Salted Peanut Butter Cocoa Torte

Here it is!

As you all know by now, I am addicted to Cookie Chips! I absolutely love them, so much so that I wrote the company and brazenly asked for a job (no one can say I don't have Chutzpah!). Alas, Joanne (the owner and CEO!!!!!) called me and said she would give a personal reference to her food broker who sells the Cookie Chips for Hannah Max Baking Company. As of now, you can get Cookie Chips at Safeway. If you have not tried the Cookie Chips yet, I highly recommend this recipe to get started or just go get a bag and take them on a picnic. I assure you they won't last the afternoon!

I made a Lemon Bread Pudding with the Original Cookie Chips and have now created this magnificent, ridiculous, character of delish which I call "Salted Peanut Butter Cocoa Torte." It sounds fancy and looks lovely and sophisticated but is very easy to make. Trust me, it's going to knock people's socks off!

Salted Peanut Butter Cocoa Torte

By: Gwen Akacin

Ingredients:

Pie Crust:

1 3/4 Cup Graham Cracker crumbs

1/2 Cup Organic butter (melted)

1/4 Cup bakers sugar

Pie Filling:

1 1/2 Cups Organic Heavy Whipping Cream, Separated

1/4 Cup sugar

1/2 Cup Organic Milk

2 Cups all natural Peanut Butter

3 Envelopes unflavored gelatin

1 Can sweetened condensed milk

Pie Topping:

1 1/2 Cups  Organic Heavy Whipping Cream

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 Bag Sea Salted Peanut Butter Cookie Chips

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350.

2. Mix graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar in bowl. Shape the crust into the pan using the bottom of a cup. See that it's as even as possible.

3. Bake crust for 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven; set aside to cool.

4. Beat 3/4 cup whipping cream with a mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar until peaks are stiff.

5. In a medium sauce pan at medium low heat, combine milk, the remaining 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream, peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk until liquid in consistency and fully combined.

6. Add gelatin to peanut butter and whisk constantly until dissolved.

7. Fold peanut butter mixture into whipped cream until smooth.

8. Pour filling into crust and refrigerate until set about 1 hour.

9. In a mixer, combine whipping cream, sugar, vanilla extract and cocoa. Beat until stiff. 

10. Top cooled, set pie with cocoa whipped cream "frosting."

11. Crush whole bag Sea Salted Peanut Butter Cookie Chips with a rolling pin and sprinkle evenly on top of pie.

Something New!

I want to start a cosmetics company. I want to call it Moxie Make-Up and Cosmetics. I want to use TOMS one for one business model and give make-up and cosmetics to under served, at risk, low income, inner city ladies, beginning here in the U.S. then branching out to other countries and communities. Beauty should not be unattainable. Alas, where to begin? Where to get the capital? How?

I have a student named Renee. She recently went to the dermatologist for some skin irritations. He said she needed to stop wearing perfume or using lotion with scents and so on. As a teenager, she is pretty horrified at he thought of walking through life without the scents associated with being a girl. I was too when my doctor told me the same thing. So as a little present I made her Rockin' Renee. An Eau de Parfum made strictly of all natural products.

I hope you like it, love!

My Cute Town

I have a few "pet peeves." One of them is when folks who live in my town say bad things about it. It ranks right up there with Americans joining in to slam our country with Europeans. Something is just principally not right about that.

Another one is bad grammar, but I'll save that for another post.

How can someone say, "Sacramento = no culture." We have a beautiful and very cosmopolitan museum.

People say all the time, "What a cow town." Apparently they haven't been to Vacaville - actually named 'cow town.'

And why do natives from here say things like, "I hate it here." I say, "Then get out!"

We have excellent recreational trails for biking, hiking and walking, we have outstanding restaurants, we have a thriving art community, we have good hair salons and we have trees second only to Paris. Plus we are the state capital. A town offering all that is much more than a cow town or any other slanderous label a dimwit can put on it.

Have I mentioned the real estate? Look how sweet this is!

So the next time you find yourself or someone else talking about Sacramento as if it was a less than awesome place, I urge you to think of the charm I am showing you here and also, my mother taught me, "If you haven't anything nice to say, then do not say anything." Or move away!