Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes

I don't think I really need to do much to sell these cupcakes now that you've read the title of the post. I mean, how can you resist a chocolate cupcake lined at the bottom with an Oreo cookie, stuffed with a mini Reese's cup, and topped with peanut butter Oreo frosting? Need I say more?

I wish this were my brainchild but, alas, I cannot claim credit for this display of just how crazily indulgent and over-the-top one cupcake can be. The credit belongs to Melanie at The Sweet Life. I humbly bow at her feet.

 My motivation for making these cupcakes was to reward the gals in my book club with something extra sweet. This month's book club read was a little... dark. Surprise cannibalism, anyone? Not at all what I expected when I started to read Jamrach's Menagerie so I'm sure the gory, descriptive passages of dismembering and chowing down on former friends came as a surprise to everyone else as well. After reading our way through that gruesome of a story I figured we deserve some sort of recompense. I'm sure you too can come up with a convincing excuse in your life to make a batch of these for yourself. You certainly won't regret it, but then you don't need me to tell you that. The title says it all.

Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from The Sweet Life

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
20 Oreos (or any chocolate sandwich cookies)
20 mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) Line cupcake pans with 20 paper liners. Place one Oreo in the bottom of each liner.

3) Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.  Stir in the chopped chocolate.

4) In the bowl of stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla.  With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the buttermilk and allow to incorporate for 30 seconds.

5) Pour in the flour mixture and beat on medium until fully incorporated, about 1 minute.  Divide the batter evenly among the paper liners, filling each about 2/3 full.

6) Bake for 8 minutes, then remove from oven and press a peanut butter cup into the center of each cupcake.  Bake for 10 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake near the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the muffin tin to cool completely on a wire rack.  

Peanut Butter Oreo Frosting

  

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

1/4 cup peanut butter

2-3 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons Oreo cookie crumbs

1) Separate approximately 4 Oreo cookies and discard the cream filling. In a food processor or plastic bag, crush the cookies into fine crumbs.

2) In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening on high until fully combined. Beat in peanut butter.

3) Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 2 cups of the confectioner's sugar and 2 tablespoons milk. Start the mixer on low, then eventually crank it up to high and beat for 2 minutes. 

4) Add more confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, until you reach your desired consistency.

5) Add the cookie crumbs and beat on high for 2 minutes.

6) Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and store in a sealed container at room temperature.

Zero Bar Hi-Hat Cupcakes

You may have noticed by now that I tend to use any major and minor holiday as an excuse to indulge. Valentine's Day is no exception and because the only presents my husband has on his wish list are big ticket items we skip giving each other gifts and I bake him something sweet every year instead. This year I got my inspiration when he bought a few of his favorite candy bars a couple of weeks ago. Many of you probably have no idea what a Zero bar is. Understandable. They're one of the few white chocolate candy bars out there so, like me, you probably pass them up in favor of something more, well, chocolaty.

(Source)

Candy Blog described the essence of the Zero bar far better than I ever could. "It looks like a bar of the future. Something that robots would eat. Or maybe robots would bring them to us. They’d enter the room through the shooshing automatic door with a tray full of snacks that we munch on while watching TV beamed directly into our optic nerve." It's a white fudge-coated bar filled with almond, peanut, and caramel in some sort of nougat-like configuration. Not bad but wouldn't those flavors be even better as a cupcake? A cupcake covered in a ridiculous amount of frosting and then dunked into chocolate? Heck, wouldn't anything be better with that particular treatment?


Thus was born the Zero Bar Hi-Hat Cupcake: Light and fluffy almond-flavored cake filled with both peanut nougat and caramel, a blend of white chocolate and peanut butter frosting piled high on top, then dipped into a white chocolate coating. Even I thought I was going a little overboard with this one.

Despite being a bit of a Herculean task to eat one of these cupcakes the flavors all shine through nicely. I had to interrogate my husband to see if it was at all reminiscent of a Zero bar and he confirmed that it is. Mission accomplished!

