Twenty Seven Phone Calls

I made twenty seven phone calls yesterday. Karma made me do it.

I think I've mentioned before that I still have a land line. I know, archaic, but I have it for a reason. Whenever I have to provide a phone number to sign up for something, I give the home number. For the most part, only friends and family have my cell phone number. All of the robo-calls and telemarketing calls go to the home phone. I've turned off the answering service, turn the ringer all the way down so I can barely hear it and they can call away. 

I get almost none of those unwanted calls on my cell. Genius, right? 

The land line keeps track of missed calls so a few times a day I'll check the phone numbers of the missed calls to be sure that someone who I actually know hasn't been trying to reach me. For the most part they call my cell, but you never know. And that's where this story begins. 

It was a mistake, really, and one I can't explain. Yesterday, one of those missed calls was from a friend I hadn't talked to in ages. We connect on FB, but, looking at that number I realized we hadn't actually talked in quite some time. I called her back, apologizing for having missed her call. A call she hadn't made. She hadn't called me, she hadn't butt dialed me, I was not in her call log at all. We got to talking and when we hung up I gave a little "thank you" to Karma. I have no idea why my land line thinks she called, but I'm glad it did. Keeping in touch and talking are two very different things. I didn't realize it, but I missed talking to her.

Inspired, I grabbed that land line and toggled through its phone book. A phone book I programmed at least 15 years ago, btw. And I started calling. Anyone I haven't talked to in a long time, I pressed that button. There were people I'd lost touch with and some of those calls were quite short and stilted. There were a few business relationships long gone (sorry, insurance agent who we dropped years ago, I'm sure you didn't appreciate being reminded of that). There were also quite a few people though, like the parents of my kids' elementary school friends who I really enjoyed catching up with. I talked to friends and even neighbors who, due to social media, I felt currently in touch with, but (it turns out) not in a personal way. We picked up as if we'd just spoken yesterday. And so much was said that you just don't put out there on FB. 

So I made twenty seven phone calls yesterday. And here's what I decided when I was done. I'm baking a special treat this holiday season, Devil's Food Chambord Cake Balls. And I'm thinking that quite a few people will be finding me on their doorstep holding a plate of them. If you're busy, that's fine. But I hope you invite me in and put on a pot of coffee. Let's talk.

Devil's Food Chambord Cake Balls

Chanukah's in 3 weeks, Christmas is in 4. How many phone calls will you be making in that time?

Devil's Food Chambord Cake Balls        
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 Devil's Food cake, from a mix or your favorite recipe

3/4 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP Chambord liqueur

up to 2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup baking cocoa powder

1 (12 oz) bag royal blue candy melts
1 oz vanilla or white almond bark
OPT: sprinkles

Directions:
*Make cake and cool.  
*Beat the butter and 1/4 cup of the Chambord. Carefully beat in the baking cocoa and 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar. Add as much of the other 1/4 cup of powdered sugar by tablespoons as needed. You want your frosting to be looser than piping consistency but not runny.
*Break up the cooled cake into a large bowl. Drizzle the remaining 2 TBSP Chambord over the cake, then add the frosting and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours (I refrigerate overnight).
*Remove the cake from the refrigerator and roll into about 1 inch balls. You should have about 3 dozen. Place separately onto a baking sheet and put into the freezer until hard. 
*You can coat at this point or move the balls into a sealed bag in the freezer and coat up to a few weeks later.
*NOTE: There are multiple ways to decorate:
1. Melt the royal blue candy melts according to the package directions. Place about 1/3 cup in a separate bowl and set aside. Dip the cake balls into the remaining melted candy to coat. Remove to a piece of wax paper. Melt the 1 oz of white bark into the bowl you set aside until melted together. Drizzle onto the cake balls. Add sprinkles.
2. Melt 1/2 of the royal blue candy melts according to package directions. Drizzle onto cake balls. Add sprinkles.
3: Melt 1/2 of the royal blue candy melts according to package directions. Drizzle onto cake balls. Melt 1/2 of the remaining royal blue candy melts with 1 oz of white bark. Drizzle over the the royal candy onto the cake balls. Add sprinkles.
*Refrigerate cake balls until completely set.

