Peanut Butter S'more Cookies

Having baking on hand is a two edged sword, right? It's great for the kid's lunches & snacks, but it's also around to temp me. I really like to try new baking recipes, so finding new recipes to add to my favourites that the whole family enjoys is a great thing (although an exercise in self control for me).

This week, I did some digging in my Pinterest boards to get some baking inspiration. When I was looking through my C is for Cookie board, I found this recipe. I baked up a batch & we loved them! It has since been moved to my We Tried Them & We Liked Them board. :)

Peanut Butter S’more Cookies  adapted from The Three Little Piglets
Makes about 3 dozen

½ c. shortening
¾ c. creamy peanut butter
⅓ c. granulated sugar
⅓ c. light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbs. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. all purpose flour
½ c. graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 c. mini marshmallows
4 – 1.55 oz. Hershey bars, broken into chunks (I didn't have these on hand so I used 1/2 cup chocolate chips mixed into the dough.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat shortening, peanut butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Mix in flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, and salt until well combined, but do not over mix. This is where I mixed in the chocolate chips.

Shape dough into 1” balls. Place on ungreased cookies sheets. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass.

Bake 6 minutes or until slightly set. Remove from the oven and add three mini marshmallows and three small chunks of Hershey Bar to each cookie. Return to the oven 3-4 more minutes until lightly browned.

Cool 1-2 minutes and then remove to wire racks and cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Don't they look yummy? Trust me, they are! A little taste of heaven. The toasted marshmallows are the best!

For more marshmallow love, try some of these recipes!

Chocolate Marshmallow Bars

Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge

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Enjoy your day!

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as well as the Weekend Potluck

Valentine Vignette

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Mine was great. I spent Friday night & all day Saturday at a scrapbooking retreat with some great friends. I'm still working on our Disney trip album from this past summer's trip. I'd say I'm at least half done & the end is in sight. I'll have some layouts to show you in the next few weeks.

~~~~~

Last week I was able to finish up our Valentine decorating. With my hubby in school for another few weeks, things are tight, so I didn't want to spend anything on my decorating. Because of this, my budget for this vignette was $0.

Here's how I pulled it together...

I reused many of last year's decorations...

...including the paper hearts & the button art I made & displayed in an embroidery hoop.

I just took the paper hearts off of the string they were on & piled them in a couple of vases.

I also used the pink rag wreath I made last spring. I had an empty picture frame that I looped the wreath to to display it.

I also used my snowy owls (since they're just too cute) along with the Valentine vase I showed you a bit ago.

There you have it! Everything was reused & found from around the house. It's amazing what you can come up with when you have a little imagination!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

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Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

Insta Friday #2

Another week has come & gone as well as another month! 2013 is already flying by!

Last week ended by me organizing photos for this weekend's scrapbooking retreat. 

And no weekend is complete for us without watching some basketball! Our son is in a mini league with games on Saturdays. A few of his team mates were sick last week, so there were only 5 of them playing. They rocked the game & won even with the extra players missing. :)

Wuv, True Wuv {Grey & Yellow Wedding Card}

Remember that part from The Princess Bride where 

the priest with the funny voice is about to marry Buttercup & Prince Humperdink? 

That never gets old for me. I laugh every. single. time. 

"Wuv, twue wuv..." I'm laughing even now... 

Okay, I'm trying to be serious now. That's what the "True Love" rub-on I used on this card made me think of. 

Ahhh, funny what random phrases can trigger, hey? 

Anyhoo...

Do you still love grey & yellow as much as I do? 

Good. I'm still in major like. I was at a wedding a year ago that had grey & yellow as the colours & it was gorgeous! My favourite wedding colour palette to date, I think.

This was a fairly simple card to pull together. The only tricky part was the bling. The way it was originally configured didn't work on the card, so I cut it into a few sections & pieced it together in a design that worked for me.

I've had those yellow paper flowers in my stash for a few years now. It's about time I used them! ;)

After adding the grey ribbon across the bottom, I decided the card needed a bit more yellow so I layered a thin, yellow, velvet ric-rac ribbon over it. I really like the effect!

Products used:

• Cardstock - Stampin' Up!
• Patterned Paper - Echo Park
• Swirly bling - Dollarama
• Paper flowers & yellow gem - Michael's
• Grey ribbon - Stampin' Up!
• Yellow ric-rac - American Crafts
• "True Love" rub-on - Stampin' Up!

Check out some more of my card creations, including this grey & yellow Mother's Day card.

~~~~~

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And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

February Photo Challenge

Can you believe it's the end of January already?! Crazy!

February is almost here & so it's almost time to start a new monthly photo challenge.

