Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters... Milk's New Favorite Cookies!

Moooooove over Oreo, there's a new cookie in town. And I'm pretty confident that in a race to a tall, cold glass of reduced fat milk, these cookies would mow down any Oreo, even Double Stuffed, that got in their way! These cookies are the brain child of none other than Dorie Greenspan. If you're a TWDer, you're already familiar with the deliciousness of these cookies. I, however, was a virgin to the idea of peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate chips all married together as one delicious, chewy piece of perfection! Well, not including those no-bake chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies... OMG that's a whole other wet dream!

I put my own spin on these by replacing the chocolate chips with mini peanut butter cups. I'm pretty sure that's what puts these cookies over the edge. Imagine biting into a chewy peanut butter cookie and then finding that your teeth have sunk into a tiny, melty peanut butter cup. Can you hear the angels?????
I have to admit, the only cookies I've ever eaten with milk were Oreos and Lorna Doones. But after reading Dorie's description of these cookies and how they pair so well with milk, I simply could not resist. Feel free to cheat on your Oreos with these cookies. I promise you won't regret it! ;D
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (from "Baking From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan)
Makes 60 cookies (I got 46 using a #30 [2 Tbsp] scoop)

3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon (I omitted)
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg (I omitted)
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth (but not natural)
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks (I used 12 ounces mini peanut butter cups)

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, spices and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended. Mix in the chips. If you have the time, cover and chill the dough for about 2 hours or for up to one day. (Chilling the dough will give you more evenly shaped cookies.)

If the dough is not chilled, drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. If the dough is chilled, scoop up rounded tablespoons, roll the balls between your palms and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes. The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Lift the cookies onto cooling racks with a wide metal spatula - they'll firm as they cool.

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Serving: I can't remember when I actually served these. They're more often plucked from a cookie jar than picked from a platter.

Storing: Wrapped airtight or piled into a cookie jar, the cookies will keep at room temperature for about 4 days. Wrapped and frozen, they'll be good for 2 months.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Spring cleaning is just around the corner... I'm dreading it, but I know it's going to feel SO GOOD when I know there isn't a speck of dust on my ceiling fan, under my bed, or on my lucky cat collection! Today, I started a Spring clean in one of the kitchen cabinets. We've had some honey roasted peanut butter for way too long, so I decided to use it in a simple peanut butter cookie recipe. The results are delicious! The honey roasted peanut butter gives them a unique flavor. They're crispy around the edges and chewy in the center. Perfect for munching while your're taking a break from icky cleaning and scrubbing... just don't forget to wash your hands! ;) Enjoy!Peanut Butter Cookies (from "Good Housekeeping: Great Baking")
Makes about 4 dozen cookies (I got 34 average-sized cookies)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter (I used honey roasted)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark brown)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease 2 large cookie sheets (or use parchment paper). In small bowl, combine flour and baking soda.
2. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat butter, peanut butter, and sugars until well blended. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; beat in half of flour mixture until blended. With wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour mixture until combined.
3. With hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Press with floured tines of fork in a crosshatch pattern. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned at edges (I baked mine 9 minutes). Cool on cookie sheets on wire rack 2 minutes. With wide spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

Book Review: "You Made That Dessert?" by Beth Lipton

Recently, I was asked by one of my favorite bloggers, Beth of CookiePie, if I would review her brand new cookbook called "You Made That Dessert?" I was completely flattered that she thought of me, and I was totally awestruck that she got her very own cookbook published. How cool is she??? Lol! She sent me a copy, and I am in love with it! The pictures are fantastic. There is a wide variety of dessert recipes. I love the little stories that go with each one. The two recipes I've tried so far were completely delicious! I made the Gingersnaps (pg. 7) and the Peanut Butter and Banana Bread (pg. 80). The gingersnaps were robust and spicy, crispy around the edges with a great chewy texture. I took some to work and everyone loved them! The peanut butter and banana bread is a genius recipe! It takes a classic flavor combination and makes it new! I made it into muffins instead of a loaf, and they were perfect! Moist and dense, not too sweet, they would make a great breakfast or afternoon snack. I recommend this book to any baker, not because I love Beth and her blog, but because it really is a fantastic cookbook!

