Peanut Butter Pretzel Chubby Tates

Heaven help me if there is an open container of peanut butter filled pretzels in my household. They sing like a siren beckoning me to them and I am just not able to resist their sweet-salty deliciousness.  I don't buy them all that often, but when I do it is usually because one of my girls has been shopping with me and somehow they end up in my cart. The safest thing is not to have them around for too long so they are bagged as snacks for school, taken to the movies (shhhh!), and in this case used in baking cookies.

One of my favorite cookie recipes is the Chubby Tates from Tate's Bake Shop - Baking for Friends.  I decided to add one of my favorite snacks to one of my favorite cookies, and the Peanut Butter Pretzel Chubby Tates were born.  In the cookbook, the author Kathleen King suggests that you eat them while they are still warm and I would definitely second this.  One bite of the a warm cookie fills your mouth with crumbly cookie, melted chocolate, and gooey peanut butter and sends your taste buds into another universe.  Add an ice-cold glass of milk and I am set.  Another option would be to sandwich these cookies around some ice cream.  Flavors such as vanilla, peanut butter, chocolate, or banana come to mind and all would be excellent choices.

































These cookies freeze very well, and with the holiday season fast approaching I think I just may bake another batch and do just that.  I discovered that if I scoop them out onto a cookie sheet and freeze them individually and then store them in a plastic freezer bag - rather than placing the the whole dough in the freezer - I will be able to grab as many as I want to bake quickly if friends drop by.


Peanut Butter Pretzel Chubby Tates

(Printer Friendly Recipes)

Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour or bread flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) salted butter, at room temperature 
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed 
• ½ cup granulated sugar 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter filled pretzels

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325℉. Line two sheet pans with Silpat liners or parchment paper. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt, set aside. 
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar and sugar and mix on high until combined, about 1 minute. 
4. Beat in the vanilla, egg yolk and egg. Scrape down bowl and turn the mixer to low speed. 
5. Add the flour mixture and mix till just combined.
6. Mix in the chocolate chips and the pretzels, and turn the mixer up to high for about 30 seconds to break up the pretzels.
7. Using an ice cream scoop or two tablespoons, drop cookie dough onto prepared sheet pans 3 inches apart. 
8. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Repeat with the remaining dough on cool baking sheets.

Recipe slightly adapted from Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friends.

Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway + Cinnamon Swirl Scones

Have a craving for a cinnamon rolls but not the time to make them?  Then I have the recipe for you - Cinnamon Swirl Scones.  These have all the cinnamon-y goodness of an actual cinnamon roll, and a yummy vanilla glaze, and can be made in a fraction of the time.

The recipe for these scones comes from Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friend's, which was sent to me last October for review.  I have really been enjoying this book but had not had the chance to make these scones before.  Boy, had I been missing out. Even though there are three components - filling, dough, and icing - they are super quick to make.  I did make the mistake of not rolling the dough quite tight enough, so I put them in the fridge to firm up and all was well.  I also found that when I cut the dough it tended to flatten a little, and I baked the first batch like this.  With the second ones I kind of squished them a little so they were more rounded and found that they baked up much better this way.

Once again I found myself trying very hard not to nibble too much before I could get a decent photo. Warm out of the oven, with a little drizzle of vanilla icing these really hit the spot, perfectly mimicking a cinnamon roll.  They were a little crisp on the outside and then became softer as you got towards the middle of the scone. These did have raisins in them, which I liked, but you could certainly omit these if you wanted.  I made sure that I didn't put the vanilla icing on them all since I plan on warming them a little in the morning for breakfast. I think that they would make the perfect addition to your Mother's Day Celebration.

And speaking of Mother's Day, it is just around the corner and the wonderfully generous people at Tate’s Bake Shop are giving one reader of All That's Left Are The Crumbs a Mother's Day Brunch Basket. The basket includes their sinful sour cream coffee cake, a lemon pound cake loaf, two each of their heavenly raspberry bars and crumb cakes, plus a box of Tate's Bake Shop's famous chocolate chip cookies.  I still dream of their cookies, so I can only imagine how good the rest of the items in the basket are.  One lucky reader won't have to dream about it, they will win it!

Entering the giveaway is easy:


Main Entry
To enter the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment telling me about your favorite Mother's Day memory.

Additional Entries
Even more chances to win - you can receive up to two additional entries by doing the following:

1. Following All That's Left Are The Crumbs on Facebook - leave an additional comment to let me know that you are following.
2. Follow Tate's Bake Shop on Facebook - leave an additional comment to let me know that you are following.

