I can’t believe she’s 5! Where has the time gone? I swear just yesterday she was screaming in her high pitch baby voice just to get my attention.
Well, okay, that did just happen yesterday too. Only she is 5 and not a baby anymore. Will the squealing ever go away???
You know how people always say that having a birthday around Christmas is the worst? They say you get jipped on presents and a party and nobody pays attention to your birthday because they are too busy worrying about the holidays.
Well I’m calling that bluff here and now. That’s right. I’m gonna say it. To all those December birthdays out there, that is a load of crap! At least if you are a part of the Gundersen/Goggins family.
Let me give you just a little rundown of what my poor unfortunate birthday diva had to endure during her birthday week:
- A pre-Christmas Eve bash with Ben’s side of the family where everybody sang “Happy Birthday” to her.
- A Christmas Eve party with my side of the family where everybody sang “Happy Birthday” to her and she blew out candles.
- Christmas Day where we received 5 moving boxes worth of presents for just the girls.
- An after Christmas, pre-New Year’s Eve, gathering with my family where we made birthday cupcakes with candles and sang “Happy Birthday” yet again, prior to opening a handful of presents.
- Her actual birthday where she opened presents from Ben and me, received another rendition of “Happy Birthday” while blowing out candles, plus answered numerous phone calls from family and friends wishing her a Happy Birthday.
And here is the kicker…she has yet to have her birthday party!!! H-O-L-Y CRAP! What am I going to do with this kid?! I swear she thinks that the last 2 weeks were created just in her honor.
I will admit, I was going to overlook her actual birthday since we had been partying for almost a week straight and I was just plain old pooped, but then I felt a twinge of guilt for even considering ignoring her big day. So I caved and we celebrated…again.
I had just made cupcakes 2 days ago, so I was going to pull one of those out of the fridge, slap on another candle, and call it good. But then the baking bug got a hold of me and a little bit of magic happened. More specifically a Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Pie with a Sweet n’ Salty Pretzel Crust happened.
My parents don’t keep gluten free flour in their house (honestly, who would if you didn’t have to) and I had just used the last of the gluten free flour I bought to make her birthday waffles. So, I had to get creative with the ingredients on hand. I rounded up chocolate pudding mix, gluten free pretzels, gluten free crackers, peanut butter, Cool Whip, and some leftover Christmas candy.
Challenge accepted.
Instead of making a pudding pie with a graham cracker crust, I figured a blend of ground up pretzels and crackers mixed with some brown sugar and butter would do. And it did! It created a sweet and salty crust that paired perfectly with my chocolate peanut butter pudding filling. After the pie chilled, I slapped on some Cool Whip, drizzled it with some killer homemade peanut butter caramel sauce, and chopped up a handful of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers to go on top.
This pie was crazy good! In fact this pie was as crazy good as my child is crazy. And ya’ll, that is CRAZY!
Yep, I’d say this little princess of mine had a pretty good birthday, if pretty good means best birthday ever. Love you Braelyn Boo!
What is your trick to celebrating birthday in conjunction with the holidays?
- For Crust:
- 2 cups Glutino brand gluten free pretzels
- 8 Glutino brand gluten free crackers (original)
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
- For Pie Filling:
- 2 (3.4 oz) packs Jell-O brand instant chocolate pudding
- 2½ cups skim milk
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- For Peanut Butter Caramel Drizzle:
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- ¼ cup skim milk
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter, cut into 4 slabs
- dash of salt
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- Toppings:
- Cool Whip
- 6-7 mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, cut in half
- 1 Snickers candy bar, roughly chopped
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, grind together pretzels, crackers, and brown sugar into semi-fine crumbs. Pour into a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir in melted butter until all crumbs are coated. Press mixture down into and up the sides of a 9" pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and set on edges. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool.
- Begin making pie filling by mixing together pudding packs, milk, and cocoa powder. Stir in peanut butter until completely incorporated throughout mixture. Pour filling into cooled pie crust. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Make peanut butter caramel by adding corn syrup, milk, brown sugar, butter slabs, and dash of salt to a small saucepan. Cook on medium heat until butter is completely melted and sugar is dissolved, for about 4-5 minutes, making sure not to boil. Remove mixture from heat and stir in peanut butter. Allow to slightly cool before drizzling on pie.*
- To serve pie, frost with Cool Whip, drizzle with peanut butter caramel, and garnish with chopped candy of your choice.