Represent: Funny Friday

Today’s post is this month’s Funny Friday, a regular feature published on the last Friday of every month. Funny Friday is a collaborative project. Each month one of the participants submits a picture, then we all write 5 captions or thoughts inspired by that month’s picture. Links to the other bloggers’ posts are below, click on them and see what they’ve come up with. I hope we bring a smile to your face as you start your weekend.

 Here’s today’s picture. It was submitted by Minette of Southern Belle Charm.

1. Dog to owner: What? You said "staycation", right?

2. Dog to owner: Well, maybe you should have given it some thought before you named me Rover Van Winkle.

3. Dog to owner: You mean we get to do this every day? I think I'm liking this whole retirement thing. Works for me. 

4. Dog to Owner: What am I doing? Haven't you ever heard the saying "it's a dog's life"? I'm representing. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.

5. Owner to dog: What part of "walk" do you think this is? 
Dog back to owner: Well, we were in the house. Now we're out the door. And down the stairs. And into the yard. Halfway to the sidewalk, even.

 

 And now for something yummy: 

Tomato Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Click on the links below and let some other bloggers make you smile:

  Cognitive Script 
The Bergham Chronicles
Southern Belle Charm
Bookworm in the Kitchen

Tomato Crusted Pork Tenderloin       
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1/3 cup tomato paste

3 TBSP white wine

2 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP dried minced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 TBSP Italian seasoning

approx 1 1/2# pork tenderloin

Directions:

*Whisk together the tomato paste, white wine, olive oil, minced onion, garlic and Italian seasoning. 

*Place tenderloin in a freezer bag. Pour the marinade over the tenderloin and manipulate so the meat is entirely covered with marinade. Seal the bag and refrigerate overnight. 

*Oven baking: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking pan with tin foil. Remove tenderloin from the marinade. Lightly grease a large skillet, heat to medium and sear all sides of the meat. Move the pork to the baking pan and place in the oven. Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes or until the internal temperature has reached 155 degrees.

*Grilling: Preheat your grill to about 450 degrees. Place the pork on the grill and lower the heat to medium. Cook for approximately 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Be sure the internal temperature reaches 155 degrees.

*Allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

One Positive Day

How hard could it be?

Famous last words. Well, not last as in there won't be any more. Last as in, never will I try this again. Never.

I know so many people who are positive. All the time. They make it look so easy. It's not. Well, maybe it is for them, but it's not for me.

It started innocently. A leaning in towards hope. It has been brought to my attention (thanks, College Boy, btw) that whenever the news is on, I spend a lot of time swearing at the TV. My children are not little, so it's not an issue that they hear me express myself this way. It's more personal, do I really want to be that person?

It's cliche and only partially true that you cannot change how others behave, only how we react to these situations. I say partially true because although we don't control others, we do often have the ability to determine our exposure to them, to certain people and, in my case, to the news. So here was the challenge, I want to spend one day being positive. The strategy was this, part limiting my exposure to morons (oops, off to a bad start) and part making a concerted effort to adjust (yeah, that's a generous way to put it) my reactions.

Let me just say that I now believe in omens. As I'm writing this post, blogger, which automatically dictionary checks my words and underlines in my drafts anything that is spelled wrong or is just not a word, is telling me that "positivity" is not a word. There ya go.

But I was determined. So off I went, into the world of rose colored glasses.  

And you know what? By the end of the day I thought my head would explode. 

Here's what I learned: I am not a positive person. I may have other admirable qualities (a debate we'll put off for another day m'kay?), but I am a venter (yes, blogger, I'm aware that's not a word . . . I'm using it anyway so you can just shove it). I need to get things out, feel the negativity (notice blogger has no problem with that word), and work it through. Everyone needs a little sweet in their world, but my personality is similar to my Cran-Apple Quick Cinnamon Rolls, nothing wrong with mixing in a little pucker. 

