Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcakes

Today we are giving a HUGE (chocolatey) shout out to

Your Homebased Mom

I recently saw her blog post for Peanut Butter - Chocolate Twist Cupcakes and fell in love.

I knew I had to make them immediately.

Here is a photo of her perfect creation
(not to be confused with my attempt above)

Isn't her cupcake just beautiful?

Mine may not look perfect, but boy did they taste good!

Let's go through the steps of making these awesome treats.

First, go HERE to view the recipe, I will also paste it below.  Home Based Mom was kind enough to make a printable for her recipe, so be sure to go on over to her website to get that and give her some comment love.

1/2 C butter (room temperature)

3 eggs (room temperature)

2 1/2 C flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 C creamy peanut butter

1 C packed brown sugar

3/4 C granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 C milk

4 oz. milk chocolate, melted

1 recipe Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

1 recipe Chocolate Frosting

1.  Mix together flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl.  Set aside.

2.  Preheat oven to 375.  In a large bowl (or your favorite Kitchen Aid) beat butter for about 30 seconds and then add peanut butter and combine.

3. Add in brown sugar and white sugar, about a 1/4 cup at a time.  Beat at a medium speed until combined and mixed together (remember to scrape the sides along the way).

(Don't worry about the "interesting" texture here, keep on pressing forward!)

4. Add in eggs, beating well after each one.  Add vanilla.

5: Add in flour and milk alternating. Mix on low speed after each addition.

(Melt chocolate in microwave)

 6. Pour half of the batter in another bowl and add melted chocolate.

(note- my chocolate batter turned out a little thick, watch the ratio of chocolate to batter)

7.  Fill lined muffin cups half with peanut butter batter and half chocolate batter. Fill about 2/3 full. Use knife to swirl the batter in each cup.

(note - I chose not to swirl my batter but rather left them stacked)

8.  Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Make sure to let the cupcakes cool entirely before frosting.

( I like the swirled / stacked look of the two flavors!)

9. While cupcakes are cooling, start mixing up your frosting.

Head on over to Your Homebased Mom for all her frosting tips!  Follow her recipes below, I've honestly never had yummier frosting - ever!

Peanut Butter Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 C creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
6 C powdered sugar.
2-4 tsp of milk until desired consistency
Beat cream cheese, peanut butter  and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Gradually add in powdered sugar.  Add milk, 1 tsp at a time until desired consistency.  Divide into two portions.  Set aside one for the Chocolate Frosting.
Chocolate Frosting:
1/2 of peanut butter frosting
1/2 C cocoa (or more to desired taste)
Beat until well combined.
Fill decorating bags with each frosting.  Put both bags into one large bag and add desired tip.  Pipe onto cupcakes.

See how mine turned out....

*Note:  The double piping technique worked for me on exactly three cupcakes before the icing exploded out of the bag.  Awesome right?

And, when I say explode, I mean EXPLODE!
All the frosting exited the bag! I had just enough left in the bags to make one circle of frosting, in one flavor, on top of each cupcake.

I decided to just ice the rest with the peanut butter chocolate frosting and they turned out fabulous!

So, what do you think?  Please leave me a comment below with your thoughts.

linking up here:  This Chick Cooks, Funky Junk Interiors, Serenity Now, Finding Fabulous, Whipper Berry, Craft Junkie Too, Making the World Cuter, Craft O Maniac, Keeping it Simple, Polish the Stars, Sumo's Sweet,

Baking: Frosted Easter Sugar Cookies

Last year I found the PERFECT sugar cookie recipe.

I found it on Happy Homemaker Cindy's Blog.  Click HERE for her blog about the cookies.

I've made them dozens of times and they always turn out perfectly. They are super soft sugar cookies, perfect for cutting out in shapes with cookie cutters or simply frosting them.

This year I made these CUTE bunny cookies for KidMo's preschool class.

Here is the recipe from Happy Homemaker Cindy's site along with her directions.

Cream Cheese Cut-out Cookies

• 1 Cup Butter Softened
• 8 oz Cream Cheese Softened
• 1 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. Almond Extract
• 3 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 Tub Vanilla or Cream Cheese Frosting
• Food Coloring (If you would like to make the Frosting different colors.)
• Sprinkles

In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese until well combined. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and almond extract and beat well. In a small bowl combine flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to ream cheese mixture. Beat until well mixed. Divide dough in half. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap and refrigerate until easy to handle – about 1 1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out  1/4 ” think (I make mine pretty thick) on a lightly floured surface. Using cookie cutters, cut out and place 2″ apart on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 13 minutes depending on how thick you made the cookies or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire rack. Allow to cool completely. Ice the cookies with frosting and decorate with sprinkles.

MoMomma Tips:

-I purchased a cute bunny cookie cutter from Ross and it was a breeze to make these cookies. 

-Roll out your dough in between two pieces of parchment paper. Then, peel the top piece off and use your cookie cutter to make the desired shapes.  Peel away the excess dough and put the parchment paper on the cookie sheet.

-For 'dressing up' these cookies I used the frosting recipe below. I also used a smarties candy for the eye and a marshmallow for the tail

This is the frosting recipe I used for the bunny frosting:

Butter Frosting

4 Tablespoons butter

2 1/3 cup powdered sugar

milk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

for chocolate frosting add 3 Tablespoons cocoa

Put butter in bowl and beat with electric mixer until fluffy. Then add about half the powdered sugar. Then beat in 1 Tablespoon milk and the vanilla. Slowly add in the rest of the powdered sugar. Add more milk if needed. Add food coloring if desired. 

Enjoy!!

Linking up to these sites

Tatertots and Jello

Tip Junkie 
Todays Creative Blog
733 Blog 
Blue Cricket Design
The Thrifty Home 
Someday Crafts 
Yesterday on Tuesday 
Somewhat Simple
Fingerprints on the fridge
Paisley Passions

Baking: Layered Peanut Butter Bars

I can't believe this is my second blog post about BAKING!

Any of you who know me personally know that I'm all about the sweets. In fact, my mother in law has always said that my pantry smells like chocolate.

(That MAY or may not be a true statement)

Today I'm going to share with you a super yummy recipe from Betty Crocker for Layered Peanut Butter Bars.

If you LOVE the Chocolate and Peanut Butter combination you must try these!

You can go HERE to see the recipe: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/layered-peanut-butter-bars/6dbed0aa-c1bd-4068-8eb2-6ae176550ebf

Ingredients / Directions

Cookie Base

1	pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix
3	tablespoons vegetable oil
1	tablespoon water
1	egg

Filling

1/2	cup butter, softened
1/2	cup creamy peanut butter
2	cups powdered sugar
2	teaspoons milk

Frosting

1	cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4	cup butter

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
2. 2 In large bowl, stir all Cookie Base ingredients until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan using floured fingers. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
3. 3 In small bowl, beat all Filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over cookie base.
4. 4 In microwavable bowl, microwave all Frosting ingredients on High 30 seconds; stir until smooth.  (I made my own frosting for this particular recipe /photo above)
5. Cool 10 minutes; spread over filling. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows.

Mo Momma TIP- HIDE FROM YOUR KIDS! SOO YUMMY!

REVIEW- 10 out of 10! In fact, we didn't even share these with KidMo! He still has no idea they were even in the house :) THAT is how yummy they are!

What is YOUR favorite treat to make?? 

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