Peanut Butter Pie with Oreo Crust

This light and fluffy, no-bake peanut butter pie is so easy to make! The hint of peanut butter doesn't overwhelm the filling and the oreo's add a delicious texture.

My friend Yasmin made this pie for a Thanksgiving pot luck and it was such a hit! Big thanks to her for the recipe, my family loved it at Thanksgiving!

Ingredients needed to make one 8 or 9 in pie:

1/2 cup reduced fat milk

12-15 Oreos

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

4oz light cream cheese (not whipped)

8oz lite cool whip

2-3 tbl butter or butter substitute

1-2 tbl chocolate or nutella optional

1. Preheat oven to 350. Crumble about 10 Oero's and lay at the bottom of a pie pan. Melt 2 tbls butter and 1 tbl chocolate or nutella. Drizzle over oreo crumbs and pack evenly along bottom of pan. Bake in oven for about 5 minutes and them remove and cool.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream room temperature cream cheese until smooth and slowly add in confectioners sugar until smooth. Add in peanut butter and milk slowly.

3. Fold in whipped topping and leftover crushed oreos. Pour in pie pan over crust and refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving

Top with additional oreos or chocolate drizzle. The pie does NOT hold it's shape very well so be prepared to scoop it out a bit! However, it still tastes amazing!

DIY Holiday Thanksgiving and Christmas 2-in-1 Banner

This fun and festive paper banner will add holiday cheer to any room and will save you time with a free template that I made!

All the stores roll the Holiday season into one big event, so hey, why can't we make life a little bit easier and do the same?! Using one side of the banner for Thanksgiving and the other for Christmas is a simple way to quickly redecorate without the time or trouble. Simply open the attachment and enlarge the image so that the letters are the size you prefer. I was able to print about 4 letters on a sheet of paper (portrait orientation) for the size seen above.

Thanksgiving printable requires 12 paper banners

The Christmas banner requires 13. I will be adding the snowflake after thanksgiving!

1. Save the images above to your desktop. Print the images and cut them out.

2. Measure the letters and choose the correct size banner so that the largest letter will fit on the banner. Cut the banners by adding about 2-3' below the text then cutting up into the middle from both sides. 

                         

3. Glue your text onto the banner (I used a poster board for thicker paper) and punch holes. Make sure you glue the Christmas side opposite so when you flip it around, it reads from left to right. I used twine rope to hang it over my mantle. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Blossoms

Blossoms are a fun and easy way to make a large amount of soft, delicious, bite-sized cookies.

I made these for a Thanksgiving potluck with co-workers and they were a huge hit! I only took about five home to my roommates because my co-workers begged me to leave them at the party. To get these two bite cookies, I baked them in a mini muffin pan. 

All you need is: a mini muffin/cupcake pan, bag of chocolate chips, and peanut butter cookie dough. 

I felt like I was making Christmas cookies instead of Thanksgiving ones!

1. Spray the bottom on the pan or else they are difficult to remove in one piece! 

2. Fill each muffin dent about 3/4 full with dough. Add sprinkles on top and place in pre-heated oven. 

3. Bake the cookies about 2-3 minutes shorter than directed time and keep a close eye on them because they are so small.

4. While baking, Unwrap the Hershey kissed and place in a bowl.

5. Once edges are browning remove from oven and place kiss in the center. 

6. Let cool for a few minutes until moving to a cooling rack. I used a butter knife to cut around the edges then carefully scoop them out of the pan.

I was able to make about 4 dozen cookies with the Hershey kiss bag and large cookie dough. 

For Christmas, I am aiming to make peppermint mocha blossom cookies using chocolate cookie dough with mocha flavor and peppermint swirl Hershey kisses!

Gooey Over-Stuffed "Boyfriend" Cookies

These soft, gooey, chocolate chip cookies are loaded with more chips, chocolates, and candies so that you don't get a single bite without chocolate. 

I took the easy route and bought pre-made chocolate chip cookie mix by Betty Crocker. After preparing the dough according to the directions, mix in all your other additional goodies. I used M&Ms, a handful of peanut butter M&Ms, peanut butter chips, and white chocolate chips. 

To get them extra soft, bake about two minutes shorter than suggested baking time. If they are not set, leave them in another minute. Remove from oven and let cool for about two minutes (this will allow them to continue cooking slightly) before cooling them on a cooling rack. 

I had to test them, of course!

I made these for my sister's birthday who loves peanut butter and chocolate. However, play around with different add-ins for whoever these cookies are being made for. You can try mint chips with mint M&Ms, or caramel chips with toffee bits. 

Caramel Apple Dump Cake

Caramel Apple Dump Cake

For the Filling:

6-8 apples, peeled and diced

2 tsp butter (or butter substitute)

1/2 cup water

cinnamon 

For the Topping:

1 box yellow cake mix 

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter/butter substitute 

1 tbsp cinnamon

caramel for drizzle

vanilla ice cream (for serving)

1.Filling: Begin by washing and peeling your apples. I used York and Fiji apples. Slice them and cut them in half (how big or small you want the slices is up to you). Layer them in a 13x9 baking dish and add the water and butter, then sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes to soften and flavor the apples.

2.Topping: Remove the dish from the oven and carefully pour any excess water into a bowl (saving the liquid for later!). Drizzle caramel over the baked apples. In a bag, shake together the cake mix, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Pour evenly over top of the apples until covered. you may not need to use the entire bag of mix. Then divide the 1/2 cup of butter and layer on top of the cake mix. Return to oven and bake approximately 40-50 minutes. You can use excess water to soften spots that are a little too powdered where the butter didn't melt.

Before finishing up in the oven

3. After removing from the oven, you can drizzle some caramel over the top for garnish. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

My friends and I couldn't wait to eat it so I had to take the picture after dessert

I hope you enjoy this gooey, warm, and delicious fall treat. Check back soon for a healthy version of a pumpkin pie. Trust me it's delicious, I've already eaten it, and you would have no idea there is no sugar added! -Emma