Valentine's Day Ice Cream Cake

As we all know yesterday was Valentine's Day! My boyfriend loves ice cream cake and I have never made one before, so I figured this would be perfect and how cutesy in my heart shaped pan! He is a huge fan of Reese's Peanut Butter cups along with honestly, all kinds of chocolate candy;)  So I ran to Harris Teeter to get the ice cream and Ben and Jerry's had a flavor I had never seen before and it was exactly what I needed for this cake! It was called "Everything but the..." and pretty much had every kind of candy bar in it. I also got a pint of peanut butter cup and a bag of mini Reese's cups, to make the lovely "J" on top!!!

So the first thing I had to do was make the cake. I just used a box mix vanilla. Once it was completely cooled I took it out of the pan and sliced it into three layers. I then lined the pan with parchment paper so that it would be easy to add in the ice cream and take it out when I was ready to decorate and present. So basically, I just layered, cake, ice cream..putting the "peanut butter cup" on the first layer and "the everything but the" on the 2nd layer. It was really one of the easiest desserts I have made. Once I was ready to present I took out the Reese's, made the "J" by using a little chocolate syrup under each one so they would stick and wah-la a glorious Valentine's Day Ice Cream Cake!

I must say, it was delish!!!! Enjoy, as I know we did!

Banana Muffins with Peanut Butter M&M's

Thanks to my friend Jenny, I have become somewhat addicted to Pinterest! Last week I came across this Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread that looked DELISH!!! And can you believe it I had exactly three bananas almost ripe enough and a whole bag of Peanut Butter M&M's for Valentine's Day, so I knew I had to try this out. I obviously, made muffins though...
Now I have always been a fan of peanut butter and banana. I remember about a year ago I think I ate it on an english muffin for about a year straight, no joke! As most of my friends know I am a total creature of habit;)

The recipe was easy enough, and I have to say, they came out really yummy. They are a little heavy, but that is to be expected with 1/2 cup of peanut butter and three banana's and a whole bag of M&M's.

I only changed one thing in the recipe and that was the brand of peanut butter, I actually used something I have never tried before, but in my attempt to be healthier in 2012, I got this brand at the store right after the New Year! It was still unopened if that tells you anything!

So here is the recipe courtesy of Cookies and Cups:

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup peanut butter- I used Better'n Peanut Butter
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 oz bag of Reese’s Mini cups- I used peanut butter M&M's

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease your loaf pan (I used an 8 x 4 pan) with butter or shortening.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.
4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars.
5. Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy.
6. Fold in your Reese’s Mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and remove from loaf pan, transferring bread to a cooling rack.

** Please note, I made cupcakes and it made about 18. For the life of me, I can't recall how long they took to cook. I think I started the timer at about 20 mins and kept checking in 10 min increments until the toothpick came out clean!

Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper, Feta and Green Onion Scones

Last week work was a little slow. When that happens, I tend to do a lot of recipe searching based on what is in my kitchen! I came across this scone recipe on Foodgawker and I realized I had all of the ingredients, feta, green onions and roasted red peppers, strange combo I know, but I just had to try it out!
It literally took me all of ten minutes to throw it together, which was perfect! I had been planning a yummy dinner for Josh later that night, so I figured these would be a perfect compliment. Now I will say, I did NOT have heavy cream, but I did have buttermilk and I have seen recipes in the past for scones using buttermilk, so I assumed it would be just fine! It actually was, however, they took much longer to cook, like a LOT longer...I think a good 45 mins and the dough was a little stickier than I would have thought. I did add more flour, but I have a feeling I could have added even more. While they were in the oven I took a look at some other recipes that called for buttermilk while making scones and the amount of flour in most was almost double what I had. So I would say if you do not have heavy cream and have to use buttermilk, add more flour!!!
But regardless, they came out really tasty, I was kind of surprised and relieved to be honest! So overall, I would make these again..but definitely try with the heavy cream next time.

Recipe highly adapted from The Pastry Affair:  Roasted Pepper Feta Scones
Yields 8 scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
4 ounces feta cheese
3/4 cup roasted peppers, diced
2 green onions, finely sliced
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender or your hands until mixture resembles coarse sand. Stir in feta cheese, roasted peppers, and green onion. Mix in egg and heavy cream until dough comes together.
Turn out on a lightly floured surface, form a ball and flatten it until it is about 1-inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut 8 equal pie wedges. Transfer scones to a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!