peach shortcake w/ buttermilk biscuits and white chocolate-whipped cream

My great grandmother Mimi, one of the relatives I was very close to, most drawn to because of her cooking and baking skills. She had this knack of baking with grace, ease and wonderment--all the while chatting away, explaining to me the smallest details of everything from pie crusts to getting all the air out of the freshly canned bread & butter pickles. She lived in the lower part of Washington state. In a small, very rural town. How rural? Well, there was no mail delivery, only a post office. The local pharmacist still served soda jerks on the marble bar. The soda fountain stools were bright red and they rotated; I always chose the broken stool as it would still turn, but turn unevenly--giving the best ride. Most of the roads in town were not yet paved and some even had tumbleweeds!
I would visit Mimi almost every summer. She was one of those people who made you cookies, cleaned and ironed fresh sheets for your bed AND sewed you brand new clothes all before you came for a visit. Then during the visit she would spend all of her time with you reading, baking, showing you how to chop wood, explaining various insects to you and telling you the best way to plants tomatoes. She wanted to teach me everything. I did my best to listen and absorb, but gardening was not my thing. I paid attention to baking though.
Mimi was an avid baker. What impresses me most about her was the fact that she didn't have a stove stove. She had a fire burning antique stove; those old fashioned kinds. I didn't think anything of it as a kid, but looking back I think how hard it must have been to bake cookies? Getting the right temp even for cakes?
Every morning she'd be up by 5am, taking from her pile of chopped wood out back, stuffing them into the four burners along with sticks and paper, lighting it, getting a good fire going, stoking it with some more wood, then placing the metal covers back on. From there she'd heat up her water for coffee and heat up the giant old cast iron pans for bacon and eggs. Amazing.

The summers up by her would be hot, desert like hot, and on those days we would gather up the picnic baskets, filled with meats, cheeses, and just from the oven peanut butter cookies--head up to the local river to swim and eat. On our way home we'd stop for fresh peaches, as well as aplets and cotlets
The peaches. Man, I remember those peaches, they were like candy, so sweet, so juicy and what I remember most, they were HUGE. Sure I was a kid and everything is bigger as a kid, but even watching my Mimi eating a peach, it looked giant in her hands. We'd take home peaches for shortcake. Her shortcake biscuits were so good. They always fell apart in your hands because they were so light and airy. Her biscuits were made with lard and a touch of bacon grease. I remember watching her use buttermilk too, thinking how gross it was because it was so thick and chunky. Always asking her why is she using sour milk? She always reply with "it makes the biscuit tasty!" And when she said that I knew to pay the chunky, sour milk no mind, to just wait for the finished biscuit--it'll be fine.

The real show stealer of this recipe is the white chocolate infused whipped cream. Frankly my husband said that you could just serve the whipped cream on its own and call it dessert. He's right. This is a super tasty treat-- Decadent for sure. We indulge in this a couple times during the summer. Would go wonderfully with strawberry shortcake, blueberry, cherry...oh the possibilities are endless.











peach shortcake with white chocolate-whipped cream
print recipe

for the buttermilk biscuits:
Use whatever recipe you like best.

I love this one from epicurious.com AND
I love this one from pinchmysalt.com

for the peaches:
6 large peaches, ripe
3-5 TB sugar (use as much sugar as you like; I used about 4 TB)
½ ts vanilla extract (optional)
juice of one lemon

white chocolate sauce:
¾ cup white chocolate chips
2 TB heavy cream

white chocolate-whipped cream:
½ cup heavy cream
1 TB crème fraiche, room temp
1 TB confectioners sugar
the melted white chocolate sauce from above

Cook notes:
Place the bowl and beaters you will use for the whipped cream in the freezer.
Once your white chocolate sauce is melted and done, you will have to work fast to get the whipped cream done, as we don’t want the white chocolate sauce to harden.

for the peaches:
peel the skin off the peaches and do a rough chop. Place in small saucepan with the juice of one lemon, the sugar and the vanilla. Cook over low-medium heat until peaches are nice and soft (about 15-20 minutes). Stirring constantly.
Remove from heat, taste test and see if it’s sweet enough for you. Set aside.

