So I recently hosted bunko at my house. I'm in a Bunko group with eleven other ladies, we all take turns and host a different month. The hostess makes an entree and a few other dishes and the other ladies each bring a dish to share. My friend, Kim, brought a candy bar cookie pie…two actually. One made with sugar cookie dough and one made with chocolate chip cookie dough. I asked her how she made it, she said she saw a video on facebook…it's so funny because a couple of days later, I saw the video show up in my news feed.

She used store-bought ingredients and I decided to use what I have — for the candy bars, I had white chocolate peanut butter cups that I bought and had grand plans for…ok, not really, I wasn't sure what I was going to make until this idea popped into my head! I also LOVE Elise's peanut butter cookie recipe and that's the cookie dough I used for these pie bars…and used a square pan to make them pie bars.

I just love when a plan comes together so smoothly!

This is how I make the graham cracker crust by crushing graham crackers with a rolling pin.

And then mix in ground cinnamon and powdered sugar and then 10 tablespoons of butter. I know it's a lot…I actually used the same basic crust from this cheesecake recipe but I wasn't really thinking and put in 10 tablespoons of butter to melt.

It resulted in a more wet crust (hard to describe) and I LOVED IT.

Place in a prepped square pan and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Cut up the white chocolate peanut butter cups!

And then make the peanut butter cookie dough.

Almost done!

Spread half of the cookie dough over the crust.

And add half of the peanut butter cups and push them into the crust. Then repeat with the rest of the cookie dough and butter cups.

These are so good…I'm obsessed with them. Yes, I become easily obsessed but that's what happens. Next time, I'm trying them with chocolate peanut butter cups! Yeah!

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Peanut Butter Cookie Pie Bars Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 16 bars

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs about 13 graham crackers
• a pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 powdered sugar
• 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Filling

• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 24 miniature white chocolate Reese’s peanut butter cups unwrapped and cut in half

Instructions

• Line a 9-inch square pan with with two pieces of parchment paper going opposite ways so you’re creating a sling. Set aside.
• In a small mixing bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs (I put graham crackers into a zippered plastic bag and use a rolling pin to make them into crumbs), ground cinnamon and powdered sugar. Add melted butter and mix thoroughly. Add crust to the lined square pan and push down with your fingers, as evenly as possible creating a crust. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for an hour.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt with a rubber spatula in a small mixing bowl. In a medium sized mixing bowl, add sugars and butter and mix together thoroughly with the rubber spatula. Add peanut butter and mix again. Then, add the egg and make sure it’s mixed thoroughly.
• In two batches, add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and mix. Take the pie crust pan from the refrigerator. Place half of the cookie dough on the graham cracker crumb crust and spread evenly. Add half the butter cups and press in. Add the rest of the cookie dough and spread evenly (as best as possible). Then add the rest of the peanut butter cups and press them in.
• Place pan in the oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 22 to 24 minutes, until the cookie dough layer is fully baked. You don’t want to overbake or you won’t have soft pie bars. Allow to cool completely and then cut into bars. Save any leftovers in a seal container with a slice of bread to keep the bars soft.

The post Peanut Butter Cookie Pie Bars appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

Here's another recipe I had fun doing for McCormick®. It's honestly been way tooo long since I have made a cheesecake. Who doesn't love cheesecake right? And don't you just love mini desserts?

I was honestly surprised how much I love the lemon flavor of McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract in these cheesecakes.

I not only used butter in sugar to sweeten the graham cracker crumbs for the cheesecake's crust, I added McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract.

After mixing the cream cheese mixture, fold in the blueberries and then use a cookie scoop to put the batter into the cupcake liners.

For your spring entertaining, I have some great tips for you. I'm all about easy entertaining and I have my friend Sandy to thank for it. Too many years, I overbooked myself, planned way too many dishes and overwhelmed myself. Make it easy on yourself and follow these easy entertaining tips:

• Plan your menu at least a week ahead of time.
• Choose a mix of easy and make-ahead time menu items.
• Put all of the ingredients you'll need for each dish into a grocery list, I love the Grocery IQ app (Curtis and I both have it on our phones and use the same account so our lists are always synced).
• Take stock of your staples: check out your McCormick® extracts and spices and use this time to throw out any expired items and restock. The last thing you want to do is have to run out to the store the day of your event.
• A day or two before your event, pull out the serving dishes and plates for each dish so you're not rushing around the day of.
• I usually use index cards or note on a list what menu item goes into which dish but I wanted to show you above how easily it can be laid out ahead of time.

• And my favorite entertaining tip of all, forget about always having to match your dinnerware, I love using different plates so the table is colorful
• If you don't have a lot of space, consider having a buffet for your event.
• Use splashes of colors in your plates or towels or napkins to make it bright and cheery for Spring.
• If a guest asks what they can bring something to contribute, assign them a non-essential menu item, drink or ask them to bring flowers for the table. Have a contingency plan in case they forget or bring something else

I love that these mini cheesecakes are so easy and quick to make. And the light lemon flavor and the blueberries go together very well. And these of course are going to be a part of our Spring entertaining this year!

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Lemon-Blueberry Mini Cheesecakes Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 12 servings

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 8 regular sized graham crackers
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

Cheesecake Filling

• 2 packages 8 ounces each cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust

• Heat oven to 325°F. Crush graham crackers in a plastic zippered bag and a rolling pin. Pour graham cracker crumbs into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add melted butter. Mix thoroughly, then add sugar vanilla extract and mix again.
• Place cupcake liners in a muffin tin. Using a small spoon, add about two scoops of the graham cracker crumb mixture into each cupcake liner. Using your fingers, smash the crumbs down and along the sides of the cupcake liners. Bake for about 5 minutes. Allow to cool and set aside.

Assembly

• Add cream cheese and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese & sugar until fluffy and light. Add eggs and vanilla and lemon extracts, beat until thoroughly combined. Add blueberries, using a rubber spatula, fold the blueberries into the batter.
• Using a 3 Tablespoon cookie scoop, spoon cheesecake batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from cupcake tin and allow to cool on a cooling rack for at least 15 to 20 minutes.
• Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove from cupcake liners before serving.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by McCormick® and I always share my honest opinions…and would only work with brands that I love.

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