As a side note, I noticed while mining previous blog posts for frosting recipes that many of the cupcakes I make are absurdly complicated. To the point where they probably put off most of you readers from ever attempting any of them. I think I should point out that if you're not feeling as ambitious as I you could usually make substitutions to save a few steps. For example, with these cupcakes there's no reason why you couldn't use store-bought caramel or even just stick a piece of a chopped up Zero bar into the middle of each cupcake instead of making the filling. Believe me, there are plenty of recipes I look at online and think I would never be skilled enough or want to put that much time into baking something. I don't want my recipes to be the kind that get ignored for that reason.

Almond-Flavored Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 cup granulated sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
2/3 cup milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 large eggs

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt.

3) Add the butter and beat with an electric mixer at low speed, until the mixture looks sandy.

4) Combine the milk, vanilla, and almond extract and add, all at once. Mix at low speed for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl.

5) With the mixer running at low speed, add 1 egg. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Add the second egg, again beating for 30 seconds.

6) Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and beat briefly, just until smooth.

7) Scoop the batter by heaping 1/4-cupfuls into the prepared muffin tin. A muffin scoop works well here.

8) Bake the cupcakes for 23 to 25 minutes, until they've domed, and are a light golden brown around the edges. They'll spring back when pressed gently on top, and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.

9) Remove the cupcakes from the oven, cool in pan on a rack for ten minutes. Then remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on the rack.

Caramel Filling:
Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
Pinch of salt
1/8 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons heavy cream, at room temperature

1) Melt the sugar over medium heat in a large pot. With a wooden spoon, stir the sugar as it melts and cook until it becomes a deep amber color.

2) Add the butter and salt and stir it in until melted.

3) Pour in the heavy cream (mixture will foam) and whisk until you get a smooth sauce. You may have some lumps but keep stirring until they have melted. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Pseudo Nougat Filling:
Recipe adapted from Cake Central

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1/4 cup malted milk mix
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

1) Cream butter, shortening, and marshmallow cream together. Add malted milk, vanilla, and cream or milk and continue to cream until well incorporated. Beat on high for a minute until fluffy. Fold in the chopped peanuts.

2) Using the cone method fill each cupcake cavity half with caramel and half with nougat filling. Be sure to trim the excess cake off the bottom of each cone and replace just the top portion to cover the filling.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp heavy cream or milk

1) In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together confectioner's sugar and butter until creamy. Add peanut butter, beating well. Add milk and beat until smooth and creamy.

White Chocolate Buttercream
Adapted from BBC Good Food

90 grams white chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar

1) Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, stirring often. Cool.

2) Beat the butter and powdered sugar until creamy. Beat in the chocolate and continue to beat at medium-high speed until fluffy.

3) Using a spatula "paint" white chocolate frosting on one side of a piping bag and peanut butter frosting on the other side. (I found that my frostings kind of blended together despite this method working with other recipes in the past, so there's really no need to be precise here. You won't be getting that two-tone effect anyway from the frosting so feel free to just jam it all in there.) Pipe onto cupcakes using a large round tip in a tall spiral pattern.

4) Put the cupcakes in the freezer while you make the white chocolate coating.

White Chocolate Coating
Adapted from Martha Stewart

2 cups white chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

1) Combine chocolate and oil in a medium heat-proof bowl set over a medium saucepan of barely simmering water; stir until melted and smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, and let cool about 15 minutes.

2) Holding each cupcake by its bottom, dip cupcake in the chocolate to coat frosting, allowing excess to drip off. Transfer to a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack. Spoon more coating around edge of cupcake and any exposed frosting; none of the frosting should show. Let cupcakes stand at room temperature 15 minutes before eating.

Dark Chocolate Chip Comfort Cookies

Since I scaled down our Thanksgiving meal to the point where it wasn't much more complicated to make than a typical weeknight dinner, I uncharacteristically found myself with a lot of free time Thanksgiving morning. That meant I got to lounge around on the sofa watching the parade and putting together silly Photoshopped pictures for a friend.

Exhibit A of my boredom:



Exhibit B:



And Exhibit C for a different friend:


But once the parade was over, the cranberry sauce for our fabulous turkey burgers was made and chilling in the fridge, and my husband was taking a pre-Thanksgiving meal nap I found myself even more bored than before. What to do, what to do?