Cran-Apple Quick Cinnamon Rolls

At least that's what I'm telling myself. What about you? Could you spend a whole day being only positive?

Cran-Apple Quick Cinnamon Rolls       
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
5 TBSP butter, softened, divided
1 TBSP apple cider
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp apple pie spice
1 Pillsbury Crescent Dough sheet
1/4 cup cranraisins

1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 TBSP apple cider

Directions:
*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch pie plate well with 1 TBSP of the butter.
*Cream the remaining 4 TBSP butter with 1 TBSP apple cider, brown sugar, cinnamon and apple pie spice until smooth.
*On a floured counter, roll out the crescent dough sheet to about 12 inches long by 10 inches wide.
*Carefully spread the butter mixture onto the dough, then sprinkle with the cranraisins. 
*Tightly roll the dough to form a tube. Slice into 8 equal sized pieces and place into the pie plate. Bake for 15 - 18 minutes.
*Mix the powdered sugar and the remaining apple cider. Drizzle over the rolls and serve.

The Dique and the Clique: Fly on the Wall

Welcome to a monthly Fly on the Wall group post. Today 7 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house. At the end of my post you’ll find links to this month’s other participants’ posts.

Anyone who reads this blog knows of the ongoing struggle to get my boys to write a guest post. I bring it up every now and then in the hopes that they will, but so far no luck. My latest attempt:

Me: Did you write me a guest post?
College Boy: Yes.
Me: Yes? That's great! Send it to me.
College Boy stands there looking at me.
Me: Go ahead, send it to me.
College Boy: I am. Telepathically. 

Wonder where he got that smart-assery from. Probably from his dad.

We have a horrible time both getting and sending mail. I even wrote a post called Hair by USPO explaining the correlation between our mail issues and my grey hair.

Last Saturday Hubs was going to deposit a check for me at the bank and I had a letter that had to be mailed. We don't do that at our house any more, going to either the post office or a blue mailbox. I told Hubs to drop off my letter in the blue mailbox by the grocery store up the street.

Hubs: There's a mailbox right by the bank.
Me: No there isn't.
Hubs: Yes, right across the parking lot by the Goodwill.
Me: There isn't a mailbox there, that's a Goodwill drop bin.
Hubs: No, I've mailed tons of letters there.
Me: Well, no wonder we have problems, you've been donating our mail to Goodwill.

PS: I sent College Boy with Hubs and College Boy says there actually is a USPO mailbox there.

It seems that almost every month I talk about one of my typing mistakes. This month at least it was in a private message so the whole world didn't see (and yet now here I am sharing it).

I love my blogging friend Karen. She has been an online friend for a long time. One day we were talking in a FB private message about a post she wrote about being herself, not "playing the game" to be accepted into this group or that. I was trying to tell her that she would be welcome in any little group of friends of mine. She was very kind not to point out that I had not invited her to my clique, but had actually said "If I had a little dique, you could join it any time". 

Just for the record, no matter how you spell it, dique or dick, I don't have a little one. Or a big one for that matter. 

Hubs and College Boy were coming home late one night when the car driving ahead of Hubs hit a skunk. Hubs had no choice but to run over it too. 

The next morning I go into the master bathroom and it smells like skunk. Great, the master bath is over the garage and the smell has permeated up through the floor.

The closet is off the bathroom. I open the closet and nearly pass out. That's when I know what happened. I head down to the kitchen to have a little pre-coffee discussion, never a good idea.

Me: What were you wearing last night?
Hubs: Jeans and a sweatshirt.
Me: Where are they?
Hubs: In the closet.
Me (giving him some serious stink eye): You owe me a new wardrobe. And a new house.

BTW, if you're looking for me today, I'll be in the laundry room washing every stitch of clothes we own.

This conversation just happened. It's possible I'm just a tad bit frustrated.

Me: Can you please get that grill cleaned? Now.
College Boy: I will.
Me: That's what you said yesterday. And the day before. Last time I ended up having to do it myself.
College Boy: I'll get it done soon.
Me: Yeah, right. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 865,482 times, shame on me.