The Fine Print

• Deadline for entry is May 11, 2013 at 6:00PM HST.
• Sorry, this giveaway is open only to US addresses.
• Please leave a valid email address where I can contact you if you choose to publish anonymously.
• One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org.  I will announce the winner at the top of this post on Mother's Day - May 12, 2013 - and send them an email.  If I do not have a response within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.
• The winner will receive a Tate's Bake Shop Mother's Day Brunch Basket (prize supplied directly to the winner by Tate's Bake Shop).
• The prize for this giveaway to one of my readers is being provided by Tate's Bake Shop.  I was not compensated personally for this post.
  
  Good luck everyone!

Update: Happy Mother's Day and congratulations to Anne @Have a Cookie who is the lucky winner of the Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway.  Anne, please respond to my email with your details so that Tate's can mail you the prize.  Thank you to everyone who visited my blog and entered the giveaway.

Also, if you are still looking for that perfect Mother's Day gift Tate’s Bake Shop is the place to order something amazing for your mom, grandmother, mother-in-law, or that special person who is like a mom to you. There are baskets, towers, squares, and cookies - seriously, you cannot go wrong with anything you order.  They are offering everyone a special 20% off discount code that can be redeemed until Mother's Day.  All you have to do us type in mom13 when you are checking out on their website.

Cinnamon Swirl Scones

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients
Filling

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Dough

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon spiced vanilla sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold salted butter, cut into ½ -inch cubes
• 1 cup dark raisins
• 1¾ cups half-and-half

Icing

• ½ cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Preparation
Filling

1. In a small bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until smooth.

Dough

1. Position the oven racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375℉. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spiced vanilla, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work in the butter until the mixture is crumbly with some pea-sized pieces of butter. Do not overmix. 
3. Gently mix in the raisins, then add the half-and-half and mix stirring just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
4. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 17-by-12-inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick. Spread the cinnamon filling evenly over the top of dough, leaving a 1/2 -inch border on all four sides. 
5. Starting at a long side, tightly roll the dough up into a log. Cut the dough into 2-inch slices and arrange them, cut sides up, 4 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake, switching the positions of the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking, until the rolls are slightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool on the pans for 10 minutes.

Icing

1. To make the icing: In a small bowl, mix the confectioners' sugar, vanilla bean paste, and water with a fork until smooth. Drizzle over the buns. Serve warm, or let cool to room temperature. 

Makes 12.
Recipe from Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friend's

Tate's Bake Shop: Baking For Friends, Apple Crumb Muffins & a Giveaway!

Winner Update - The winner of the Tate's Bake Shop Cookie and Bar Tower
is Carolsue.  Congratulations!  Please check your email and reply within 48 hours to confirm your mailing address and prize will be mailed by Tate's Bake Shop.  Thanks for visiting my blog and entering my giveaway.


I have a confession to make - I been stalking my mailman (actually lady).  Waiting not so patiently for a package to arrive, and wondering each day if today would be the lucky day?  What was I waiting for you may ask? It was the latest book by Kathleen King, the founder and owner of Tate's Bake Shop - Tate's Bake Shop: Baking for Friends.  I was like a kid at Christmas when it arrived, ripping the package open and flipping through the pages - and this was before I even got through my front door.  And I am doing a giveaway too!

  

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to win a copy of her first cookbook Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook and some amazing cookies.  The book was wonderful and the cookies were gone in a few days. I even kept the box that the cookies came in because it was so pretty.  I think that the cookies were so good because of the philosophy of Kathleen King, which is use the freshest, preservative-free ingredients possible - real butter, all-natural chocolate, farm-fresh eggs. With her no-nonsense approach to baking it is no wonder that she has won numerous awards and her store is regarded as a "must-visit" when in the area.  And seriously, how cute is the bakery itself; how could you not feel welcomed when visiting and enjoying a cookie, brownie, or any of their other delicious treats?

Once I opened the package I just knew I was in for a treat.  The cover looks so inviting and I couldn't wait to sit down and enjoy reading it with a good cup of coffee.  I am like that - I read cookbooks like they are a novel.  Reading the introduction usually gives me a good insight into the person behind the book.  As I read through it I found myself nodding in agreement with things like "I loved to see the joy on people's faces as they bit into those cookies", "life can get hectic", and "don't be too concerned about making a picture-perfect dessert".  My favorite quote is at the end of the introduction - "...it's also about sharing - connecting with the people in your life.  Let them inspire you, and enjoy the process."  There are also some great tips when it comes to baking the recipes themselves.

The book is divided into seven chapters and has over 120 recipes for amazing muffins, scones, quick breads, pies, cookies, and so much more.  There were so many recipes that caught my eye whilst reading through the book that I kept wondering how I was going to choose my first one to try.  In the end I decided that there is no better place than to begin than at the beginning, and chose the first recipe in the book, Apple Crumb Muffins.  I decided that I am going to work my way through the recipes in the book from start to end.  It may take a while, but I have a feeling that it is going to be very enjoyable.