I'd been craving chocolate chip cookies for weeks and had just bookmarked an intriguing-looking recipe from Bakerella for chocolate cookies made with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips that are otherwise similar to the chocolate chip cookies I'd been craving. So I decided to whip up a batch. This turned out to be a wonderful decision as they were just as easy to make as chocolate chip cookies but the addition of that peanut butter elevates them to a whole new level. Frankly, I probably would have passed up the Nestle dark chocolate chips in favor of something a little fancier but because Bakerella seemed to be such a big fan of them I picked up a bag when we were doing our Thanksgiving grocery shopping. Boy am I glad I did. These cookies wouldn't be nearly as impressive without that flavor balance.

Since I was incapable of following instructions for any of the recipes I made this weekend, I also changed things up a little with these. I tossed in a few peanut butter chips to go along with the peanut butter in the dough and added some cinnamon since I adore the combination of cinnamon with chocolate. I didn't bother to roll them into perfectly formed balls before baking either, but I'll go ahead and admit that that's because I didn't bother to thoroughly read the directions. Instead I used a cookie scoop and just plopped the blobs of dough onto cookie sheets. The cookies seem none the worse for wear as a result of my mistake as the cookie scoop not only kept the cookies to a uniform size but it also helped shape the dough a bit. I'm also not a huge fan of nuts in cookies so I skipped the optional step of coating each cookie in chopped pecans. If you want to go that route head over to Bakerella's post for all of the details. I refuse to sully my blog with such a thing!

The best part is that my husband's not a big fan of chocolate so I get to keep these all to myself. Which is a good thing because they're so good I think blood might spill if he were to try to take some. Half of the batch went straight into the freezer and I will happily nosh on them in the weeks to come. I suspect that when that supply runs out I'll go ahead and make some more. This recipe just might replace plain old chocolate chip cookies in my baking repertoire when I want to make some easy comfort food.

Dark Chocolate Chip Comfort Cookies
Recipe adapted from Bakerella

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
10 oz. dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) In a small bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon using a wire whisk and set aside.
3) In another bowl, cream butter, sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy.
4) Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
5) Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix until combined.
6) Stir in dark chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.
7) Roll cookie dough into 1-1/4 inch balls. (Or not. Be a rebel like me.)
8) Place on parchment paper covered baking sheet and bake 10 minutes.
9) Place cookies on cookie rack to cool.
Makes about 30 2-inch cookies.

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

With Hurricane Irene bearing down on us the natives are getting restless. Their panic is driving them to the stores to stock up on water and fill their tanks with gas. My panic, on the other hand, is driving me straight to the kitchen. What if there's a power outage that lasts for days? Sure, I've got plenty of non-perishable foods to sustain me but what if I have to go all that time without getting to eat freshly baked goods?! The horror, the horror.

This morning I rushed downstairs to bake something to satisfy my craving for chocolate and peanut butter. These brownie nuggets are baked with both chocolate and peanut butter chips. To make them incredibly indulgent I deviated from the original recipe and topped them with both rich chocolate ganache and peanut butter frosting. I don't even want to consider the calorie count but can tell you these sure worked to satisfy that craving.


So don't worry about me in the days to come as the rain and winds buffet my home. As you can see, I am all set to weather the storm.

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups
Recipe adapted from Cookies & Cups

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips separated as follows: 3/4 cup (to melt), 1/2 cup (to stir in)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 12 cup muffin pan.
2) Combine sugar, butter and water in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute or until butter is melted.
3) Add 3/4 cup semi-sweet chips; stir until melted.
4) Add egg and vanilla extract and stir well. Add flour and baking soda and stir until blended. Allow to cool to room temperature.
5) Stir in 1/2 cup each of PB chips and semi-sweet chips. Spoon a heaping tablespoon batter into each prepared muffin cup.
6) Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top is set and wooden pick inserted center comes out still slightly wet.
7) Place muffin pan on wire rack. Centers of brownies will fall upon cooling. If some do not, with back of teaspoon, tap center to make a hole.

