Mini chocolate peanut butter pretzel cupcakes

Today is my dad's birthday!!  (I promised him I wouldn't share his age.)  My dad -- and mom, too -- is the greatest.  My sisters and I went home and the five of us went for dim sum, which is what my dad wanted to do to celebrate.  Dim sum -- if you don't know -- are basically Chinese small plates (often, but by no means always, dumplings) that are passed around the restaurant on carts, and you choose what you want as the cart passes your table.  It's a fun -- and delicious -- experience!

But I digress.  It's my dad's birthday.  Birthdays need to be celebrated (I'm still trying to convince B of this, as he has a big birthday coming up this summer).  Cupcakes (and cakes, or brownies, or pies, or anything baked and topped with a sprinkle) are celebratory.  So my dad got some homemade cupcakes for his birthday.

I wanted to try a new recipe for my dad's birthday, but he isn't a huge lover of sweets (my mom reminded me when I asked about baking cupcakes for his birthday, since she didn't want me to be "insulted" if he didn't eat much of whatever I baked).  When I was rattling off some suggestions, I mentioned these cupcakes, which I had baked before.  She stopped me immediately after by saying "yes, make those.  Your father would love anything peanut butter and chocolate."  And so, with apologies, I am repeating another recipe.  It's a good thing it's a FANTASTIC cupcake.  Although this time I mixed it up a bit, and make some mini cupcakes (full confession?  I got tired of filling those mini cupcake papers after a while, and made some full-sized ones, too, which I ended up bringing home for the celebration).

(Mini) Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes
From Robicelli's: A Love Story, with Cupcakes, found here

Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

3/4 cups cocoa powder (I used Dutch press cocoa for super dark, chocolatey cupcakes)

2/3 cups scalding hot coffee

2/3 cups buttermilk

2/3 cups canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.
Line cupcake pans with 24 liners.

Place cocoa powder in mixer bowl and pour scalding hot coffee over.

Mix on low speed until a thick paste forms and mixture stops steaming- about one minute.Like I said before, mine was not thick nor was it a paste, it was actually quite runny.  The cupcakes turned out perfectly deliciously well.

Turn mixer speed to medium.
In a measuring cup, combine buttermilk, egg, yolk, vanilla, salt and oil, and mix lightly with a fork, ensuring yolks are broken.

Slowly pour into mixer.

Stop mixer and scrape bottom well to loosen any caked on cocoa.

Reattach and turn mixer to medium, letting run one minute.

Stop mixer again.

Sift together dry ingredients and pour into wet mixture.

Mix on low speed until just combined.

Remove bowl and use scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring everything is mixed.

Scoop cake batter into prepared pans, filling cups 2/3 of the way.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway through (I don't rotate them....shhh, don't tell).  * I baked my mini ones for 10 minutes *

Cupcakes are done when the centers spring back when you touch them.

Remove cupcakes from oven.

Let cool completely. 

Peanut Butter Buttercream:

Ingredients:

3 sticks unsalted butter

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

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

Add powdered sugar a 1/4 cup at a time, beating well between each addition. 
Add heavy cream. 
Once combined, taste for flavor.  I added more peanut butter -- probably about 1/4+ cups.

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

Classic Chocolate Ganache:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup cream
pinch of sea salt

Directions:

Place chocolate in a bowl, and shake back and forth until it flattens out on top. 

Heat cream and sea salt in a medium saucepan until it comes to a boil (I forgot the salt.  Oops.  It was fine without it).

Immediately pour hot cream mixture over chocolate, and allow to sit for two minutes to allow chocolate to melt.

Using a heatproof spatula, stir the cream and chocolate together until completely smooth.

Allow to cool slightly before drizzling on cupcakes.

Ganache should not be hot to the touch, but still be liquid.

If it cools completely and becomes solid, microwave on 50% power in 20 second increments, stirring between each, until desired consistency is reached.

Toppings:

3/4 cups roasted peanuts

1 1/2 cup pretzels

Directions: 

Pulse pretzels and peanuts in a food processor until they're coarse crumbs.  (Alternately, place in a strong ziptop bag and repeatedly smack with a rolling pin, a heavy skillet, or anything else your find enjoyable. Place crumbs in a pie dish or baking pan.)

Assembly:

Fill pastry bag fitted with regular tip with peanut butter buttercream, and pipe onto each chocolate cupcake.  Since the icing is sweet, and my dad isn't a lover of very sweet things, I chose not to pile it up on the cupcakes as much as I did last time.  *Also, I couldn't find a regular tip and used another one.  Since the cupcakes are coated in the pretzel-peanut mixture afterwards, it doesn't really matter all that much which tip you use, but if you like the icing super-domed like it was when I made them last time, I'd recommend using the regular tip. *
Put cupcakes into the refrigerator so buttercream hardens- about 20 minutes.  Don't skip this step - my icing was pretty soft otherwise and I'm sure they wouldn't have been nicely domed afterwards.  BUT....don't keep them in for too long, otherwise they'll get hard and the toppings won't stick.

