For My Valentine - Peanut Butter Cheesecake Parfait

As we laid in bed one Saturday morning talking, I asked my husband what kind of dessert he wanted for Valentine's Day. He instantly said pudding. I turned my head and looked at him with an odd look.

 

"You always complain about how I bake for everyone else but you and now that I ask you, you say pudding?"

 

"Anything with peanut butter and chocolate?" he offered.

 

"Argh!"

 

My husband likes simple desserts. If it were up to him, everything I bake would be peanut butter and chocolate flavored or a cheesecake. The blogger in me wants to resist the simple and sometimes wants to over complicate things. For a week, I wracked my brain for something creative to write about for Valentine's Day but then I had to stop and think....KISS! (keep it simple stupid). Why was I making a Valentine's Day treat for my blog when I should be making a treat for my Valentine? Yup, I was going to make what my husband asked for from the very beginning.

 

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Parfait

 

1-1oz box of sugar free cheesecake flavored pudding

2 cups of cold milk

1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter

Approximately 10 chocolate creme cookies, crushed

Lite whipped topping

Chocolate jimmie sprinkles for garnish

 

Whisk the pudding mix and milk in a cold metal bowl until mix is dissolved. Whisk in the peanut butter and until smooth. Allow to set in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.

In a clear container (such a mini trifle dish), layer ingredients starting with the crushed cookies, pudding, cookies, and whipped topping. Garnish with sprinkles or mini chocolate chips.

 

Sueshine Note: I couldn't find any chocolate graham crackers so I stood in the cookie aisle for quite some time trying to figure out what to use as a "crust." The store I was at didn't care any of my usual sugar free cookies so I ended up using something I had discovered awhile ago. European biscuits tend not to be so sweet and have a great crispy texture. Luckily, the store did carry Hit chocolate cream cookies. These cookies have a very light chocolate flavor (compared to an Oreo) but they complimented the peanut butter pudding. If your local store does not carry these, another alternative I found were chocolate BeVita. I haven't tried those yet but I'll definitely have to look into that soon.

 

 

I handed my husband his parfait and he asked me what it was. He drove right in and between spoonfuls, I asked him what he thought.

 

"I think this might be my favorite thing you have ever made."

The parfait was so easy to make, involved no baking at all, and had a limited sugar content. Although small, it would easily satisfy you and your sweetie's sweet tooth after a nice homemade Valentine's dinner (which I will be doing on actual Valentine's Day due to my husband's other comment on that Saturday morning: "Why don't you have a steak  blog?")

 

I hope all of you have a lovely Valentine's Day with your special someone and don't forget it's all about showing the one you love you care and that it doesn't have to be all fancy or expensive. It's about what they desire....even if it's just pudding :)

 

Peanut Butter Pie

Just like most Friday nights, my husband and I sat side by side on the couch, both working on our laptops. Both of us have been so busy lately between our regular day jobs, me with my baking orders & house sitting and my husband with his martial arts business. I logged onto my Blogger account and ran down the list of blogs that I read. Clearly, something was going on. Almost everyone had a picture of a peanut butter pie on their blog and what better reason than this: Jennie Pirello called everyone into action to make a peanut butter pie which was her husband’s favorite. Read more here.....For Mikey

It broke my heart to read the post. I’ll be honest and have never read her blog before Friday but just reading about her loss put things into perspective for me. For the past few weeks, every time the oven was turned on and the mixer started going, my own husband had been asking me, “When are you going to make me something with peanut butter and chocolate?” Each time I told him I didn’t have time. It’s sad that something like this made me stop and realize what I was doing…or better yet, not doing.

Although a day late, I made my peanut butter pie. This one was in honor of Jennie’s husband….and my own husband.




My no sugar added version of a Peanut Butter Cream Pie. My husband and I shared the first slice.

 
I just recently became part of the food blogging community in April but I’m proud to say I’m part of it. It’s amazing to me how the community had reached out to support Jennie, even though she is a stranger to a lot of us. So it’s not a recipe that I want you to get out of today’s post. What I hope you get out of it is to take some time out of your busy schedule and tell those special people in your life that you love them. Also be kind to others because you don’t know what that person you are passing on the street might be going through. Sometimes something as simple as a smile can make their day. Despite the pain she must be feeling, something like a few hundred peanut butter pies might have made Jennie’s day.