Peanut butter cup cupcakes

Don't get your hopes up too high, these cupcakes were made to taste like a peanut butter cup, but they don't actually have a peanut butter cup in them (just in case you were still thinking about those killer Ferraro Rocher cupcakes I made recently).

Almost everyone loves the classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate, and I thought that making it into a cupcake would be delicious!  I even topped them with two different sizes of mini peanut butter cups, for the added oomph of peanut butter cup-iness!

These cupcakes really don't even need any more of an introduction.  I strongly recommend you try them.  Now.

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
Cupcakes assembled by yours truly.
Cupcake recipe originally from here.
Icing from here.

For the cupcakes:

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 oz bittersweet/semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 cup sour cream

For the icing:

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream

Mini peanut butter cups, for topping

Directions:

Make the cupcakes.

Preheat the oven to 350F (325 if using a nonstick pan).
Line a standard muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a medium heat proof bowl.
Set bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water, and heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted.
Whisk until smooth and combined.
(You could do this in the microwave, but this time I actually used a double boiler!)
Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl to combine.

Whisk eggs in another bowl.
Add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated.
Add cooled chocolate mixture.
Whisk until combined.
Sift about 1/3 of the flour mixture over and whisk until batter is thick and fully incorporated.
Add sour cream and mix until incorporated.
Add remaining flour mixture and mix until combined.
Batter will be thick.

Bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in pan on a wire rack until they are cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.
Place cupcakes on a wire rack.
Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, make the frosting.

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and Kosher salt with a mixer set to high, until light and fluffy.

Add powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating well between each addition.
Add heavy cream.
Once combined, taste for flavor.  Add more peanut butter as needed.

Continue to beat on high for an additional minute to incorporate air.

Place icing in a piping bag fitted with your favorite piping tip.
Pipe icing onto cupcakes, and top with mini peanut butter cups.

Ferraro Rocher cupcakes

I came up with two answers to the question "what do you do with a box of 48 Ferraro Rocher candies that your parents give you?"  Answer number one was to eat every last one of them (I'd share with B, but he isn't a fan of hazelnut), but I decided against that since I'd probably be sick to my stomach and I'm trying to not indulge too much.  Answer number two seemed to make some cupcakes with them (and eat a few along the way).  Option number two is what I went with.

I made my go-to dark chocolate cupcakes, but put a whole Ferraro Rocher candy in the center.  That sounds amazing enough on it's own, right?  But then I topped the baked cupcakes with a fluffy Nutella cloud frosting.  I could've stopped there.  I was planning on topping them with some chopped, toasted hazelnuts, but since I didn't have those on hand, I went with a mixture of toppings: I left some without anything more than the frosting, I topped some with chopped Ferraro Rocher candies, and I topped some with another whole candy!  I debated drizzling some Nutella on top, and think I might even do that before serving them (but for now the pictures are without it).

Here's the thing about these cupcakes.....they're the perfect balance of chocolatey and hazelnutty/nutella-y, without either flavor being too overpowering.  I'd venture to guess that even my non-hazelnut-loving fiancee would like these!

Dark Chocolate Ferraro Rocher Cupcakes with Nutella Cloud Frosting
Cupcakes are adapted by yours truly (based on these cupcakes), icing is from here (originally on the blog here)

I got 12 Ferraro Rocher filled cupcakes plus 5 regular cupcakes with this recipe.

For the cupcakes:

8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 oz bittersweet/semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 cup sour cream

12 Ferraro Rocher candies, plus more for topping.  Additionally, you can fill more cupcakes and use additional candies

For the icing:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, but cool
1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (4 ounces) premium bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1/3 cup Nutella
1 Tbsp milk (I used cream, since that's what I had on hand)
pinch of salt

Directions:

Make the cupcakes.

Preheat the oven to 350F (325 if using a nonstick pan).
Line a standard muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a medium heat proof bowl.
Set bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water, and heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted.
Whisk until smooth and combined.
(You could do this in the microwave, but this time I actually used a double boiler!)
Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl to combine.

Whisk eggs in another bowl.
Add sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully incorporated.
Add cooled chocolate mixture.
Whisk until combined.
Sift about 1/3 of the flour mixture over and whisk until batter is thick and fully incorporated.
Add sour cream, and mix until fully incorporatted.
Add remaining flour mixture and mix until combined.
Batter will be thick.

Fill 12 cupcake liners about half way full.
Place 1 unwrapped Ferraro Rocher into the center of each cupcake liner and push down.  
Don't worry if the candies aren't fully submerged, we'll get back to that in a second.
Repeat until each of the 12 cupcake liners have a candy in them.
If there are uncovered candies (all of mine were!), place a small spoonful of batter over each candy.
Don't worry if the candies are poking out, they'll get covered when they bake.