Gently roll the sides of the buttercream in peanut/pretzel mixture. 
Pour a handful over the top and lightly pack on with hand. Do NOT dip them top down into the bowl and press.  The icing isn't THAT hard.  You will flatten out the icing on the top of the cupcakes.  I learned that lesson after cupcake #1, and the rest of them looked perfect (if I do say so myself).
Shake off excess and set aside. 
Drizzle ganache across each cupcake.  I do this by placing them in a few rows on top of papertowels and drizzling both up and down and side to side on each row.

Cereal bars with peanuts and pretzels

I saw this recipe and was intrigued.  The original recipe was called Good Morning Sunshine Bars.  It was a no bake bar made with cereal, hence the name "good morning sunshine" bars.  But then I started reading the recipe and saw all the corn syrup and brown sugar in them, and then they were topped with chocolate, and I thought to myself that these probably aren't the healthiest breakfast to eat.  So what if the main ingredient was Chex cereal?

But just because I thought that they probably wouldn't be the best breakfast option, didn't mean that they didn't sound good to me!  So I played around with them a little bit.  I assumed the syrup would be sweet, so I decided I'd add an additional salty element, and I decreased the peanuts to a half cup (I didn't chop them -- I was lazy), but I did add a cup of crushed pretzels to the mix to up the saltiness and make them salty-sweet (I also decreased the salt to about a teaspoon).  I even debated leaving off the chocolate.....but who was I kidding?  Everything is better with a little chocolate!

Cereal Bars with Peanuts and Pretzels
Adapted from these Good Morning Sunshine Bars from Bake or Break, originally from Baked Elements

Ingredients:

6 cups of Rice Chex (I used 3 cups of Rice Chex and 3 cups of Corn Chex)
1/2 cups salted peanuts
1 cup of pretzels, broken
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt (if you like things a little more salty, you can easily go up to 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt)
6 ounces milk chocolate

Directions:

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan (I used Pam).
Line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the two short sides.
Butter the parchment (I used Pam, again).

Place Chex, peanuts, and pretzels in a large bowl.
Mix together until combined.

Place brown sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan.
Stir together and cook over medium heat.
Bring to boil for one minute.
Remove from heat.
Stir in peanut butter, vanilla, and salt.

Pour sugar mixture over cereal mixture.
Stir gently until cereal is coated with sugar mixture.

Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Allow to cool to room temperature (or place in fridge for 15-20 minutes).

Once bars have cooled, melt chocolate (the microwave or a double boiler will work).
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the bars.
Allow chocolate to set.

Using the parchment overhangs, remove the bars from the pan.
Cut into bars, 3 x 1.5 inches.

Sriracha Chex mix

I promised myself yesterday that I wouldn't bake anything between Christmas and New Years, with the exception of my New Year's Eve dessert.  See, I had a TON of leftovers all over the apartment, and even after tossing some, I had a lot remaining.  Plus, in 16 days I'll be off to Miami for a long weekend, and I have to be in a <<gasp!!>> bathing suit.  So clearly, the fewer desserts and treats I had around the apartment, the better it would be.

Then last night I saw a recipe for Sriracha Chex Mix.  I figured that it would be a great snack or appetizer for New Year's Eve.  I also mused it would be a great edible gift for people who like spicy, but that's kinda a moot point since the holidays are over and I don't really have any edible gifts I need to give (except maybe at a "friendsmas" get together this weekend).  But you know me -- and how I hate to bring foods places when I haven't tested them out before -- and I needed to demo the recipe first.  A quick trip to Target (and then grocery store for fresh ginger and garlic) later, and I was ready to check out the recipe.

And yes, I know that Chex Mix is technically not baking, but since I used the oven to make it, I decided to include it on the blog.  Because, frankly, if I have a great recipe, why not share it with you?  And, it gets baked in the oven ;-)

Sriracha Chex Mix

Ingredients:

3 cups corn Chex*
3 cups rice Chex*
1 cup pretzels
1 cup wasabi peas (I got hot, since that's what they had)
1 cup peanuts
1 cup crunchy chow mein noodles
1/4 butter (I used salted)
1/4 cup Sriracha
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon grated garlic

* I thought about using wheat chex, too, but decided I'd try the recipe out as is the first time.  I think 6 cups of Chex in any permutation of wheat, corn, and rice Chex would work.

Directions:

Mix all the solid ingredients together.
                      

Mix all the liquid ingredients together. 

Grate the ginger and garlic in. 

Microwave to melt butter and warm the mixture.

Pour the sauce over the cereal mixture and toss to evenly coat.                           

Bake at 250 for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so until crunchy and flavorful.                        

Salted pretzel chocolate chip cookie dough Snickers bars

These Salted Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Snickers Bars are also called Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pretzel Snickers Bars.  Whoa, what a mouthful!  Literally and figuratively.  I think I'm going to have to start referring to these as BBCCCDPS Bars.  It's just such a mouthful to say the whole thing, so I'm going to refer to them using the acronym from here on out.

As soon as I saw these, I knew that I must make them.  Must must must.  They just looked so fantastic and so darn tasty.  Nougat and chocolate and caramel and peanuts and cookie dough and pretzels?!  My head was spinning.  And although they contain the components of a snickers bar (nougat, chocolate, peanuts, and caramel, in case you've been living under a rock for, well, all your life), they have added cookie dough AND pretzels.  Sweet and salty.  Yum!!

 

 

Best part?  It's a no bake recipe!  So I made one layer, then watched some TV and ordered in dinner (hey, I worked today and I was making these bars, I deserved a break when it came to cooking dinner).  I made the second layer, ate dinner, and then made the third layer.  Unloaded the dishwasher, made the fourth layer, and then microwaved the fifth layer and then assembled them.  It's that easy! (Ok, ok, it wasn't that easy, there was actually a bit of "cooling" time in between layers, but they were still pretty easy to make!).

There are actually several pots needed for this recipe -- although I washed the same pot between layers.  Again, not that easy, but again totally worth it.   For the top layer, I just caved and used the microwave -- shhh, don't tell.

All I can say is, grease the pan very well.  I used Pam and I don't know that it was enough.  Next time I make these -- and I will likely make them again -- I would probably brush the entire pan liberally with melted butter.

**These are delicious -- and super sweet! -- but mine look nothing like the original recipe.  Check out the link below to see the difference.  Either way, they're delicious, but mine are not quite as pretty as the original**

Salted Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Snickers Bars
from Half Baked Harvest

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

 

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips (or can sub dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips)

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

 

Nougat Layer

 

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup canned coconut milk or regular milk

1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff

1 cup salted peanuts chopped, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Caramel

 

1 14-ounce bag of caramels (I only found 11 oz bags, so I had to buy two in order to get enough)

1/4 cup coconut milk or cream

 

Brown Butter Cookie Dough Layer

 

1 1/2 (3/4 cup) sticks butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream or coconut milk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 -3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

 

Top chocolate layer

 

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (or can sub dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips)

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup pretzels (twist or sticks)

1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted

 

Directions:

 

Thoroughly grease a 9x13 inch-baking pan.

 

Melt 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips with 1/4-cup peanut butter in a saucepan or microwave, then pour into the baking dish and spread until even.

Place in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for 15 minutes.

While the chocolate hardens make the nougat layer.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved and bring to a boil.
Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add in marshmallow fluff and vanilla, stirring until smooth.
Turn off heat and fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer.
Let cool completely, about 30 minutes or 15 minutes in the fridge.

 

While nougat layer cools make the caramel layer.

 

Combine the caramels and cream in a saucepan over low heat.

Let melt, stirring occasionally, until smooth, this took about 10 minutes.

Pour over nougat layer and let cool completely, about 10 minutes.  FYI, I think my caramel was too hot when I poured it onto the nougat layer, as the nougat bubbled a little and the layers may have mixed a little in the center while I was spreading it.

 

While the caramel layer cools make the cookie dough.

 

In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan add the remaining butter, melt butter over medium heat until just browned.

Butter will melt, foam, and froth, then begin to brown along the bottom.   Mine got a little darker, but I don't think it was burnt.  That's what happens when you walk away from the pot and get distracted doing something else.  Again, shhhh, don't tell.

Whisk browned bits off of the bottom of the pan and pour into the bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl.

Allow to cool 10 minutes.

**If browning butter is not your thing you may skip the step and just use softened room temperature butter.**   Next time, I'd probably go without the browning step.  Made the pot dirty again.  And frankly, I love cookie dough as it is.  But it was good with the browned butter.

 

Add the brown sugar, cream or coconut milk and vanilla.

Beat until combined, fluffy and light in color.  Mine didn't get light or fluffy.  Oops.

Beat in the flour and salt until combined.  I added more flour to make it a cookie dough consistency (just under 1/4 cup).

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread the cookie dough over the caramel layer, be carful not to press too hard into the caramel. You don't want to mix the two layers.  This was less of an issue than when I poured the caramel on the nougat.  However, I didn't have enough cookie dough to cover the entire caramel layer -- the edges were a little bare, so when I made the top layer, I made 1.5 times the recipe to ensure that the whole thing was covered.