For the white chocolate sauce:
In a small saucepan, over LOW heat, melt the white chocolate chips with the heavy cream. Stirring constantly. Do not walk away, just keep stirring. White chocolate chips have a tendency to melt then harden fast; just keep stirring, scraping the bottom of the saucepan. You will end up with a nice thick white chocolate ganache.

For the white chocolate-whipped cream:
Now working fast, take your bowl and beaters out of the freezer. Pour in the heavy cream, add in the confectioners sugar and the crème fraiche. Beat until “just” whipped. Then slowly, with beaters running, add in the white chocolate sauce in drizzles, not one lump sum, but drizzle the white chocolate sauce while the beaters are running. Stop when you have “almost” stiff peaks. Don’t overbeat.
This will not be a light airy whipped cream because of the heavy melted chocolate. If you want to be fancy, pipe the finished whipped cream in a pastry bag and pipe over the shortcakes.

black bottom coconut-graham bars

Ever try a recipe and it just does not come out? And you think, hmmm, that's weird, it's from a trusted source. I ran into that with the martha stewart black bottom coconut bars (I added in a layer of graham for texture and flavor--quite good actually).
If you read through my cook notes you'll see where the errors were. Don't get me wrong, I do love martha stewart recipes, and always will; I guess every once in a while it happens.
Of course you don't have to add in the layer of graham, I did solely for the reason of wanting to have some graham with my coconut. Graham and coconut, what a great pair.
I might try this again with a layer of marshmallow. Now that's a a trinity: coconut, graham and marshmallow.









black bottom coconut-graham bars
recipe base adapted from Martha Stewart
print recipe

chocolate base:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

graham center: (I added this in, optional but wonderful)
3/4 cup crushed graham crackers, (I like rough chop, not powder, to keep it crunchy)
4 ounces melted butter

coconut topping:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar (I used ½ cup)
1/2 ts vanilla extract (I used almond extract)
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 package sweetened shredded coconut (7 ounces), 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling

Cook notes:
The original recipe does not call for a graham center. I wanted to add this in for a nice crunch effect. Up to you if you want to add it in—it does lend a nice flavor and texture.
Also, I ran into a problem with Martha’s original recipe. In Martha’s recipe, it says to pre-bake the chocolate base for 10-15 minutes; I only prebaked it for 7 minutes. On the first batch, I did the 10-15 minutes, it was way too long/much and it ended up being overdone when I had to bake it again. So I highly suggest only prebaking for 5-7 minutes or not even prebaking it at all. The chocolate base is VERY THIN. Maybe if you double the base ingredients, then prebaking would come out fine. Also the original recipe says it makes 24 bars? From an 8-9 inch pan? I only got about 12.

For chocolate base:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a slight overhang; butter bottom and sides of foil (not overhang).
Place butter in a large microwave-safe bowl; melt in microwave. Add sugar and salt; whisk to combine. Whisk in egg, then cocoa and flour until smooth. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake just until sides begin to pull away from edges of pan, 10 to 15 minutes (I only prebaked for 5-7 minutes). Let cool slightly while preparing coconut topping. Keep oven on for next sets of toppings.

For graham center:
Melt 4-5 ounces of butter, let cool a bit. Then mix with the ½ cup of crushed graham. Sprinkle this mixture over the chocolate base. Next move onto the coconut topping.

For coconut topping:
In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with sugar and vanilla. Gently mix in flour and coconut (except 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling).
Drop mounds of mixture over chocolate base; spread and pat in gently and evenly with moistened fingers. Sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup coconut.
Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes (mine was done at 22-23 minute mark). Cool completely in pan. Lift cake from pan, peel off foil, and cut into 24 bars (mine made 12 bars). Store in an airtight container 3 to 4 days.

modern milkshake: mocha-cardamom shake

Cardamom.
In a milkshake?
Like with dairy as in milk?
Yes, oh yes.
Unbelieveable winning-tasty combination.
The genius behind this is Adam Reid, author of "Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes".
There is a blog-wide "great shakes of 2012" event happening Monday June 25, 2012. Several top food bloggers are participating in this milkshake event. The list of participants is here.