Make Ahead Crockpot Sweet Chili Wingettes

Hubs had been out of town and was flying back in. I had to take his car to pick him up because I was having trouble with mine. His car is a hybrid and I'm just not used to it. I often stop at a light and question whether the car is even still running or if I'm going to be stuck there.

Unfortunately the airport is downtown and he was flying in at 5:00 pm on a weekday. It takes a half hour to get to the airport, but because of the traffic it took an hour and 45 minutes round trip. When we finally got home, I couldn't get out of that car fast enough. I got out and was walking into the house, Hubs was getting his luggage and the car was beeping.

Me: Why is the car beeping, because you have the door open?
Hubs: I don't think so.
Me: What is it? Make it stop.
Hubs: Oh.
Me: Oh?
Hubs: Umm, you pressed the "park" button but not the power button. The car was actually still running.

Stupid silent car. That could have ended really badly.

People are weird, can I just say that? College Boy comes upstairs and asks me who's out front. I have no idea what he's talking about. I go to look out the window and there's a car I don't recognize parked in front of my house. There's a kid I don't know, sitting on my front steps talking on the phone. Huh?

I do downstairs and am about to open the door to see what he wants. Just as I'm opening the door, he shuts his phone, walks back to his car, gets in and drives away.

And now I'm going to spend the entire weekend wondering what the hell that was all about.

Hubs got a new phone (G-d help me). He used it for almost an entire day when:

Me: Are you hooked up to the house wifi?
Hubs: It does that automatically.
Me: Not the first time, it doesn't know our password, you have to sign in.
Hubs: {{blink, blink}}

I took his phone and signed him in. The next morning he's in the kitchen when I come down for coffee.

Hubs: My phone is playing music. I didn't turn it on and I don't know how to make it stop.

I take his phone, check on the apps he has open in the background (6 of them, btw) and he's got a game playing, which I shut off, stopping the music.

So, yeah, Hubs got a new phone. I hope I'm able to maintain whatever of my sanity remains.

 

I hate getting old. Why? Let me count the ways. One of the worst is when I have a word on the tip of my tongue and can't get it to come out.

I had decided I was going to tell my son that I was starting a poll about yet another controversial issue that had come up in the news. But I couldn't grab that word, "poll".

Me: I'm going to start a . . . what's it called?
College Boy: A cult?
Me: {{blink, blink}}.  

College Boy's favorite dinner is spaghetti with my Hearty Meat Sauce (Stove Top or Slow Cooker). I don't make it in the Spring or Summer, and we had a warm beginning to Fall so it wasn't until the first week in November that I made my first batch of sauce for the season. I let College Boy know so he was sure to be here for dinner.

Me: You know, you should come watch me make it so you know how.
College Boy: No, I'll just come to dinner whenever you serve spaghetti.
Me: Do you remember the time I made an extra entire pound of spaghetti and sauce at dinner and you packed it up and took it back to school that night? 
College Boy: Yeah, I got back to school and a couple of my friends were in my room about to smoke a joint. We did, then we were all starving so I stuck the whole pound of spaghetti in the microwave and we ate it all.
Me: Are you at all familiar with the concept of too much information?

Now click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:

Menopausal Mother 
Searching for Sanity
Spatulas on Parade
Never Ever Give Up Hope 
Bookworm in the Kitchen 
The Blogging 911 

Make Ahead Crockpot Sweet Chili Wingettes

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 - 5# chicken wingettes
salt, pepper, garlic powder
1/2 cup Sweet Chili Sauce
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
3 TBSP Frank's Hot Sauce
3 cloves garlic
1 green onion, chopped
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
2 TBSP red wine vinegar

2 TBSP cornstarch

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 baking sheet. Rinse and pat dry the chicken wingettes. Sprinkle both sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Arrange on the baking sheet.
*Grease the bowl of your crockpot. Make the sauce by whisking the chili sauce, soy sauce, honey, hot sauce, garlic, green onion, ginger sesame oil and red wine vinegar. Set aside.
*Bake the wingettes for 25 minutes, flip over and bake the other side for 25 minutes. Place the wingettes into the crockpot. Pour the sauce over and cover. When they have cooled, refrigerate overnight.
*The next day, take the wingettes out of refrigerator. Place the crockpot bowl into the heating element and cook on high for one hour. Stir. Lower heat and cook on low for 3 hours, stirring now and then.
*Mix 2 TBSP cornstarch with 2 TBSP cold water. Add to the crockpot and stir. Turn the heat up to high and cook one more hour to allow the sauce to thicken.