Bake until a skewer inserted into the side (remember, there's a candy in the center!) comes out clean, about 14-16 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in pan on a wire rack until they are cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.
Place cupcakes on a wire rack.
Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, make the frosting.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the confectioners sugar and butter,
Beat on low for about 1 minute.

Add vanilla.
Beat on low until well combined.
Add the chocolate and beat on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Add the Nutella, milk (or cream), and salt.
Beat on medium-high speed for another minute.

Put into a piping bag with the piping tip of your choice.
Frost cupcakes.

Top with chopped Ferraro Rocher candies, a whole candy, hopped toasted hazelnuts, a drizzle of Nutella, sprinkles, or leave them as they are :-)

Red velvet cookies and cream muddy buddies

I was late to the muddy buddy party.  By decades.  Then the other day, while assembling goodies for my sister as part of a post-surgery recuperation package, I stumbled across cookies and cream muddy buddies. And I bought them. And proceeded to eat nearly a third of the bag on my subway ride home (and then toss the remainder of the bag in the nearest garbage can. Self control is clearly not my strong point.). Needless to say, I was hooked.

Lately the shelves have been stocked with fun and interesting flavored Oreos (case in point: cinnamon bun, red velvet, "filled cupcake"), and in my post-Valentine's day brain, I started thinking up muddy buddy flavors of my own.  Like red velvet cookies and cream!  Conveniently, I had purchased packages of all three new (techniically red velvet was available last year, seasonally) flavors, but had only cracked open the cinnamon bun ones to try (they're delicious, and I'm already working on a recipe for those!).  I had originally planned to dip the red velvet ones in white chocolate for Valentine's Day, but lost track of time, and so they were just sitting around.

These buddy buddies are delicious!  I loved the red velvet flavor mixed with the cream cheese flavor (from the filling) and the hint of vanilla from the coating.  Absolute perfection!  At least I won't have to worry too much about self control, since I will be shipping (most) of these off to work with B tomorrow!

Red Velvet Cookies & Cream Muddy Buddies
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

6 cups chex cereal (I used corn)
12 oz white almond bark (I used white vanilla CandiQuik)
20 Red Velvet Oreos
1/2 cup powdered sugar (I ended up needing a little more)

Directions:

Put cereal in a large bowl.

Process the Oreos in a food processor until fine (my preferred method) or place in a sealed ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Melt CandiQuik (or almond bark) in it's tray (or a microwave safe bowl) and microwave in 30 second increments.
Stir.
Continue microwaving and stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted.

Pour melted CandiQuik/almond bark over cereal.
Stir carefully to coat it.

Immediately add the ground Oreos.
Toss/Stir to coat.
Next, toss on the powdered sugar and mix until coated.

I placed mine on a wax paper lined baking sheet so that the CandiQuik could dry.
I felt mine needed a little more powdered sugar, to I added 1 Tbsp at a time until all of the muddy buddies were coated in powdered sugar.

Valentine's Rice Krispie Treat Sticks

The toasted marshmallow Rice Krispie treats I made a few months ago almost instantly became my most favorite Rice Krispie treat ever.  I've made them a bunch of times since (although I've spared you, except for this one time, since it would be so repetitive to tell you "I made these super awesome Rice Krispie treats.....again!"), but this time I decided to dress them up for Valentine's Day.  And since my mom's birthday is the day before and B's mom will be in town for the weekend, I decided I'd bring them along to my mom's birthday dinner, along with her favorite brownies.

Instead of cutting them into the regular square or stubby rectangle shape, I cut them into long skinny Rice Krispie treat sticks, and then dipped them into some white chocolate and some festive Valentine's sprinkles for a cute and tasty treat!

Toasted Marshmallow Rice Krispie Treat Sticks

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 10.5 oz bag of mini marshmallows (for some reason all the bags I've been finding lately have been 10 oz)
5-6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

White chocolate chips (or milk or semisweet or dark -- your choice) -- about 1 cup
Sprinkles, of your choosing

Directions:

Grease a 9x9 inch pan lightly with cookie spray.

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-low heat.
Continue cooking butter, swirling pan until it becomes a nice brown color (it should take about 5 minutes)
Remove from the heat and set aside.

Turn the oven on to broil.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Evenly spread the marshmallows onto the lined sheet.
Place the marshmallows under the broiler for 45 seconds to 1 minute, until the marshmallow are puffed and deeply golden.
WATCH THEM CLOSELY, as they can burn very quickly!

Lightly grease a rubber spatula with cooking spray.
Immediately scrape the marshmallows into the bowl/pot with butter.
Stir to combine quickly.
Pour the Rice Krispies into the toasted marshmallow mixture.
Stir to combine.

Press evenly into the prepared pan.

Allow to cool before cutting into sticks.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper.

Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.
Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, to make sure that chocolate doesn't burn.

Dip sticks halfway into the chocolate.
Lift sticks and let excess chocolate drip off back into the bowl.
Place onto the prepared sheet and quickly place the sprinkles on the wet chocolate.
Allow to cool.