You can find it on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com

Gingersnaps
Makes 3 dozen cookies

2 cups (8.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (10.5 ounces) sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line three rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper, and stir with a fork to combine.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat together the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and add the egg, molasses, and vanilla, then beat until combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a flexible spatula. Beat again until the mixture is uniform. (The mixture may look curdled and separated at first, but don't worry; as you beat it, it will come together and turn a pale brown.)

Stop the mixer and add the flour mixture. Use a flexible spatula or wooden spoon to mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until a dough forms. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and stir well so that all of the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.

Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. Use a small ice cream scoop or two teaspoons to scoop out pieces of dough and roll them, one at a time, in your palms to form balls that are about 1 1/2 inches wide. One at a time, roll the balls in the sugar until they're coated, then place the dough balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets (don't crowd them-they will spread a lot). Use the bottom of a glass to lightly press the balls into discs.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 11 minutes, until lightly browned. Let them cool on the pans on wire racks for 5 minutes, then use a spatula to remove the gingersnaps and place them directly on the wire racks to cool completely.


Peanut Butter & Banana Bread
Makes 1 9-inch loaf

1 1/4 cups (5.35 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (do not use "natural")
2/3 cup sugar
3 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mist a 5 x 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt with a fork. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the peanut butter and sugar together until well blended, about 2 minutes. Beat in the mashed banana and eggs; mix well.

Using a wooden spoon or flexible spatula, stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter-banana mixture, mixing until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a flexible spatula if needed. Stir in the chopped nuts and/or chocolate chips, if using.

Pour the batter into the pan and gently smooth the top with the flexible spatula. Bake 45 minutes. Cover the pan loosely with foil and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes in the pan.

Remove the bread by running a paring knife around the inside of the pan to loosen it, then inverting the pan to release the bread : onto a wire rack. Carefully turn the bread right-side up and cool completely. Slice and serve. Wrap any leftovers tightly in plastic wrap and foil; keep at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.


I guess I'll go ahead and use this entry to tell you about this awesome cinnamon I found at TJ Maxx last week! It's made out of totally different stuff than most cinnamon sold in the United States. If you watch "Good Eats" religiously like I do, you've heard Alton Brown talk about the difference between cheap cinnamon (Cassia) and REAL cinnamon (Cinnamomum Zeylanicum). This is the REAL STUFF and it was only $4.99! It smells so much better than cheap cinnamon. It was really yummy in the gingersnaps, and I bet it's gonna make INSANE cinnamon rolls! I'm definitely gonna go back and get a few more.

HTEAC Does Business: "Over the Hill!" 40th Birthday Cake

I'm gonna start a new grouping of posts for my paid orders. I'm calling it HTEAC Does Business (sticking with the theme from my HTEAC Does Dinner section). One of our loyal wing nighters asked me to do her boyfriend John's 40th birthday cake. She wanted to do the "Over the Hill" theme with lots of black frosting. Thank goodness he likes chocolate because it is SO awful trying to make black vanilla buttercream. She told me he loves Reese's and asked me to do a cake and cupcakes using chocolate and peanut butter as the main flavors. For the cake, I used a peanut butter cake recipe from a book I recently got, Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott, and I added some mini chocolate chips to the batter. For the frosting, I used regular decorator's buttercream for the colors. And for the black frosting I made chocolate peanut butter frosting. I hate decorating cakes, and if I didn't have help from my mom (who took a gazillion Wilton classes back in the day and can decorate character cakes in her sleep) this cake would've looked terrible. We teamed up and did a pretty awesome job, considering my mom hasn't done a cake in over 10 years and I absolutely loathe cake decorating.

And if you suck at making flowers like I do, try this method. Use a small star tip (I think I used #18) and make a swirl from the inside out. It looks sorta like a flower!

Now let me talk a little more about this cake recipe. It uses the mixing method of coating the flour with fat before adding the wet ingredients. This prevents the flour from absorbing the wet ingredients and thus prevents the development of gluten. Meaning, you can stop worrying so much about over-mixing your cake batter. At first, this method always made me nervous because it's pounded into our heads that we should never over-mix the batter after the flour is added. But after a bit of practice, I actually prefer this mixing method. This particular recipe is mixed for over 2 1/2 minutes and the cake comes out perfectly soft and moist! It's like a cake miracle! :D

PS: If you only wanna make 6 or 7 cupcakes, make 1/4 of the recipe. (It works, I tried it!)