Click me for preview

I love when I get a chance to review a book that has creative recipes. Taking the milkshake, old and new, and turning them into modern day creations.
From the publisher: "The time-honored combination of milk, ice cream, and syrup has satisfied ice cream lovers for generations. In this collection of 100 new recipes, Adam Ried brings America’s favorite concoction into the twenty-first century with familiar ingredients turned into foolproof shakes. Featuring a wide range of blended treats such as the bold Mexican Chocolate Shake with Chipotle and Almond and the traditional Malted Caramel, Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes gives us a whole new take on the shake."

About the author: "Adam Ried is a columnist for the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine and a regular guest on America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country from America’s Test Kitchen. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts."

A few of Adam's creations:


Malted caramel shake. Pg. 175

Cold buttered rum shake. A delish concoction of butter pecan ice cream, with dark rum, a few spices. Pg. 172

Date-buttermilk shake. Made of ice cream, buttermilk and dates! So good. Pg. 140

Bananas Foster Shake. Made with bananas, amber rum, ice cream and a couple spices. Pg. 112


Peanut-molasses shake. Pg. 159


Cholado. Pg. 179 "....Cholados come from Colombia, but I encountered them first in the Latino neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, in New York City. There is no ice cream involved, so a cholado isn't a shake per se. With distinct fruity, icy, and creamy elements, you might think of it as fruit salad meets Slurpee meats melted sherbet. Eat the fruit with a spoon, and by the time you're done, the ice will have melted and blended with the syrup and milk. The mixture will be ice cold and thick, yet liquidy enough to slurp through a straw....."

I made the mocha-cardamom shake from page 97.






top with espresso powder. truly a tasty, unique shake.

mocha-cardamom milkshake
from Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes
print recipe

1/2 cup cold whole (or lowfat) milk
2 ts instant espresso powder
1/4 ts ground cardamom
4 medium scoops coffee ice cream (about 1 pint), softened
4 medium scoops chocolate sorbet (about 1 pint), softened

Place the milk, espresso powder, and cardamom in a blender and blend to mix thoroughly, about 15 seconds. Add in the ice cream and sorbet and pulse several times to begin breaking them up. With the blender motor off, use a flexible spatula to mash the mixture down onto blender blades. Remove hand and spatula, place cover back on blender and continue to pulse, stopping and mashing again (if needed) until mixture is well blended, thick, and moves easily in the blender. Pour into chilled glasses, and serve at once.
Does not re-freeze well at all. Should make about 3 1/2 cups or 28 ounces.

chocolate-banana vivanno (copycat)

For the longest time (since last summer) I vowed to save money and figure out how to make those Starbuck chocolate-banana vivanno's at home. Little did I know that making them at home not only saves you a ton of money but that you pretty much come 99% close to the exact same drink.
Ripe banana, whey protein, cocoa powder, milk and ice. I also added in a bit of greek yogurt to thicken it up when I didn't have ice cubes on hand.
Tastes exactly the same as Starbucks.
So why not share with you all.
It's been my go-to morning drink all week.
I just love them. I've added coconut to it just for a little extra something something.




Nice and easy.

chocolate-banana Vivanno (copycat)
inspired from Starbucks
print recipe

1 banana
¼ cup plain greek yogurt
½- ¾ cup lowfat milk
1 scoop whey powder
½ - 1 TB cocoa powder (the amount all depends on your level of chocolate taste; I used double dutch ½ TB)
handful of coconut, optional but wonderful
½ cup ice (or more?)

Blend all in a blender until smooth. Top with additional coconut and serve.
Makes one giant smoothie.

double chocolate-butterscotch muffins

Everyone raved about these double chocolate-butterscotch muffins when they first came out on thekitchn.com. And now a couple years later I'm finally trying them.
They are good, a tiny bit dry on the inside. I think it was the baking times that made them dry though. My gut tells me to have taken them out sooner (amazing how the baking gut always knows right?). But the overall flavor is really good. The butterscotch takes it right over to a good flavor edge. I'm certain that on the next batch I need to lessen the cooking time and that should make them less dry on the inside. So if you do make these, really watch the baking time; says to bake them 17-20 minutes, but I'd check them at the 14 minute mark.
Best part? Very quick and easy to whip up! Plus we all know, almost every baker has leftover butterscotch chips in the cupboard waiting to be used up--this is it.







