Aerial views of Milwaukee from the rooftop deck of The Newport

I’m headed home to Milwaukee this weekend for the annual Easter brunch with my family, and I’ve used this occasion as an excuse to take a brief break from the healthy initiatives in favor of showcasing my renditions of a few classic desserts: peanut butter sandwich cookies and mint brownie tartlets with Dove dark chocolates. The p. b. cookies are nice and crunchy and sandwiched together like an Oreo with a p. b. creme filling. I made the brownie tartlets from a mix—No Pudge! Mint Brownie Mix—and topped them off with a square of Dove dark chocolate. I suppose the brownie tartlets are aligned with my healthy eating initiative—they’re fat-free and made into single-serving portions—plus, I counted, and they’re only 162 calories each. That’s right—162 calories. In addition, dark chocolate is better for you than milk chocolate, as it has powerful antioxidants. For this recipe, I’m only posting photos, because all you have to do is make the brownies according to the box and top them off with Dove dark chocolates. Simple as that.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies á la Allie

Cookies:

Cream together 1 cup white granulated sugar, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, and 1 1/2 sticks butter. This should take 3-5 minutes—the resulting mixture should be light and airy. Next, add an egg and a tablespoon or so of vanilla. After those are incorporated, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup peanut butter (according to your tastes). I didn’t want an overwhelming p. b. flavor, so I added a bit less than usual. Then, sift together your dry ingredients in another bowl: 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Slowly add dry ingredients until a thick dough forms.

Portion out balls of dough—don’t roll by hand—scoop with 1/2 teaspoon measure or full teaspoon measure. In my opinion, the smaller the better, as these cookies are very rich.

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Creme:

Nothing is exact about making these cremes. I play around with the proportions and ingredients a lot, but here’s my general recipe—remember, you’re looking for a texture that resembles Oreo Double Stuf creme (yes, that’s correct, only one “f”).

Whip all of these ingredients together with a hand mixer, starting with the butter and liquids, and then slowly add in the powdered sugar:

2-3 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup p. b. (I use Smucker’s Natural Creamy Peanut Butter—no hydrogenated oils!), 2 tablespoons room temp. unsalted butter, 2 tablespoons milk or half and half or cream (whatever you have on hand), and 1 or 2 tablespoons vanilla

Pipe two teaspoons of creme between two p.b. cookies and smush together.

Then publish pictures of the sandwich cookies online and tantalize all your friends with your confections.

Mint Brownie Tartlets with Dove Chocolates

Pictorial Directions: