Short & Sweet #8: NO BAKE PEANUT BUTTER BANANA PIE

My younger brother came to me last week with an indirect request: "You know what would be good? A peanut butter pie. You know what would be better than that? A peanut butter banana pie. Yeah...that sounds amazing."

I took the hint. But unfortunately, it was 100+ degrees that day and had been for a couple days before that. I had zero desire to heat up my kitchen by turning my oven on to fulfill his request. So that got me thinking of an easy way to make that pie without the heat.

Thank goodness for the ice box pie! I took that classic recipe to make something that would make both my brother and myself happy. I personally think that the combination of ingredients is perfect... fluffy Cool Whip, rich cream cheese, creamy peanut butter, sweet banana. Mmmm... I'm salivating just thinking of that delectable finished pie that's sitting in my freezer right now. You and your friends and family will be salivating too when you make this pie! It's absolutely to die for.

No Bake Peanut Butter Banana Pie
1 prepared pie crust

4 oz. cream cheese (softened)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 ripe banana (mashed)
1/2 cup peanut butter
8 oz. whipped topping (thawed)

1. Beat softened cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth.
2. Add mashed banana and peanut butter. Beat all ingredients until lighter in color and fluffy.
3. Gently fold in whipped topping with a spatula until completely incorporated.
4. Pour pie filling into prepared crust.
5. Cover and freeze for 4-5 hours or until firm.
6. Decorate or top if you please! Then cut yourself a slice and enjoy!

Short & Sweet #7: UNICORN POOP

Sometimes, we just need a little bit of fun and color in our lives! So a couple of weeks ago, I hit up my Master Chef in training friend, Tony, to share with me a magical baking experience. This recipe is gonna make you wanna vomit rainbows. And...technically...you be able to given how colorful these cookies come out. But that's if you got sick. Which these cookies wouldn't as long as you baked them correctly and/or do not have the stomach flu. 

I digress. 

So off we go! To a wondrous land of bright, neon colors and delicious sweet things. Tony also had his girlfriend and roommate help us out for the video, which turned out to be a TON of fun. And while we did not succeed in creating Unicorn Poop initially, we did enjoy ourselves by making actual poops with the cookie dough. What do you expect from a few 20-somethings? 

Anyways, our first pass at the colorful cookies did not go well. We didn't freeze the dough as long as we should have, which resulted in a giant (albeit delicious) mess. 

Chill your dough, kids. Lesson learned. 

Honestly, none of us really cared about how textbook perfect these would come out. We all just had a great time messing around with cookie dough and exchanging stories. So hopefully, you can take this recipe and gather your friends and family too! Let the shenanigans happen. That's how magic works. 

Unicorn Poop

3 rolls sugar cookie dough

Food coloring (colors of the rainbow!)
Flour
Edible sparkle gel
Decorations (star sprinkles, pearls, etc)
Imagination
Magic

1. Preheat oven to specified temperature on cookie dough package.
2. Cut each roll of dough in half. Place into separate bowls. Color each segment of dough whatever color you desire. The brighter the better, of course.
3. Lightly flour your working surface. Taking a small amount from each color, roll dough into thin strips. Place each strip together into one long snake. Smoosh it all together a little.
4. With one hand on either end of your snake, move them in opposite directions. Roll one end up and one end down. This should create the spiral effect.
5. Shape your snake into your desired poop shape.
6. Chill formed poops until firm.
7. Bake for 5-8 minutes.
8. Decorate! Take a clean brush and spread edible sparkle gel all over your baked poops. Then, put whatever sparkly, colorful things you want on them.
9. Enjoy! And go look for your own unicorns! Maybe they'll grant you a wish or two!

Short & Sweet #6: STAR WARS TRILOGY OF SNACKS

GAHHHHHH!!!

That was the sound of me getting very excited over the Star Wars Episode VII cast announcement. It was perfect timing on their part too! Now that we know the new involved in the new movie, we can stalk them endlessly to gauge whether or not they're worthy of being a part of our favorite Sci-Fi world. Let the nerdfest and theorizing begin!

Of course, a full-blown nerdfest is not complete without fellow nerds. And there's no better way to celebrate the explosion of Star Wars news than to gather all your Jedi/Sith friends together on May 4th. I'm sorry...May the Fourth. Star Wars weekend is upon us! So go throw a party!

This the inspiration for this week's recipes. Yes, recipes. As in plural. You no doubt have a gaggle of friends joining you for a giant Star Wars marathon, so make sure there's enough food to go around! This trilogy of themed snacks will be a perfect addition to any party in a galaxy far, far away. Make sure to check out the YouTube video for why I chose these three items :)

Lightsaber Pretzel Sticks

Large pretzel rods

Candy melts (colors of your choosing)

1. Melt candy according to package instructions.

2. Dip pretzel rods into melted candy. 

3. Place on wax paper to solidify. Aaaaaand, you're done!

Wookie Cookies
Pre-made cookies of your choosing (Easy Peanut Butter Cookies)
Black icing or decorating gel
White icing
Small piping tip
Mini chocolate chips (optional)

1. Make three small dots on your cookie, two for the eyes and one for the nose.
2. With small piping tip and white icing, pipe a mouth and little wookie fangs.
3. If you wish, add mini chocolate chips on the black icing.

Leia's Hair Buns
Canned cinnamon rolls
Bacon

1. Preheat oven according to cinnamon roll package instructions.
2. Cook bacon until crisp.
3. Unroll each cinnamon roll. Place one slice of bacon on each unrolled piece of dough. Roll it back up.
4. Place finished rolls in 8" or 9" pan to bake according to package.
5. If you wish, finish warm cinnamon rolls off with icing.

What a good-looking Star Wars spread.