As mentioned at the beginning of the recipe the ingredient list may seem a little long, but I found that there were a few common ingredients between the topping and the muffins, so measuring didn't take long, and the rest came together very quickly.  I loved the consistency of the crumb topping.  To me it seemed a little more moist than usual but it made an outstanding crunch on the top of the muffins. Do make sure you measure your chopped apple because you may need more than one.  My apples - Granny Smith's - were a little small and I needed two of them to get the right amount required for the recipe.  I followed the recipe exactly as written and it did make 10 beautifully plump muffins. 

The smell from the oven as these were baking was intoxicating, and I was glad that they were ready in 20 minutes.  The hard part was waiting for them to cool.  I couldn't resist picking the topping off of one of the muffins to try.  It was crunchy, crumbly, cinnmony and oh-so-good but I don't know if that was the best idea since it made the wait for the rest of the muffin even harder.  I have to be truthful and tell you that I only waited a few minutes for it to cool so I wouldn't burn my fingers too much. It was a little hard to get out of the pan and that is why you should wait.  Just call me Mrs. Impatient but that muffin was worth it.  As I was enjoying it I was thinking that these would be an excellent muffin on Thanksgiving morning, especially with a handful of cranberries thrown in to the batter.

The recipes in the book are very well set out and easy to follow. Some of the names are really cute - who could resist Chubby Tates or "Church Lady" Vanilla Icing, and there is such a great variety of recipes including some for health & lifestyle baking.  I also loved the photographs in this book taken by Alexandra Rowley.  There are very few props in the photos making the baked goods the star.  She highlights the goodies in a way that makes you want to reach out and grab one to enjoy.  Tate's Bake Shop is offering readers of this blog $5.00 off Tate's Bake Shop: Baking for Friends - and it is an autographed copy!  All you have to do is visit TatesBakeShop.com and enter the discount code BAKEOFF.  Also, check out the Baking for Friends Bake-Off contest on Facebook.  The Grand Prize is $1000, and 5 winners will receive a KitchenAid stand mixer and a copy of Tate's Bake Shop: Baking for Friends.

And it gets even better.  I am doing a giveaway with a great prize!

Main Entry
To enter the giveaway all you have to do is visit Tate's Bake Shop and then come back and leave a comment telling me what you item you would order if you were to visit the store - please try to be specific and don't just say a muffin or a cookie.

Additional Entries
Even more chances to win - you can receive up to two additional entries by doing the following:

1. Following All That's Left Are The Crumbs on Facebook - leave an additional comment to let me know that you are following.
2. Following Tate's Bake Shop on Facebook - leave an additional comment to let me know that you are following.

The Fine Print

• Deadline for entry is Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 6:00PM HST.
• This giveaway is open only to US addresses.
• One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org.  I will announce the winner at the top of this post and send them an email.  If I do not have a response within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.
• The winner will receive a Tate's Bake Shop Cookie and Bar Tower - which is an assortment of goodies including blondies, brownies, and a selection of their famous cookies (prize supplied directly to the winner by Tate's Bake Shop).

Disclaimer:  I received a free review copy of Tate's Bake Shop: Baking for Friends, but this is my honest opinion of the book and I was not compensated for my review. Tate's Bake Shop is also providing a prize for the winner of my giveaway.

Apple Crumb Muffins
(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• softened butter for the muffins cups

Crumb Topping

• 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cold salted butter - cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons old-fashioned (rolled) oats
• 2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Muffins

• 1½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ cups old-fashioned (rolled) oats
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 large apple - peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch dice (1¾ cups)
• ½ cup buttermilk
• ¼ cup applesauce
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400℉.  Butter ten 3-by-1½- inch muffins cups.
2. To make the crumb topping: In a small bowl, work together the flour, butter, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon with your fingertips until the  mixture is crumbly.
3. To make the muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt,  and nutmeg.  Stir in the apple.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, applesauce, vegetable oil, egg, yolk, and vanilla well. Pour over the apple mixture and stir until just combined.  Do not over-mix.
5. Using a ⅓-cup food portion scoop or a spoon, transfer equal amounts of the batter into the prepared muffin cups.  The cups will be full.  Sprinkle the crumbs evenly on the muffins
6. Bake until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of a muffin, about 20 minutes.  Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 10 to 15 minutes.  Remove from pan and let cool completely on the rack.

Makes 10 muffins.

Recipe by Kathleen King - Tate's Bake Shop: Baking with Friends