For the recipe, head over to thekitchn.com.

double chocolate-coconut cookies

There are days when I do not want to wait for the darn butter to come to room temp. I just want to melt it, throw it in some double chocolate cookie dough, bake, and devour!
This post is the result of one of those days.
I just love a chocolate cookie that an overload of chocolate--like give me a chocolate overload buzz kind of cookie. Add that to my constant craving for coconut and we have the birth of this cookie.
A thick, dense, very chocolatey cookie with a hint of coconut flavor in the background, plus the crunch texture of the toasted coconut. Tasty indeed.




And the best part? The dough is a snap to put together. Love quick and easy cookies. Read the recipe, you'll see.







double chocolate-coconut cookies
print recipe

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 ts baking soda
¾ TB baking powder
4 and ½ TB double dutch cocoa powder
½ ts sea salt
1 and ½ sticks (12 TB) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup + 1 TB light brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
½ ts pure vanilla extract
¾ - 1 cup toasted coconut
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Cook notes: make sure to let the melted butter cool a bit. When you are ready to use the butter give it a good stir to incorporate the butter solids and fats back together. You could use semisweet chips in this, but they might be too sweet. I love to use ice cream scoopers to make the perfect, round size cookies. I adore large cookies so I used a regular sized ice cream scoop. If you want smaller size cookies, use a smaller ice cream scoop but remember to reduce the baking time a few less minutes! I like to chill my dough before baking—makes a more uniformed cookie. It will be hard to tell when the cookies are done because they are so dark, but you’re looking for crisp edges and non-jiggly cookie tops. I used a regular size cookie scoop, you can use a smaller one but you have to watch the baking times.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, either by hand or using a mixer (I don’t have a mixer so I did this by hand) mix butter & sugars until thoroughly combined. Add in the egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract, mix well. Then add in the dry mixture, mix until just combined, do not overmix. Next FOLD in the chocolate chips and toasted coconut. Cover bowl and let chill in fridge at least an hour or longer.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees, line four cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Using an normal (not small) ice cream scoop, and making sure to compact the dough in the scooper as much as possible, scoop out on baking sheets about 1 & ½ inches apart.

Bake about 11-15 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. You’ll know the cookies are done by crisp edges and slightly puffy middles. Don’t try and take them off the cookie sheets, they will just break.

Should make about 15-18 large, if using a smaller scoop then you’ll have a few more.

raspberry-white chocolate filled chocolate thumbprints

Remember back when we had the guest post of Scary Mommy? Turns out she had asked me for a kicked up recipe for one of her book signing parties. A sweet treat of some sort. She wanted a red treat to go with her logo and new book Scary Mommy. I didn't have exactly red on my mind and was scared she would say "red velvet something or other". Thank goodness she let me go forth and be creative. I said "I have a nice raspberry filled choc...." "SOLD!" she said! I didn't even get to finish what I was saying.
She loved them so much she even featured them on her blog. Bless her. I do love her. With all the fame she has going now, tour dates, press junkets, today show appearances, etc...she is still the same down-to-earth person. She hasn't let fame go to her head. Thank God because I told her I'd kick her ass if she did. ;-)
She's on her book tour right now. You should meet her, she's a love.



This is what the cookies look like before the white chocolate-raspberry filling has set. And the first photo shows what they look like when they do set up.



It's a very dry dough. A touch or two of milk helps it come together.