James McNair's Peanut Cake (from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)
Makes 2 9-inch round layers; or about 28 cupcakes [1/4 recipe in green makes about 7 cupcakes]
4 eggs (1 egg)
1 cup milk (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup peanut oil or vegetable oil (1 Tbsp)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (1/2 tsp)
3 cups all-purpose flour (3/4 cup)
1 tablespoon baking powder (3/4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit)
2 cups sugar (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened (2 Tbsp)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (not "natural" peanut butter) (2 Tbsp)
3/4 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (my own addition) (1/4 cup)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare baking pans. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and whisk to blend well. Set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl of a mixer, and stir with a fork to mix well. Add the sugar and use the mixer at low speed or a fork to mix these dry ingredients together well, about 30 seconds. Add the butter and peanut butter and beat at medium speed until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs, about 45 seconds. Add about 1 1/4 cups of the milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes, and then stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining milk mixture, beat for 30 seconds, stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat again until creamy smooth, about 30 seconds more. (Fold in the chocolate chips, if using.)
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes (or 15-17 minutes for cupcakes), until the cake springs back when touched gently in the center and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks or folded kitchen towel for 5 to 10 minutes. Then turn out the cakes onto the racks to cool completely.

IronCupcake_008: "Beer & Peanuts" Cupcakes

Iron Cupcake:Earth_008
Theme: Nuts & Seeds
My 2nd entry: Beer & Peanuts Cupcakes
Voting begins: Sunday, March 29 at 8 pm Central @ http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com/ and will be open through Friday, April 3 at 12 noon Central.


Wow, is this last minute or what!? The deadline is 12 central, which is 1pm eastern... Let's see if I click "Publish Post" before time runs out! The inspiration for these cupcakes came from a recipe in Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman. I didn't use her recipe, but ever since I saw "Beer and Peanuts Cupcakes" in her book, I've wanted to make my own variation of the idea. My cupcakes are chocolate beer cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. I used Nigella Lawson's recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake. I'm not sure exactly how it's written in her book, because when I googled the recipe it was a little different on every blog I looked at. This is the one I found on the Borders bookstore website. It's supposedly an exerpt from the book, so I bet it's right. I halved the recipe and got 14 cupcakes. For the frosting, I made up a recipe off the cuff, but I wish I'd gone back and used the recipe from Bake & Destroy that I love so much. Overall, I'm fairly pleased with these cupcakes. They are extremely moist (verging on gummy because of all the liquid in the recipe). They aren't incredibly chocolatey, but that's okay because I wasn't focusing on the chocolate anyway. I wish the beer flavor was a little more prominent. I blame myself for that, though. We didn't have any Guinness on hand so I used the darkest beer we had, wish was an Irish Red. Not dark enough for this recipe I guess. Here they are, my second Iron Cupcake entry for this month!

Chocolate Beer Cupcakes (adapted from Nigella Lawson's "Chocolate Guinness Cake")
(I halved this and got 14 cupcakes)

1 cup Guinness (or any dark beer)
¾ cup sour cream
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups superfine sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and butter and line a 9 inch springform pan (or put 14 paper liners in a muffin pan). Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour (14-16 minutes for cupcakes). Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

Peanut Butter Frosting (my own recipe)

1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Blend butter and peanut butter until smooth. Sift in confectioners' sugar and beat on low speed. Add milk and increase speed to high. Beat for 1 minute.


Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 3

Prizes provided by Etsy artists:
A Bunnycake Easter Plushie by DOGBONEART
A whimsical piece by CAKEASAURUS
A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
Also, CAKESPY, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice!
SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY will be tossing in a collection of all new printed cupcake liners, 200 in all.
Corporate prize providers:
HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS
HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
JESSIE STEELE APRONS
CUPCAKE COURIER
TASTE OF HOME books
UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM
Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers

Mr. Goodbar Cupcakes

Sorry there was no poll this week. My dad chose the cupcake flavor, and he reigns supreme! Ever since I was little, I can remember my dad buying those bags of fun-size Hershey's assorted candy bars. His favorite is and has always been Mr. Goodbar (with Special Dark at a close 2nd). Recently over dinner, he randomly suggested that I make Mr. Goodbar cupcakes. How could I say no?? If you are not familiar with Mr. Goodbar, it's a milk chocolate candy bar with chopped peanuts mixed in. For the cupcake version, I made peanut butter cupcakes with a piece of Mr. Goodbar baked on top. Then I topped them with milk chocolate frosting. I had a hard time with this frosting recipe. It's from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman. The original recipe was soupy like a glaze and not very chocolatey. I probably ended up adding about 6 more ounces of chocolate plus another cup of confectioners' sugar before I got it to a spreadable consistency. I won't be making it again. The cupcakes themselves, however, are DELICIOUS! Very peanut buttery! I'll definitely call this recipe from Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans a keeper!

PS: Remember this idea when you have a Halloween bag FULL of those fun-sized candy bars and don't want your kids overdosing on candy!

Ingredients Butter, brown sugar, and peanut butter ready to meet each other!

Deeeeeelicious batter!

Ready for the oven!Cooling and looking good so far! Tada! I used peanuts from a bag of trail mix so they'd be unsalted. :D Doesn't that look so yummy!?

MY NOTES: I don't recommend the frosting recipe. It's hard to work with, very sweet, and does not have a pronounced chocolate flavor.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes (from Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans)
Makes 12-14 (Recipe says 12, I got 14)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup milk (any fat content)

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

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

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 the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Mix in the egg. Add the vanilla and beat for 1 minute, or until the batter is smooth. 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 just until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each paper liner with a generous ¼ cup of batter, to about 1/3 inch below the top of the liner. (At this point, I placed ½ of a bite sized Mr. Goodbar in the center of each cupcake and lightly pressed it down.) Bake just until the tops feel firm and are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes (If you put chocolate on yours, insert the toothpick from the side diagonally toward the center). There may be a few small cracks on top. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack.

Carefully place the wire rack on top of the cupcakes in their pan. Protecting your hands with pot holders and holding the pan and rack together, invert them to release the cupcakes onto the wire rack. Turn the cupcakes top side up to cool completely.

Milk Chocolate Frosting (from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman)
3 oz. milk chocolate (I ended up using about 10 oz altogether!)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar (I added another 3/4 cup to make it spreadable)
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat chocolate and butter in a double boiler or microwave until just melted. Remove from heat and cool.
Using a whisk or wooden spoon, beat sugar, salt, cream, and vanilla until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture and beat until blended. (If frosting is too soft, put it in the fridge for 10-20 minutes to harden it a bit. Beat it again until it becomes spreadable.)

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 4
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 2

Reese's Pieces® Cupcakes

Over the weekend, Josh and I went to the movies to see "Horton Hears a Who" (fyi, cute movie). While we were there he helped me rekindle my love for Reese's Pieces buy spending a zillion dollars for a bag of them! It takes me forever to eat candy, so I still had half the bag yesterday morning. I decided to use them in these chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. I don't use cake mix very often, but I had some just sitting in the cabinet getting dusty. I spruced up the yellow cake mix with some peanut butter. I frosted them with chocolate buttercream (to which I added a bit of peanut butter). I'm not typically a "frosting lover." I usually scrape most of it off (except SMBC of course!). However, I was literally eating this chocolate PB buttercream by the spoonful out of the bowl. It's so creamy and good!! These cupcakes are extreeemely delicious. I couldn't eat them quietly... if you know what I'm saying. And the Reese's Pieces on top are a perfect crunchy surprise.

ingredientsbefore...

...after

23 ready to be baked!

While the cupcakes were baking, I was reading the

ingredient label on the cake mix and noticed this startling fact...

I wonder what constitutes "excessive consumption."

cooling and smelling fabulous!

topped with Reese's Pieces

The final yummy product!

Who else is fed up with April showers making daylight too dull to get a good picture? I mean seriously, it has rained every single day since April 1. And my herb garden is dying because my seedlings need sunshine! :(

Recipe adapted from Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn.