Chocolate Ganache Filling
Recipe adapted from Crustabakes

3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

1) In a small saucepan, combine chips and cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is thickened. Cool slightly. Spoon into hollows in the center of each brownie cup.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tbsp heavy cream or milk

1) In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together confectioner's sugar and butter until creamy. Add peanut butter, beating well, Add milk and beat until smooth and creamy. Pipe onto brownie cups.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Cream

It's always a struggle to clear out enough room in my freezer for the giant ice cream maker bowl but the results are always well worth the effort. This peanut butter and jelly ice cream is no exception.

For some reason I've been craving peanut butter desserts lately so I dug into the archives of bookmarked recipes for this gem. The ice cream is wonderfully creamy and full of peanut butter flavor with the added bonus of sweet jam. It really does taste like all the best parts of a PB&J sandwich. I used some of my favorite raspberry jam from Trader Joe's and this really hit the spot. Yum!

Amusingly, after I'd mixed the ingredients together and set it in the fridge to cool I went out to a specialty ice cream shop and they just so happened to have peanut butter and jelly ice cream on their menu. See? It's not a totally unheard of idea!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Cream
Recipe from Steph's Bite by Bite

2/3 cup sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (not the natural kind)
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Jam – however much you like and whatever flavor of jam you want

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine), mix together the sugar and creamy peanut butter on medium low speed until combined. On low speed, add in the milk. Then add in the heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract and mix to completely combine. Use a whisk to finish mixing the ingredients together.

Pour the mixture in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours or chill overnight (recommended).

Turn your ice cream maker on and pour the mixture into the ice cream maker. Freeze according to your manufacturer’s instructions.

Once the ice cream is done churning, spread a layer of the ice cream in the bottom of a container. Add some jam on top and swirl it. Spread some more ice cream on top. Add more jam and swirl again. Finally spread on the last layer of ice cream.

Cover the ice cream and freeze for a couple of hours or more.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies. Need I Say More?

I've only been following Gingerbread Bagels for a few months but every recipe she posts has me drooling. If anything, her recipes have gotten better and better these past few months and she is the queen of coming up with wonky flavor combinations. A girl after my own heart! I already made one batch of baked goods using the irresistible chocolate-covered peanut butter-filled pretzel bites from Trade Joe's in some banana cupcakes but thought Gingerbread Bagels' idea to combine them with brownies would be even better.

It's rare for me to make chocolatey desserts since my husband's not a fan, but with my book club coming over last week I thought that was the perfect excuse to give these a whirl. Now I'm kicking myself for not making them sooner. Put these at the top of your to-bake list and you won't be sorry, I promise. The brownies themselves are full of delicious chocolate flavor but it's the light, airy peanut butter frosting that is the kicker. Combine that with the saltiness of the pretzel bites and this is a winner.

Despite what I'm sure is an alarmingly high calorie count I'm glad my group left a few behind so I could freeze them and savor them over the next few weeks. I think I'll be making these again and again when chocolate-loving guests come over.

Chubby Hubby Brownies
Recipe from Gingerbread Bagels

15 chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels, cut in half
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature

Sift together the flour, unsweetened cocoa powder and kosher salt. Set aside.

Take 15 chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels and cut them in half. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works too), mix together the packed light brown sugar, sugar, melted unsalted butter and vanilla extract on medium speed.
Add in the eggs one at a time.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients on low speed. Mix until just combined. Take a spatula and fold the ingredients together.

Throw in the chopped chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels and fold them in.

Spread the brownie batter into a lightly greased 8×8 inch baking pan. Bake the brownies at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Cool the brownies before frosting with the peanut butter frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels, cut into small pieces for garnish (however many you like)

Sift the powdered sugar. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works), combine the creamy peanut butter, softened unsalted butter and vanilla extract.

Slowly add in the powdered sugar and combine. Pour in the heavy whipping cream and mix until smooth.

Once the brownies are done cooling, frost them with a thick layer of peanut butter frosting. Cut some chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels into small pieces and sprinkle on top of the frosting. Cut into bars and enjoy!

Pretzel-stuffed Chocolate Chip Banana Cupcakes With Peanut Butter Frosting

Since we now have the added expense of my husband's fancy new/old car I'm trying to crack down and put us on a real budget so we can rebuild our savings. As part of that savings plan I'm trying to use up what we already have on hand before I go out and buy more. While I might have preferred to try one of the fancy new recipes I've discovered at Pinterest I instead made an effort to come up with something fun using ingredients I already had in the house. Not to mention that I've had some overripe bananas browning on the counter for over a week. Thus was my latest cupcake creation born.