Before baking make sure to give the cookie dough balls a little well. After baking you might have to do this again, ever so gently.





raspberry-white chocolate thumbprints
from vanilla sugar blog
print recipe

cookie
1 cup + 2 ½ TB all purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa
1 & ¾ sticks (7 ounces) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 and ½ ts pure vanilla extract
2 TB (or more) of whole milk
¼ ts salt

filling
½ cup + 2 TB good quality white chocolate chips or chunks
¼ cup (more or less) raspberry coulis (see below)

raspberry coulis:
1 pint fresh raspberries
2 TB granulated sugar, or to taste
1 TB fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Cook notes: The raspberry coulis can be made a couple days ahead of time. Simply keep it in the fridge, tightly covered until ready to use. When ready to use, please let it come to room temperature before using. The melted white chocolate will seize up if you add a cold coulis to it. If you don’t want to make the coulis you could easily just fill the thumbprints with melted white or dark chocolate. Or even any flavored Hershey kiss would work. It is hard to tell when the cookies are done because of their dark color. They won’t brown, but look for dry cookies or cracked. Don’t bake them any longer than 10 minutes! Mine were done in 8 minutes.

for the coulis:
Put all the ingredients in medium sauce pan and cook over medium (not high!) heat until fruit is mostly dissolved and mixture has reduced a bit as well as thickened up; about 30 minutes or more. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pushing down on the solids. You might have to let this sit for a while to finish draining—it takes a while. Don’t forget to scrape off the bottom side of the sieve for all the juicy, thickened pulp. Discard the seeds. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if needed; it shouldn’t need anything. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Sift flour and cocoa together into a medium bowl. With a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the vanilla and salt; continue beating until blended and smooth, about 1 minute more. Add the flour-cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until a soft dough forms, about 1 minute. Then add in the whole milk—it might not need the whole 2 tablespoons, but use enough to help it come together. This is a dry dough, so don’t add in any more than 2 TB. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until firm enough to roll into balls, about 60 minutes (or longer).

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment or nonstick baking liners. Using your palms, roll heaping teaspoonfuls of the dough into 1-inch balls. Or 2-inch balls. Arrange them 2 inches apart on the lined sheets.
With a lightly floured thumb or index finger-tip, press straight down into the middle of each ball almost to the cookie sheet to make a deep well. (Or use the end of a thick-handled wooden spoon.)
Bake one sheet at a time until the tops of the cookies look dry, 8 to 10 minutes.
Gently redefine the indentations with the end of a wooden spoon.
Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes and then let them cool completely on racks. If you’ve made the coulis ahead of time, now is the time to take it out of the fridge and let come to room temperature.

For the filling:
Put the white chocolate over a double boiler over low heat. Melt slowly and keep stirring until melted. Once melted add in the raspberry coulis, slowly, a bit at a time, all the while stirring. You can use as much or a little raspberry coulis as you like. The coulis is strong, so a ¼ cup is plenty.
Using a small spoon simply fill each cookie with a teaspoon amount of filling. You could also pour the chocolate mixture into a pastry bag or plastic bag and pipe in the filling. I found a small spoon to work wonders. Cool completely before serving or storing. Should make: if you rolled them into 1-inch balls about 34-36 cookies; if you rolled them into 2-inch balls about 16-19 cookies.

deep dish chocolate chip cookie pie

Why? Why is this in a cast iron pan?
Oh that's very easy to answer, and I think once I answer this you'll agree.
Well, almost all of you will agree; there might be a 3% of you that won't agree because well, maybe you have been living under a rock or something?
So you want the answer?
You sure?
It's really a simple answer.....
CRISPY THICK EDGES with gooey cake-like middle.
Swoon.......



So when I say crispy thick edges, I mean edges that are really thick, like two inches thicker than a normal cookie. As the Barefoot Contessa herself says "how bad can that be?"


Make sure to grease up your cast iron pan reallyvwell with non stick spray.







deep dish chocolate chip cookie pie
adapted from eat live run
(I changed things around a bit)
print recipe

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 ts pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 ts baking soda
1 ts salt
1 & ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Cook notes: if you don’t have a cast iron, you can easily put this in little ceramic ramekins. Just don’t preheat at 400, only preheat at 325 degrees. Make sure you use a clean cast iron; we don't want your cookies tasting like dinner. *Cooking times vary GREATLY! Please check at the 25 minute mark!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease up your cast iron skillet with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and baking soda.
Cream the butter and sugars together. Add in eggs plus egg yolk, then mix. Add in vanilla and mix until just combined. Add in your dry ingredients, mix, then add in the chocolate chips.