I Love You Tom Steyer but I Cannot Sign Your Petition

I love you Tom Steyer but I cannot sign your impeachment petition.

Every time I see Tom Steyer's commercial (and the CNN "this is an apple" commercials too, btw), I smile. Calm, rational, thoughtful defiance. Amen.

Yes, I love you Tom Steyer. You're making a concerted effort to unite the opposition based on morals and values and ethics. You fear for our country for all of the same reasons I do. In fact, I agree with all of your arguments to the point where I find myself nodding my head so hard it's in jeopardy of falling off my shoulders. And I do desperately want to be able to sign that petition. How sweet it would be to dispatch this level of ineptitude, divisiveness and downright hatred. To stop waking up each day with a feeling of dread and a fear of checking twitter. Or turning on the news.

Caramel Studded Popcorn Treats

Let me just say that I long for the days when there were administrations in power in the United States with which I fundamentally disagreed. This is decidedly not that. Politics was politics and beliefs were beliefs and whatever party was in power was there because of the will of the people. I may not have liked the agenda of the party in the White House, controlling the Senate or the House, but I would defend to the end their right to be there. It's called democracy.

So much for naivete. Exit democracy, enter 2016. Politics became a no-holds-barred dirty fight. He who has the brass knuckles wins. Even if it turns out that it's Putin with the brass knuckles.

As a result, what we've ended up with is a "president" who is not only uninformed about our history and our laws and our system, but he deliberately chooses to be so. He is not just archaic in his views about diversity and dignity and human rights, he's determined to undo equality. He doesn't only disrespect the scientific community and the intelligence community, he's out to discredit them all. He's destroyed longstanding global relationships. He's a bully, an admitted sexual assaulter, a persistent liar, a narcissist and a bigot. Most frightening, he's incapable of self regulation. Actually, even more frightening, he sees no reason to have to exhibit self control. Yes, he is a clear and present danger. As is the House and Senate who not only support him, but look at him with a puppy dog like adoration.

The problem, Tom, is not your rationale. It's your conclusion.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, I find myself between an impeachment petition and a hard place. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't blame you for putting me in this position. Your heart and your head are both in the right place. Your morals and values are mine, your fear is my terror. 

And yet I cannot sign that petition. Because as bad as this is, as unthinkably harmful this administration's agenda, the damage being done to our reputation, both globally and domestically, I can't support impeachment.

Because what I see as the saving grace of this "presidency" is, in fact, the personality disorders, the ignorance, the absurd lies, the constant and consistent attacks on himself and the incompetent people put into positions of power to carry out this hateful and harmful agenda. The uncanny propensity of our "president" to shoot himself in the foot.

Let me ask you this: if you take Trump and remove the inability to play with others, the insistence on attacking his own allies, the constant torpedoing of his own side, the undermining of his own people, the laughable implausibility, the refusal to learn and grow, what would you have? You'd have an administration not only determined to revert human rights and diversity back to the dark ages, but one with a clear path to do so. 

I love you Tom Steyer, but I cannot sign your impeachment petition. 

Because . . . Pence.

Caramel Studded Popcorn Treats        

                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter

1 cup mini marshmallows 

1 package Toasted Coconut marshmallows

2 bags (3.29 oz) microwave popcorn, popped

1 box (6 oz) Sugar Babies caramel candies

Directions:

*Spray a large bowl, a spatula and an 8 X 10 baking dish with non-stick spray.

*Sift through the popcorn carefully to remove all remaining seeds.

