Chocolate Peanut Butter Munchies

With summer fast approaching I decided to try one of the many cookie recipes I've been collecting over the winter. I try and have homemade cookies on board the boat for our guests, just as an extra treat. Plus, since I love to bake, this is a good excuse to do so without eating everything that comes out of the oven. I found these on the Bake or Break Recipe Blog but I know I've seen them on other blogs too. Instead of rolling them into balls, I just did them one at a time, rolled one in my hand, then flattened it in my hand added the peanut butter filling, oh and I added a small marshmallow too, then rolled it all back up keeping the filling inside. Seemed easier. I was expecting a big chocolate, marshmallow, peanuty mess when I opened the oven, but they came out looking great, and tasted so good I had to share too.


Ingredients:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
½ cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Stir together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Set flour mixture aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar, and the ¼ cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until combined. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Form chocolate dough into 32 balls about 1¼ inches in diameter. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar and remaining ½ cup peanut butter till smooth. Shape into 32 (3/4-inch) balls. I used chunky peanut butter, so it was a little on the dry side when I mixed this up, so I just added a little milk and it worked great.

Slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Shape the chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter filling.

Place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Lightly flatten with bottom of glass dipped in remaining sugar.

Bake at 350F for 8 minutes, or until just set and surface is slightly cracked. Let cookies stand for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Makes 32 cookies.

The "Crazy Quilt" Afghan

Here it is, all the squares put together. I wasn't sure if it was going to be semi squared the way it was going together. But I am really pleased with the results. Now all I need is a red room to put it in.....
I used Genova yarn that I had bought on Smiley's website. It's a really soft yarn for being acrylic, but I wanted something washable.

A Granny Oblong?

I haven't just been taking morning naps, followed by afternoon naps! I'm determined to get my red and white afghan done before we go on vacation next week. I'm in the process of joining my squares now. I wanted to do a "crazy quilt" type afghan using only red and white for colors. I can picture the outcome in my head, we'll see if it actually looks like I plan when I'm done. I had a hard time figuring out how to do an oblong granny, I had found a small granny square I liked from my handy dandy Readers Digest book on needle craft:
The largest squares I adapted from a pattern on Lions Brand website, they look kind of like poinsettias to me. I hope that will not make this afghan look too Christmasy:
I couldn't find any patterns to adapt for the oblong sections, so I just made my own:
The oblong granny.............Finished "Crazy Quilt" will be posted next. And as I hook it together, it is getting more and more crazy!