Peanut Butter Surprises
Makes 22-24 cupcakes

24 Hershey's Kisses (I omitted these)
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
8 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (.75 ounce each) (I omitted these)
Chocolate Buttercream (I changed this to Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside. Unwrap 24 Hershey's Kisses and set them aside.
2. Place the cake mix, water, peanut but­ter, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until blended, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes longer, scraping down the sides again if necessary. The batter should be well blended. Spoon or scoop 1/4 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it two-thirds of the way full. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Gently place 1 Kiss on top of each cupcake. Do not press the Kiss into the batter. Place the pans in the oven. Meanwhile, place the Peanut Butter Cups in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
3. Bake the cupcakes until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 min­utes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cup­cakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your finger­tips. Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the Chocolate Buttercream. Remove the Peanut Butter Cups from the freezer and coarsely chop them.
5. Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with a short metal spatula or metal spoon, taking care to cover the tops. Garnish with chopped Peanut Butter Cups. The cupcakes are ready to serve.

Store these cupcakes in a cake saver or under a glass dome at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or freeze them wrapped in aluminum foil or in a cake saver for up to 6 months. Thaw the cupcakes overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Chocolate Buttercream (My changes in orange make Chocolate PB Buttercream)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter; at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups confectioners' sugar; sifted
3 to 5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the butter, peanut butter, and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until the mixture is soft and well combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine and add the confectioners sugar (I just guestimated while adding sugar. It was probably more like 2 cups), 3 tablespoons of the milk, and the vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons more milk if the frost­ing is too stiff.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 4
Frosting: 5

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

The whole reason wing night was started at our house was to get people over to eat and watch America Idol. While wing night carried on long after the last season of Idol ended, it just wasn't the same. To celebrate the new season of American Idol and essentially a new 'season' of Idol-filled wing nights, I made these super lucious PB&J Cupcakes. The concensus of the judges is these are the best cupcakes I've made in a long time. If Idol was a baking competition, I very well may be on my way to Hollywood... unlike that Alexis Cohen... WHO ELSE SAW THAT? What a train wreck!

ingredients... (ran out of l. brown sugar, had to use 1/3 cup d. brown)!Ready to rise!...cooling and smelling like peanut butter heaven!Each cupcake got a grape jelly injection!Blending peanut butter, butter and vanilla for the frosting...
I love the way things look in the mixer when they get all creamy and delicious looking! Peanut butter frosting swirled with grape jelly (this was extremely difficult to achieve and 25% of the cupcakes look like crap)! Grape jelly in the middle!

Cupcake recipe from Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella. Frosting recipe from 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly.

MY NOTES: My cupcakes took 21 minutes to bake.
To inject the jelly: I used a Wilton round #7 tip and a piping bag. Just stick the tip most of the way into the cupcake and squeeze until you feel jelly coming out of the tip. Stop squeezing before you remove the tip from the cupcake. You might have to practice to know how much jelly to add. I squeezed about 2 teaspoons into each cupcake, but probably could've added more. I was just worried about the cupcakes exploding.
To swirl the peanut butter frosting and jelly together: I filled a piping bag half full with frosting. Then pinch one side of the bag to pull the bag away from the frosting starting at the tip all the way to the top of the bag to make room for the jelly. Then using a spoon or another piping bag, add a small amount of jelly to one side of the piping bag. This takes some experimenting also. A few of my cupcakes came out looking terrible because too much jelly came out with the frosting. No worries, they were still delicious!


Peanut Butter Cupcakes

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup smooth or crunchy peanut butter
1 1/3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Insert 24 liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well. Mix in the vanilla.
3. In a separat bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture, alternating with the milk. Mix well.
5. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Peanut Butter Frosting (this is the original recipe x1.5)

3/4 cup smooth or crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons milk

Combine the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer beat until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the confectioners sugar along with the milk, and beat until well combined.

No Poll!

Sorry kiddos, but I have my mind firmly made up about what kind of cupcakes I want to make next week. I very rarely have such a strong feeling for one cupcake flavor that I deny everyone the pleasure of making my mind up for me. But I'm sure you'll be excited next Tuesday when you see what it is!

To hold you over until then, here is a photo of a Mini Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Cheesecake that I made for my boyfriend Mike's birthday last week. I used the same recipe from these cheesecake cupcakes except I used chocolate graham crackers for the crust, and I put peanut butter chips and chocolate chips on top (and some extra chocolate drizzled on top as per the birthday boy's request!)

-Cassie