*Melt the butter with the mini marshmallows and Toasted Coconut marshmallows in a large bowl in the microwave for 2 minutes. Stir. Continue to microwave until all of the marshmallows are completely melted.

*Carefully fold in the popped popcorn, then the candies. Pour into the prepared pan and press evenly into the pan. 

*Allow to set completely. Spray a knife with nonstick spray to cut into squares.

When all the Walls: Use Your Words

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. All of the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the recipient will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
I'm using: legendary ~ rope ~ control ~ lead ~ scrape ~ whole
They were submitted by Jenniy of Climaxed.

                          
Add the sugar to the butter. Beat. Scrape the bowl, add an egg. Beat. I used to love the peace of baking. Today, I guess you'd call this baking by remote control. 

It's what I do when I'm stressed. I bake. Unlike cooking, baking requires use of science, fairly precise measurements. It works to occupy my mind. And there's the joy you bring to others when you share the end results. It works to elevate my mood. Right now I need both.

Truth is, I am at the end of my rope. It's not one thing that's got me, it's a compilation. They're not life altering, just frustrating. It's legendary, the old saying "when it rains, it pours". Right now the proverbial wind is whipping and the rain is pouring. So I'm baking in my tornado. Lets just say I'm the camel, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd keep that last straw away from my back.

Apparently this storm has a theme. Money. It started with my car, it appears the starter is going. What's that a couple of hundred bucks? $12o0. And that's not even new, that's if I let them put in a reconditioned one (yeah, that means "used"). 

And Hubs thinks my brakes are starting to get a little soft too. Beat. Scrape. Beat.

 PurDude is graduating from college in May. When we go up there, we usually just stay at a local West Lafayette motel for about $75 a night. There are different graduations that go on over a 4 day span and the school has not yet assigned a graduation date to each major. I went in to check on reservation. There is nothing available in West Lafayette at all. In Lafayette, there was one hotel left with the 2 rooms we need. For those for days, rates are over twice the normal rate. So for 2 rooms for 4 days that's $1200. Beat. Scrape. Beat.

My cell phone has decided that I have my headphones plugged in. Permanently. Meaning I can only use the phone on speaker. Which makes it impossible to answer a call in public. Pricing new phones should be fun right about now. Beat. Scrape. Beat.

Hubs just called from his work phone, something he rarely does. Seems his cell will not turn on. Beat. Scrape. Beat.

Open the fridge and the light won't come on. Close. Open. No light. Close. Open. No light. And you know what? I don't give a damn. I've got bigger fish to fry (I sure am on a roll with those old sayings today). Or pies to make. 

Peanut Butter Lover's Pie

I often let life take the lead. After all, we don't have a whole lot of control over many of the things that may happen to us in a given day (or week, as the case may be). But it's good to know that when life is leading me down that dark rabbit hole, the tag line of this blog still serves me well: When all the walls are caving in . . . what could it hurt to bake?

Here are links to all the other Use Your Words posts:

Cognitive Script
The Blogging 911  
On the Border
 The Bergham Chronicles
Southern Belle Charm
Bookworm in the Kitchen 
Part-time Working Hockey Mom
TaylorLife 
Climaxed

Peanut Butter Lover's Pie

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
20 Nutter Butter Cookies
4 TBSP melted butter

2 8oz blocks of cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup Butterfingers baking bits, divided

1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar

OPT: whipped cream and/or chocolate syrup to top

Directions:
*Lightly grease a springform pan.
*Place the Nutter Butters into a food processor and process to crumbs. Mix with the melted butter. Press into and partially up the sides of the pan. Refrigerate.
*Beat the cream cheese, sugar and peanut butter. Mix in 1/2 cup of the Butterfingers baking bits.
*In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks hold.
*Spread 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture into the crust.
*Fold the whipped cream mixture into the remaining cream cheese mixture. Pour into prepared crust. Even out, sprinkle with remaining butterfingers bits and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before removing from pan to serve.
*OPT: decorate with whipped cream and/or drizzle with chocolate syrup for serving.