Decadent Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bliss Cupcakes

My oldest snuck bunny ears in just as I was snapping this photo.  After making these cupcakes a few weeks ago, I've been pondering all of the cupcake possibilities since then.  There's been a huge trend in my area of cupcake shops popping up all over the place.  I've visited a few.  Some have been delicious and worth the two bucks.  Some have been utterly disappointing - revoltingly thickly sweet and tasting heavily of cake mix chemicals.  In my opinion, the ones that are best are the ones with surprises in the middle.  Hence my enthusiasm over the peppermint and chocolate ones. 

The center for these little guys is a mixture of chocolate and peanut butter.  Today I also added in some butterscotch chips, but I think they detracted from the nutty flavor I was really looking for.  I'm going to post it without the butterscotch.  Since the frosting is made of cream cheese, they need to be stored in the fridge, but even at that, the center core remained soft.  It's a delicious bit of heaven.  To counteract the sweetness of the cupcake base and frosting, I sprinkled chopped dry roasted salted peanuts on top.  That still wasn't quite enough saltiness for me, so I added a pinch of an amazing greek sea salt on top.  The balance of textures and flavors is fantastic - reminiscent of a snicker's bar but with tasty cream cheese frosting in place of mysterious nougat.

I made some regular size and some minis.  Have to say that the minis are my favorites.  The proportion of cake to yummy filling is much better.  Plus, the whole bite size thing helps me not feel so guilty for eating quite possibly more than I should and they're fun to give away.  Tiny cakes make people smile.

Decadent Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bliss Cupcakes

Cupcakes:


1/2 cup shortening
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the shortening and sugar together.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla, cocoa powder, soda and salt.  Add half the water and beat well, then half the flour and beat again.  Add the remaining water and beat and the remaining flour and beat.  Scrape the batter into a gallon ziplock bag and snip the corner off.  Squeeze the batter into cupcake pans prepared with paper liners, either 48 mini cupcakes or 24 regular cupcakes, filling each paper 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes for minis and 14-18 minutes for regulars, until the cake springs back lightly when touched.  Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate peanut butter filling by melting 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips in the microwave in a small bowl.  Microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth.  Stir in 1 cup smooth peanut butter until well combined.

Poke a hole in each cupcake with the handle of a wooden spoon, pushing all the way down.  Pour the filling into a quart ziplock bag and snip the corner off.  Squirt filling into each hole, then drizzle a bit extra around the top of each cupcake.

Frosting

1 8 ounce brick cream cheese
1/2 cup real butter
1/4 t. salt
2 t. vanilla
3 T. caramel syrup (optional)
2 T. milk
4 cups powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Beat in the salt, vanilla, optional caramel syrup, and half the powdered sugar.  Beat in the milk, then remaining powdered sugar and whip until fluffy.  Scrape into a frosting bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe a swirl on top of each cupcake.

Garnish each cupcake with chopped salted peanuts and an additional sprinkling of sea salt if desired.  Store uneaten cupcakes in the fridge.

Peanut Butter Christmas Mice

 I fully intended to get this posted before Christmas, but life got busy.  So, you can either stick this in your archives for next year, or use different colored M&M noses and make them valentine mice or whatever other holiday you choose.  This recipe was originally posted in Taste of Home a few years ago.  The last time I made it was at least 3 years ago, but Ethan has a good memory.  His cub scout pack held a cookie derby last week, and this was the first cookie that popped in to his head.

 These are fun to make, and definitely a kid friendly project.  I find that the dough is just a touch crumbly, so my 3 year old wasn't so much help, but the two bigger kids managed just fine.

 They took great delight in making the eyes and ears point different directions to give the mice a little more individuality.

 I felt a little barbaric sticking the poor suckers in the oven. 

 As soon as they come out, you insert the tasty licorice tail (another fun task for kids).

Bonus points for making a Christmas tree out of gingerbread cookies to complete the whole Night Before Christmas scene.  These are exceptionally cute cookies, fun to make and tasty too.  I highly recommend them for a snowy day activity.

Peanut Butter Mice Cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 cup peanut halves
1/4 cup mini M&Ms (green and red for Christmas, or whatever color you choose)
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
60 2" lengths of shoestring licorice (we used Twizzler pull n' peel)

In a medium bowl, cream the peanut butter, butter and sugars.  Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, baking soda, and then the flour until a dough forms.  Cover with saran wrap and chill for an hour or until easy to handle.

