Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Joan's Chocolate Cake

2 1/2 Cups flour
2 Cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda
2 eggs
1/3 Cup cocoa
1 Cup oil
1 Cup sour milk or cream or buttermilk
1 Cup boiling water
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream sugar and oil. Add eggs and milk and beat heard. Sift cocoa, flour, salt and soda. Add to first mixture and beat. Add boiling water and vanilla. Bake in pans coated with shortening and flour. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

**This cake recipe was made for high altitude. I don't know how well it works in normal altitude, but it is super good, and worth a try.
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Peanut Butter Icing

1 Cup Confectioners' sugar
1 Cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioner' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in a bowl and mix on medium-low speed until creamy. Scrap the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

**I double this recipe to cover a two layer cake.
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Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1/2 Cup shortening
1/2 Cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
4 cups (approx. 1 lb.) sifted confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder (or three 1 oz. squares unsweetened chocolate, melted)
4 tablespoons milk

Cream butter and shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. Add cocoa. Will seem very dry. Add milk and beat on high until light and fluffy.
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Make the cake and then freeze the layers, wrapped in plastic wrap, over night. Torte the layers and add chocolate buttercream and then the peanut butter icing for the middle layer. Then cover the whole cake in the peanut butter icing. Add Reeces peanut butter cups.

Chinese Noodle Haystacks

Sorry no pics, I ate them too fast. Next time though!
This is my new favorite treat! These were served at our Relief Society meeting and she said she got the recipe out of the friend. In honor of the Chinese new year, I submit to you Chinese Noodle Haystacks (not the real name, mind you. I don't know what they are really called). Basically they are a Chinese noodles covered in chocolate/butterscotch goodness.

You will need:
3 cups chocolate chips
3 cups butterscotch chips
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter (recipe called for crunchy but I did smooth)
Peanuts (optional)
2 1/2 cups chinese noodles

1) Melt chocolate and butterscotch in microwave or in a double broiler on stove top.
double broiler = just boil water in a sauce pan, put another on top with chocolate in it
w/lid and stir (that explanation part was for me, Emily.)
2) Take off stove top once melted, add vanilla and peanut butter and peanuts (I just skipped that peanut part, I like smooth haystacks)
3) add Chinese noodles (I add extra Chinese noodles to compensate for the lack of nuts).
4) Stir and glop onto a sheet covered in aluminum foil, make sure to glop, not plop.
5) freeze (solidifies chocolate, doesn't take very long).

Don't try to eat them right out of the freezer, they are hard and will hurt your teeth. They are the best when room temperature.