Thanks to Christan & Kathy for sending their addresses! Still need Jamie & Scarlett to email me, please! :O) Laura~ My grandma makes tunnel of fudge cake every year...it's AWESOME! Very old fashioned (her grandma used to make it!), but still great! Vina.....um, which is it? Fruit cake? or Fruit salad? LOL! Melissa/hazelnutbunny Becky/proudgm~~Sugar Cookies Heidi/hdiperna~~Pecan Pie Linda/lindaruzicka~~Pumpkin Pie Kathy/catrionaa~~Chocolate Fudge Christan/georgia_teacher~~Peach Cobbler Joan/ejmoore510~~Sweet Tater Pie Iris/rane_grow~~Banana Puddin' Laura/lilangel181~~Tunnel of Fudge cake Carol/veeja11~~Divinity Vina/flowergirl34 Kamil/kamiljablo~~Apple Pie Jamie/arroyogardener~~Truffles Annie/canyonwind~~Peanut Brittle Scarlett/scarlettseraph That leaves these choices~~ Dessert menu: 6. Fruit Cake Fruit Salad Angel Food Cake

Annie, I just did a search on last year's swap, and you're right, Wendy did take over the hosting for me. Reading those threads brought back a lot of memories, so I'm gonna keep this short and go to work where I can get my mind on other things. Anyway, has anyone thought to ask Wendy if she's still up for hosting the December swap? Peace. -Dan

I come from a family of serious peanut butter and chocolate lovers -- in other words, you can never have too much peanut butter and chocolate. I'm not a huge fan, but I do have to say that I really love this particular recipe for a frozen peanut butter pie. From one of my very favorite cookbooks, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, it takes a little extra work, but well worth the effort. The recipe for the fudge sauce is generous and will last beyond the pie (even in my family). Peanut Butter Pie with Cookie Crust Chocolate cookie crust 30 chocolate wafer cookies ( about 6 ounces) 1 tablespoon sugar 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted Chocolate bottom 1/2 cup ( 3 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup Peanut butter filling 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 1 cup creamy peanut butter 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar 1 1/2 cups heavy cream Easy hot fudge sauce 6 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped 6 ounces dark chocolate (64% cacao), finely chopped 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup light corn syrup Preparation Chocolate cookie crust In a food processor, grind the cookies to a very fine powder. You should have about 1 1/2 cups. Put the crumbs in a bowl and stir in the sugar. Pour the butter over the crumb mixture and mix until well combined. The mixture will feel wet. Turn the crumb mixture out into a 9-inch pie plate and press it into the bottom and up the sides. You can use the back of a large spoon to even out the crust. Put the crust in the refrigerator while you make the filling. Peanut butter filling with chocolate bottom Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave oven or in a double boiler. Add the corn syrup and stir to combine. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate in a thin layer on the bottom of the chilled pie crust. Put the crust back in the refrigerator while you make the peanut butter filling. Put the cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla, and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until well combined and completely smooth. Set aside. In a clean bowl, use the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to whip the cream until soft peaks form. Remove the bowl form the mixer and, with a rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until the mixture is uniform in color. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and freeze for at least 4 hours. Once the pie is frozen, you can cover it with aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 days. Easy Fudge Sauce Place both chocolates in a medium heatproof bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to simmer over medium heat. Add the corn syrup and stir to combine. Remove from the heat and pour over chocolates. Let mixture sit for 2 minutes. Starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out to the edges, whisk the chocolate mixture in a circle until completely smooth. The hot fudge sauce, cooled to room temperature and covered tightly, will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator. Rewarm the sauce in a microwave oven on medium heat for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until sauce is warm; or reheat it in a small saucepan over low heat. Place a frozen piece of pie on a large serving plate and spoon 3 heaping tablespoons of the warm sauce directly over the top of the pie. Eat and enjoy immediately. Here is a link that might be useful: Matt Renalto and Renato Poliafito show how it's done

Oh Jimminy! Must be in the air, the muffin thang. :D PB and Banana muffins? The thought give me the heebie jeebies, but my husband would likely LOVE them. Maybe I'll be nice to him this week and give them a try!This isn't one of the requested recipes, but a very good muffin recipe which I developed as a (relatively) healthy muffin alternative to bran muffins when those were really popular...never found a bran muffin I liked. These contain enough fiber from the veggies & fruit to compete, and filling enough to work as a quick breakfast. Muffin Meals 2 c flour (white or a 2 to 1 mix of white & wheat...I've played with oat flour, millet flour, rice flour and barley flour with mixed results) 1 1/4 c sugar (white, brown or a mix) 1 T cinnamon 2 t baking soda 1/1/2 t grated orange peel 1 t vanilla 1/2 t salt 3 large eggs 1 c vegetable oil 2 c shredded carrots* 1 c shredded zucchini* 1 Golden Delicious apple, chopped* 3/4 c raisins* 3/4 c shredded, sweetened coconut* 1/4 c chopped nuts* Now, the thing about this recipe, is that as long as you keep overall amounts the same, you can play quite a bit. All of the ingredients followed by a * are substitutable or interchangeable. As long as you end up with appx 6 cups of ingredients, you can pick and choose...1 c carrots + 2 c zucchini? 1 c carrots + 1 c zucchini + 2 apples? 3/4 c nuts +1/4 c raisins? See what I mean? You can also sub mashed banana for a cup or so of the carrots, zucchini or apple, if you have an overripe one hanging about. Now, naturally, if you do something like substitute 2 c of nuts for the carrots, you'll probably have trouble, but I think you get the pic. I like using different dried fruits as I'm not really a raisin fan (except for just eating them as a snack). Dried cranberries, mango, pineapple, cherries etc work fine, cut in raisin sized pieces. Sometimes I use cardamom instead of cinnamon (1 1/2 t or so instead of a T, as cardamom is quite pungent), or pumpkin pie seasonings (1 T), once I even used Chinese 5 spice, which was interesting. Likewise, the orange peel can be lemon or lime or even grapefruit. The vanilla can be almond or citrus or whatever. You can substitute unsweetened coconut, if you can find some that is moist. Anyhow... Grease muffin tins & set the oven for 375 degrees F. Mix all the ingredients together except for the eggs, oil & vanilla. In a separate bowl, blend the eggs, oil & vanilla and then fold into the other ingredients. These muffins don't rise very much...too much stuff in them I guess...so fill the muffin cups to only slightly under the top. Bake for 25 minutes, and do the clean toothpick thing to make sure they're done. Cool a bit, and then gently remove them to a rack to cool completely...you might have to sort of pry them up by sliding a fork down one side to the bottom and using it as a lever, they're very tender and break easily if you try to just lift them out.