I used my trusty banana cupcake recipe and the melt-in-your-mouth peanut butter buttercream recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes. My unique twist came in the form of adding some chocolate chips to the cake batter and a delicious pretzel nugget at the center of each cupcake. Trader Joe's sells some peanut butter-stuffed pretzel bites that are then coated in a thick layer of chocolate and they are amazing. Sweet and salty heaven in a bite-sized serving! I, being the cheap person that I am, instead found a knockoff version at Aldi for a fraction of the price and stocked up when they were selling them a few months ago. I'd say they are just as good as the original and just as dangerously addictive.


As expected, the cake baked up nice and fluffy and the peanut butter frosting was a great match for the banana flavor. The best part is that the pretzel remained crispy and added a nice surprising crunch to each cupcake. While I won't make these on a regular basis because I'm loath to part with more of my pretzel bites they were a fun experiment and the flavor combination was as appealing as I'd imagined.

Pretzel-stuffed Banana, Chocolate, and Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson


1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used melted butter)
2 eggs
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large)
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 chocolate covered peanut butter pretzel bites

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line 12 cupcake wells with paper liners.
2) In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.
3) In a bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, and eggs until smooth. Add banana and vanilla, beating well. Add flour mixture, beating until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.
4) Scoop about one tablespoon of batter into each cupcake well. Place one pretzel in the center of each cupcake and top with remaining batter until covered. Bake in preheated oven 22 to 28 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp heavy cream or milk

1. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together confectioner's sugar and butter until creamy. Add peanut butter, beating well, Add milk and beat until smooth and creamy. Pipe onto cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies

Photo source

Happy World Nutella Day! Oddly, I made these brownies last night completely unaware that today was the big day of celebration for one of my favorite foods. Honestly, had I known I would have tried to come up with something more intricate and impressive. Which isn't to say these Nutella brownies aren't deliciously infused with lots of Nutella flavor and worth the loss of nearly an entire jar of the stuff. The chocolate in the recipe comes entirely from the Nutella and when combined with oodles of butter and brown sugar the brownies are fudgy and flavorful. Add in some peanut butter chips for the win!

A Photo A Day [Day 159]

Nutella Brownies
Recipe from Sweet Bliss

1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup Nutella
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and brought to room temp
3/4 cup peanut butter chips

1) Preheat your oven to 325 F. Prepare a 9 inch square pan by lightly greasing bottom and sides or lining it with parchment paper and spraying it with non stick spray.
2) In a small bowl, sift flour and salt together. Set aside.
3) In another bowl, mix Nutella, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla on low speed until well incorporated and creamy, about 2 minutes or so. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the melted butter. Fold in peanut butter chips.
4) Spread in your pan and bake for 25-35 minutes. You want the center to be just set if you like them fudgy.

Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes w/Nutella Buttercream

I have a problem. I appear to be addicted to Nutella buttercream. This is not a healthy way to live. Someone really needs to come over and cut off my supply. Pronto! Consider this my Nutella Addicts Anonymous (NAA, not to be confused with NA) confession. My cry for help, if you will. If you see me post another Nutella-frosted cupcake on here in the next month you have my permission to turn me in to the appropriate authorities.

Fortunately, most of these are going home with my mom so she can pass them along to some cupcake-deprived relatives who only get to see pictures of my delectable baked goods, never get to taste them. I wanted to whip up something easy but also something I knew would be delicious, so I did a repeat of the peanut butter cupcakes from my white chocolate vs. dark chocolate throwdown. I was hooked on the idea of pairing this with the aforementioned Nutella frosting and decided to perk things up a bit with a surprise honey nut filling. Although now that I think about it a Nutella nut filling would have been equally delicious. Next time I might try substituting Nutella for the honey and see how that turns out. Because despite what I said at the top of this post there will almost certainly be a next time!

Definitely a winner but very rich. Be sure to pair these with a tall glass of milk and you're all set to feed your unhealthy Nutella addiction.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Adapted from I Heart Cuppycakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line 12 muffin wells with paper cupcake liners.

2) Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

3) In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Mix in egg. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute or until batter is smooth.

4) On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

5) Fill each liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/3 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. There will be cracks on the top. Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Honey Nut Filling
1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts
1/4 cup chopped almonds (blanched or without skins)
2 1/2 heaping tablespoons of honey

1) Combine peanuts and almonds and mix well. Add honey and stir to completely coat the nut mixture.

2) Once cupcakes are cool, use the cone method and fill each cupcake with a generous spoonful of the honey nut mixture. Replace top of cake.

Nutella Buttercream
Recipe adapted from French for Cupcake

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup nutella
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons (or more) of milk or cream

1) Cream together the butter and Nutella until blended.

2) Add the powdered sugar gradually until ingredients are combined.

3) Mix on high speed, adding cream until frosting is smooth and creamy.

There Can Be Only One

There is an ongoing epic battle in my house, a battle between good and evil, wrong and right, dark and light! Dark and light chocolate, that is. While I, as a member of the fairer sex, am genetically predisposed to like traditional chocolate made from actual cocoa, my husband only enjoys white chocolate. That is why you'll rarely see chocolate recipes on this blog. It seems wrong for me to be so selfish as to make a dessert only I will enjoy and even more wrong to eat the entire thing by myself. I imagine some couples get divorced over these types of divisive issues but we're both saintly enough to allow the other his personal preference, no matter how stupid and misguided that preference might be.

When I saw Sweetest Kitchen's recipe for Peanut Butter White Chocolate Cupcakes I knew I had to make them for my husband. Perhaps I'd even make the ultimate sacrifice and sample a few myself. But then the cravings kicked in. Cravings for chocolate. Delicious rich, dark chocolate. Not the impostor white stuff masquerading as chocolate. Clearly it was time for a showdown between these two flavors to see which would emerge as the champion.

Both began with the same peanut butter cake recipe. Which is TO DIE FOR. This is the absolute best peanut butter cake recipe I've ever tried. Somehow it manages to combine that stick to the roof of your mouth peanut butter sensation with a light cake. It's not dense or chewy at all. Just simply sublime. I see myself making this one again and again with a variety of frosting flavors. I'm picturing honey, Nutella, or banana working nicely with this. But for now it was all about the chocolate.

Using the same frosting recipe, I divided the butter and powdered sugar and made a half batch with melted white chocolate and a half batch with semi-sweet chocolate. Both blended well and piped on nicely. There was a smooth, buttery texture to both. The taste test, however, would be the proof of the pudding. I wish I could be unbiased and report that because both were essentially made from the same recipe they were both equally good. However, my personal preference for regular chocolate outweighs any sense of fairness I may have so I am declaring those to be the winner!

But wait. One cannot make these sorts of bold proclamations based on a sample group of one. It's fair and just to allow my husband to participate too. Only trouble is, his vote was already cast before he took his first bite. The truth is that both were delicious because you really can't go wrong with a fantastic peanut butter cake topped with chocolate of any kind. Even the kind that is only loosely defined as chocolate. While I'd happily eat both, I know which one I'd reach for first and I know my husband would always go for the other. I guess in the end this answered nothing except the age-old question, "What's for dessert?"

Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Adapted from I Heart Cuppycakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line 12 muffin wells with paper cupcake liners.

2) Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

3) In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Mix in egg. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute or until batter smooth.

4) On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

5) Fill each liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/3 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. There will be cracks on the top. Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream
Adapted from BBC Good Food

50g semi-sweet chocolate
50g white chocolate
140g unsalted butter
140g icing sugar

1) Melt the semi-sweet chocolate over a double boiler, stirring often. Leave to cool. Do the same with the white chocolate in a separate bowl.

2) Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Remove half of the mixture and set aside. Add semi-sweet chocolate to the remaining mixture and beat to combine. Pipe onto 6 of the cupcakes.

3) Take other half of butter and sugar mixture and place in clean mixing bowl. Add white chocolate and beat to combine. Pipe onto 6 of the cupcakes.

4) Invite your friends around to judge which cupcake is superior. Or eat them all yourself because they're too good to share.


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