Follow me on Instagram at StephRichy if you'd like to see my daily photos. Let me know if you're taking the challenge - I'd love to see your photos too! I'll be using the hashtag #sbphotochallenge. Please join me & we can share our photos with one another!

Here's February's Photo Challenge:

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or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Here's to a great February!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

Insta Friday #1

Today I'm starting a new weekly tradition. A little week in review using the photos I took on Instagram.

What? You're not following me on Instagram? Follow me at StephRichy if you'd like to come along for the ride.

Let's begin now... (remember hearing this as I child on those read along records? "You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring like this. Brrrriiing! Let's begin now.") 

Anyway...

I concocted my favourite recipe to date last weekend. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were involved. Amazing.

We are dealing with NASTY cold January weather here on the Canadian plains. When I took this photo of my frosted up kitchen window, it was -43ºC. That's -45ºF. So very wrong. Ugh!

A Simple Valentine Centerpiece

Last week I started a couple of Valentine projects to spiffy up the house for February. 

Here's a super fast & easy Valentine centerpiece that you can whip up in under an hour!

All you need is a large cylinder vase, 3 paper doilies, paper hearts (I cut mine with my Cricut from some pretty scrapbook papers), a sewing machine, thread, & some baker's twine.

I started by laying out the paper doilies & arranging the hearts.

Then, I simply fed them through the sewing machine using a wide zigzag stitch.

I wrapped it around my vase & secured it with some turquoise baker's twine.

I added my trusty battery operated pillar candle.

Done!

(At night.)

I also cut some extra hearts & put them in my seasonal wreath. (You can see more seasons here & here.)

It's official: The Valentine's decorating has begun!

Have you started decorating for Valentine's Day? What kind of decor do you enjoy?

Check out more of my Valentine's crafts & decor...

A Valentine candy box

A pink rag wreath

Last year's Valentine vignette

And an owl gift bag & card

~~~~~

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter. 

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Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!

The Organizing Itch - Ribbon Organization

The organization itch hit at the beginning of January. After all the Christmas decor is taken down & put away, it just makes me want to redecorate & organize the whole house! If only I didn't have to drive the kids to & from school, do laundry, & clean the house, then I would have time to do all the organizing & decorating my heart desires. Not to mention crafting & scrapbooking! :)

Even though I'm a busy mom, I have done a few little organizational projects recently. A couple in my craft room too!

I had lots of loose strands of pretty ribbon that I wanted to get under control as well as some larger rolls of ribbon.

I had these glass jars from Ikea that I've been using in my craft room for other craft supplies that had dwindled from use so that one of the jars was quite empty. Perfect!

Out came my package of clothespins from the dollar store & I started wrapping.

Here's how:

Don't they look pretty all displayed in the jar together?

Now onto the spools of ribbon. After looking around the house for something that might work, I came across a little wire basket that I got on a thrifting trip last year. 

The ribbon spools fit perfectly!

I added some command hooks to hang it on the wall.

It's a nice little storage update to my craft space!

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

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Enjoy your day!

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Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies with Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting

Romeo & Juliet.

Salt & Pepper.

Elizabeth Bennet & Mr. Darcy.

Spaghetti & Meatballs.

Some things are just meant to go together. Like Chocolate & Peanut Butter.

Can I get a witness?

And what better way to celebrate this celebrity food pairing than to make Peanut Butter Cup Brownies!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies  (Print recipe)

makes 16 brownies

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup cocoa

2 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/8 tsp. salt

8 or more Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Melt butter (I melt mine in the microwave) & stir in cocoa. Set aside.

In medium bowl beat eggs until frothy. Add sugar, flour, chocolate chips, & salt. Don't stir yet. Pour cocoa mixture over top & stir all together. 

Scrape half of the brownie batter into the pan. Top with the peanut butter cups.

Then top the peanut butter cups with the rest of the brownie batter.

Bake for 30 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes before frosting.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cup icing sugar (also known as confectioner's sugar)

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp. salt

5 Tbsp. milk

Cream the butter & peanut butter together. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the icing sugar, cocoa, salt & milk. If it's still too thick, add more milk 1 Tbsp. at a time until it is a nice smooth, spreadable consistency. 

Frost the brownies. 

Wouldn't these make a great Valentine's treat? 

Nothing says "I love you" like some yummy chocolate treats. :)

If you love peanut butter & chocolate you may also want to check out some more yummy recipes:

Peanut Butter Nummies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Pie

Almost Instant Buckeyes

Thanks for reading. If you like what you see here on Silver Boxes, I'd love it if you would become a follower on Google Friend Connect, subscribe by email (sign up on the right sidebar), 

or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter. 

And please leave a comment when you do so I know who my new friends are! :)

Enjoy your day!

Check out the great parties I link up to!