instead of buttermilk. There is also almond extract in it which is one of my favorites! This recipe whips up pretty fast!

White Texas Sheet Cake

1 cup butter
1 cup water
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream, I used yogurt
1 teaspoon almond extract

Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

For the cake: In a small saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Remove from heat. In a large mixing bowl add the dry ingredients. Pour in the butter and water mixture, sour cream (or yogurt), almond extract and the eggs. Mix well. Pour in a large cookie sheet, (15x10x1) the one with sides that is sprayed with Pam. Bake at 375 20 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For frosting: In the same small saucepan bring butter and milk to a boil. Put the powdered sugar in a large bowl, add the butter and water mixture and the almond extract. Beat well and spread on cake.




Next time I make this cake I think I'll let it cool before I frost it. Then it will look a little prettier!