Roll into 1" balls, lightly pinching one end of it to form a nose.  Insert two peanut halves for ears, two chocolate chips for eyes, and a mini M&M for a nose as shown above.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set.  Immediately insert tail pieces, allow to cool for a few minutes on the sheet, then carefully remove to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

Fudge Puddles

My kids have inherited my love of browsing through cook books.  Ethan spied this recipe in a 2004 Taste of Home cookbook and insisted on making them.  The results were delicious.  I did change the filling recipe because I was out of the called for sweetened condensed milk and didn't have time to run to the store.  I instead made a chocolate ganache base and it was wonderful.  Soft, but not drippy.  Perfect counterbalance to the peanut buttery crust.  These are simple to put together and my kids enjoyed rolling the balls of dough.

You can see by the variation in height that I had lots of help making these.  We also managed to make 5 dozen rather than the 4 dozen listed in the recipe, not a bad thing at all!  After baking the balls of dough in a mini muffin tin, I simply pushed the centers down with the end of a wooden spoon right after they came out of the oven and then let them cool for about 10 minutes before removing them from the pan.

Fudge Puddles

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Filling:
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 T. vanilla extract

Chopped salted peanuts

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, peanut butter and sugars.  Beat in the egg and vanilla, then beat in the remaining dry ingredients until a dough forms.  Roll into 1" balls and place each ball into the well of a mini muffin tin that has been misted with cooking spray.  Bake at 325 for 14-16 minutes, until just set and the centers begin to sink. 

Immediately upon removal from the oven push the centers down with a wooden spoon handle.  Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the filling, heat the cream up to a simmer over medium low heat in a heavy skillet.  Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips and vanilla.  Let it sit for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth.  Pour the filling into a quart freezer bag, snip a small hole in the tip, and fill each cookie cup.  Sprinkle with chopped peanuts if desired.  The filling may not set up very firmly if your kitchen is warm.  This is easily remedied by putting them in the fridge for a few minutes. 

Makes 48-60, depending on the size of your dough balls.

Peanut Butter Bars

Oh so satisfying. These came from another one of my very favorite cookbooks, Jackson Hole Cooks. I spied it at a gift shop in Teton National Park, browsed through it, put it down, walked out, regretted it, and went back in to purchase it. Most cookbooks I find only 2 or 3 keepers in the whole book that I consistently go back to, but this one has given me several gems. A friend gave me a recipe for her peanut butter bars a while back that were very delicious but I was appalled to find that they had FIVE sticks of butter in them...holy hannah! Granted, that was for a jelly roll size pan, but still! So I was pleased to find this version that uses only ONE stick. While that doesn't quite qualify them as diet food, it's a lot more reasonable. These are delicious the first day, and slightly softer and even tastier the second day.

Peanut Butter Bars

1/2 cup each butter, sugar, brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 plus 1/4 cup peanut butter (divided)
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. soda
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 t. vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

4 T. milk

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Cream the butter and sugars. Blend in egg, 1/3 cup peanut butter, soda, salt and vanilla. Add flour and oats and mix well. Spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle immediately with chocolate chips. After about 5 minutes when the chips are softened, spread them evenly on top of bars.

In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, 1/4 cup peanut butter and milk until smooth. Pour into a ziplock bag, snip the corner off, and drizzle over the bars. Allow to set up, then cut into 2" squares.

Yield 24 bars

Nurse Heidi's Cookies

I was intrigued with Nurse Heidi's recipe enough to try it myself.

I think I made my cookies too large so I had some leftover chocolate bar. I zapped the remaining chocolate with a spot of Crisco and drizzled it on top of the cookies. Then there was a little chocolate in every bite instead of just the spot in the middle.

Thanks for keeping us "posted" Nurse Heidi.

Inside out peanut blossoms

Uncle Eric bestowed (read: regifted) a giant Hershey's bar on Ethan last week. Ethan has been gazing at it fondly and debating all the many ways to use it for days, and I finally talked him into making some cookies. As we discussed the types of cookies, I convinced him to make a secret treasure version of peanut blossoms.

The resulting soft and chewy cookie with a melty chocolate center won rave reviews from the kids, and it was fun to have them help roll the dough balls around the chunks, then through sugar.