Press the cookie dough down into your greased skillet evenly; using wet hands make sure the corners are good and even with dough.
Place in preheated 400 degree oven, then turn temp down to 325 degrees and bake for about 25-40* minutes. Might want to rotate pan halfway thru baking.
You are looking for golden brown edges and slightly cakey crumbs come thru when a cake tester is used.
Make sure to let this rest for at least an hour before slicing.

peanut butter and fluff swirl fudge brownies w/ salty cookie crust

I gotta be honest I'm really beginning to like the creativity one can have with these Baked brownie mixes.
At first taste I was blown away at how deep the chocolate flavor was and also, some you might be able to relate to this, I was so happy that this mix did NOT have any of that chemically-after taste that most brownie mixes have.
These are fudgy, rich, deep chocolate, with great texture on the tongue, a real brownie that just happens to be in a mix.
Is it like the infamous baked brownies found at the bakery? Pretty much yes. Trust me, you need to give these a go Baked brownies. Found online and in store at Williams Sonoma.
Created by by some of the best and MOST creative bakers I know in the baking business; the boys over at the infamous Baked Brooklyn bakery in Brooklyn, New York.
And some will say to me, hey you know them, of course you're gonna give them a thumbs up. Yes of course, because their product is stellar!! I know they went through a lot of testing, creating, and recreating to get all their Baked products just right. If I didn't like it, I would not have this post up; I would have given away the brownie mixes to friends.



What inspired me to do the brownies this way? What makes my head say "oh yeah, hey, let's do a peanut butter and fluff version of chocolate brownies!" I bet you're expecting some kind of fun, wild answer? Like I was touring the fluff factory one day and accidentally dropped my brownie in a vat of fluff? Nah, just eating a peanut butter fluff sandwich one day and wanted to have some brownies chunks in it. Although touring and taste-testing the fluff factory is on my bucket list.



Head over to Williams Sonoma to get a couple. And don't forget to check out Baked's infamous Brookster. A brownie meets chocolate chip cookie. The same cookie Martha Stewart fell in love with.



Let's make some kicked up brownies. First up, a nice crispy, salty cookie crust, ready for the brownie mix layer.



After the brownie mix comes the pb & fluff mixture, lined up and ready for mixing.


Make some swirls! This is the best part.



The peanut butter and fluff topping bakes up with a crispy outside and a chewy inside. Just fabulous.



peanut butter & fluff swirl fudge brownies with salty cookie crust
from vanillasugarblog.com
print recipe

cookie crust:
3 cups of crushed shortbread or butter like cookies (I used Lorna Doone)
1 stick butter, melted, cooled a bit
Generous pinch of sea salt

peanut butter & fluff topping:
1 cup smooth pb
1 cup fluff

fudgy brownies:
1 box of Baked Deep Chocolate Brownie mix (or use your own favorite brownie mix/recipe)

Cook notes:
These are fudgy brownies, so they will be a bit gooey when finished baking--this is good.
Feel free to use your own brownie mix too! Just watching baking times.

Mix the melted butter with the crushed cookies, adding a nice generous pinch of salt. Place mixture in well greased or parchment lined 9 x 13 brownie pan. Make sure to pat down and get into all the corners. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until set. Set aside.

For the brownie mixture:
Mix according to box directions. Set aside.

For the pb & fluff swirl:
Put the pb and fluff in a bowl, heat up in microwave for about 15-20 seconds, to get nice and soft.
Mix a bit, don’t mix all the way as we want to see the different colored swirls.

When ready to bake, pour in the brownie mixture on top of cookie crust.
Then take the pb & fluff mixture and using a spoon, dollop three lines of mixture down the longest part of pan. Make sure to leave enough space in between lines to see brownie mixture. Using a chop stick, gently make swirls going the opposite direction of the three lines. Or however you wish to do this. Try not to make too many swirls as we want to see the various colors of the mix after they’ve baked.
Bake brownies at 325 for 45-55 minutes (mine were done at the 49 minute-mark). Let cool in pan for at least an hour. For easier cutting place in fridge for 30 minutes.
Using a wet sharp knife, slice up into small squares.
You should get about 25-30 brownies, depending on how you slice them.