Just Get to Dessert Already

If turkey and pumpkin pie are so important, then why is November National Peanut Butter Lovers Month? Maybe it's a hint that for your Thanksgiving dessert you should consider more than pecans and pumpkins. Why not peanut butter? It starts with a "p". It's considered an all-American type of food, so it's certainly appropriate. Especially when mixed with chocolate. Go ahead, make all the fruity pies you want, and for tradition's sake everyone will have piece. But the dessert everyone will come back to after a walk around the block, the dessert you catch your father-in-law sneaking pieces of at midnight, is made of chocolate and peanut butter. I was going to suggest  this Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Tart, from the Sugarpunk Desserts blog. But how can I recommend something without actually having tried it myself? So purely in the interest of blog research, I made it yesterday, instead of dinner. Who has time to do both?   The tart is everything a dessert should be - delicious, elegant, rich. It's not too hard to make, but it does take time to set, so do it a couple of days in advance. I followed the directions exactly, and had no problem with the crust. It tastes like a peanut butter cookie. No one even missed dinner.

Another recipe I've been thinking about  is Velvet Lava's Chocolate Peanut Butter Tartlets. As much as I'd like to show you a picture, I can't. It's not nice to copy another blogger's pictures without permission, so you'll just have to check it out yourself. But trust me, they look amazing, and this is a fun blog to read too.

One more peanut butter suggestion then I really should go and make a nutritious dinner for my kids (before they get scurvy or something). I recently met Maureen Harder, a former pastry chef and the creator of Sassy Sauces. She makes a Peanut Butter Fudge sauce (among others) that you dream about. Poured on vanilla ice cream or pound cake, you can "look like a star in the kitchen without actually having to cook a thing,"  A girl after my own heart. Plus, the labels are really cute. Check out her website for some yummy and easy recipes.