Yeah, he's so sneaky. Hands off little buddy! Anyway, this is definitely a kid friendly people pleaser recipe. The dough is easy to handle and yummy to snitch, and I can't think of a better way to use up a giant candy bar. Here you go:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

2 T. milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 t. soda

1/2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

1 3/4 cup flour

1 large chocolate bar, each rectangle cut in half

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the shortening, peanut butter, egg and milk until smooth, then beat in the sugars. Beat in the soda, salt, vanilla and flour. Take a golf ball size glob of dough and push a dent into the middle of it. Stick a chunk of chocolate in and form the dough around it until it is completely encased. Roll each dough ball in sugar, then place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until just set and nicely crinkly on top. Allow to rest on the sheet for 2-3 minutes before attempting to remove to a wire rack - they are quite fragile right out of the oven. This yielded 2 1/2 dozen cookies from a recipe that usually yields closer to 4 dozen if you make them the traditional way with the hershey kiss on top. I have to say that I like these ones better :).

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake Brownies

So, yesterday in my desire to be spiritual and try to better myself, I listened to a talk by J.R. Holland given in October 2005 entitled "To Young Women." In fact, I listened to it again this morning. Elder Holland pleads with women--young and old to recognize that they are divine--regardless of shape or size. He urges women to be happy with there bodies. What does that have to do with this food blog? Well, I'll tell you. I've been inspired to love my short and sturdy body. I'm tired of sacrificing my time baking because of a fear that I'll eat all of my baked goods and gain 3000 pounds! I'm taking a stand against air-brushed magazine covers, and the stupid Victoria's Secret catalog that haunts my mailbox monthly. I refuse to let the media tell me that I'm not the perfect size! I'm going to make myself a damned pan of freaking awesome brownies & if my hot body wants to eat the entire pan--SO BE IT!

Here's my first attempt at facing newfound physical freedom.

Double Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirled Brownies
from bakingblonde.blogspot.com

3/4 cup butter, very soft (not melted but softer than room temp)
1 cup sugar
1 TBS vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
1 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirl
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cups creamy PB
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

5-6 Reese's peanut butter cups (regular size) cut into 6-8 pieces each

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8" square pan with foil and lightly coat with PAM cooking spray. (This really helps when removing brownies from the pan and slicing them.)

In a microwave safe bowl melt the two baking chocolate squares in 30 second intervals stirring after each interval until smooth and melted after stirring. Be very careful not to burn the chocolate. Remove from microwave and allow to come to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, Beat together butter and sugar until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time until blended. Add vanilla and melted chocolate. Mix to combine. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl and whisk together. Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture. Do not over mix the batter.

In separate mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, peanut butter sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add egg and beat until just combined.

Spread about 2/3 of chocolate brownie batter into prepared pan. Evenly drop 1/2 of cheesecake batter in dollops over brownie batter. Run a knife through both mixtures to slightly swirl.

Dollop remaining brownie batter and cheesecake batter over swirled mixture. Run knife through the brownie and cheesecake dollops (not all the way through the already swirled layer) to create a swirled pattern.

After approx. 35-40 minutes of baking, gently place cut up Reese's cups over the top of the almost fully baked brownies. Finish baking (about 5-7 minutes) until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few crumbs stuck to it. Remember that this is your guide, do not over bake or they will be too hard, do not under bake or they will be too gooey. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving. I even stuck them in the fridge after they were cool to make them easier

Peanut Butter Fingers

Sorry, folks, no picture today. I'm much too lazy. I bet you all remember these tasty little peanut buttery chocolatey morsels of goodness from your elementary school days. If you didn't get them at your school, you totally missed out. I'm also sad to say that they no longer serve them in schools as far as I know due to the increasing incidence of peanut allergies.

Peanut Butter Fingers

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. oatmeal
Cream butters and sugars. Add eggs and blend. Mix in dry ingredients. Spread out on cake sheet pan (15x10x1) (I used a 9x13 and just cooked it longer) and bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Frost when completely cool.

Peanut Butter Finger Frosting (This is the original frosting that goes with the recipe.)

3 (3 oz) bars unsweetened baking chocolate, broken in pieces
1 c. miniature marshmallows
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
1/3 c. milk
2 1/2 c. powdered
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In medium pan, over low heat, melt chocolate, stirring constantly. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Mixture will be thick and pull away from sides of pan. Spoon into bowl and beat in butter. Gradually add milk, beating until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat to desired consistency. Frost cooled peanut butter fingers.

(This is the frosting I used from a different recipe. I only did half of this as this recipe is for a 11x17 cookie sheet.)
1/3 c. melted butter
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. milk