 

Melt 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips with 1/4-cup peanut butter (I 1.5 timed the recipe.  But of course as I am typing this, I realized that I 1.5 times'd the chocolate, but TRIPLED the peanut butter.  No wonder I thought it looked more peanut buttery than the  bottom layer.  Crap!  Sometimes I'm such an idiot!!...but in the end, it actually came out OK) in a saucepan, or just microwave them.

Pour over caramel cookie dough and spread until even.

Sprinkle with the pretzels (I didn't measure them, but eyeballed them) and drizzle with the remaining melted chocolate (I did 1/4 cup semisweet and 1/4 cup milk to contrast the chocolate layer -- which now I realized I didn't need to do since my top layer was overly peanutbuttered.  Duh).

Let cool and harden completely.

 

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, then cut as desired.  I may not have waited quite long enough, but when cutting them, the bottom layer stuck to the bottom of the pan.  It might be better if I had frozen them, it might have been better, but my freezer is full of other stuff :-/

 

These can stay at room temperature, but they do get soft and gooey.

The original recipe says that they personally liked them best kept in the fridge, but left out for 15 minutes or so before eating!

Chocolate peanut butter pretzel cupcakes

Yeah, in case you were wondering, you read that title correctly.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes.  Chocolate + peanut butter + pretzels.  In a cupcake. Pretty awesome sounding, right?

A few days ago, I made these awesome cannoli-inspired cupcakes (affectionately named the Dom DeLuise cupcake) for JulieBakes' 2nd birthday.  I found them online on a blog that I subscribe to, mere days before the cookbook they're featured in was launched.  These chocolate peanut butter pretzel cupcakes are by the same bakers/bakery, Robicelli's.  These two cupcakes sounded so awesome (as did another one posted on that same blog, but I'm saving those for another day), that I ended up baking them both in the span of a few days -- and ordering their newly launched cookbook!  Look out for a post about all the awesome recipes featured in it soon (once I receive it, read it, and drool over it).

When I made the Dom DeLuise cupcakes, the recipe said it made 12, but I ended up with 22 regular sized cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes.  These chocolate peanut butter pretzel cupcakes said that they made 24 regular sized cupcakes, but I ended up with 21 full-sized cupcakes.  I didn't even overfill any of them.  Interesting that the recipes are by the same people but the number of cupcakes would be off on both of them.  Regardless, super awesome cupcakes, so it doesn't really matter to me....and it shouldn't to you, unless you need a specific number of cupcakes.  I needed 12-14 cupcakes, so I ended up with more than enough cupcakes for my need.

 

 

A few notes about these cupcakes:

- I used Dutch press cocoa because I wanted to cupcakes to come out dark and super chocolatey looking.
- The recipe said that the cocoa-coffee mixture was going to be a thick paste.  Mine was actually pretty runny.
- The batter itself is pretty runny.  Don't fret.  It'll bake up nice and pretty anyway.
- Usually when I use coffee in my chocolate cake recipes, you don't taste the coffee at all, it just enhances the chocolate.  I used Starbuck's dark roast coffee, and it was pretty strong, so the cake tasted a little coffee-y.  It got better as the cake cooled.  So if you're a "taste it when it's fresh out of the oven" baker, as I tend to be more often than not, again, don't fret!
- Don't worry if the icing isn't perfectly piped - it'll be covered with crushed peanuts and pretzels, and then drizzled with chocolate ganache, and you won't be able to tell if the swirls aren't perfect.
- For the perfect drizzle - or close to it - I used a squeeze bottle and a back and forth motion.  If you don't have a squeeze bottle, using a fork dipped into the ganache would work well, too.

I feel like it's one of those math problems from elementary school: chocolate + peanut butter + pretzels + peanuts + ganache - concern for calories = one awesome cupcake.  That makes sense, even to the least math savvy person out there.  So does the following statement: Make these cupcakes.  Now.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes
From Robicelli's: A Love Story, with Cupcakes, found on Food52

Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

3/4 cups cocoa powder (I used Dutch press cocoa for super dark, chocolatey cupcakes)

2/3 cups scalding hot coffee

2/3 cups buttermilk

2/3 cups canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.
Line cupcake pans with 24 liners.

 

Place cocoa powder in mixer bowl and pour scalding hot coffee over.

Mix on low speed until a thick paste forms and mixture stops steaming- about one minute. Like I said before, mine was not thick nor was it a paste, it was actually quite runny.  The cupcakes turned out perfectly deliciously well.

 

Turn mixer speed to medium.
In a measuring cup, combine buttermilk, egg, yolk, vanilla, salt and oil, and mix lightly with a fork, ensuring yolks are broken.

Slowly pour into mixer.

 

Stop mixer and scrape bottom well to loosen any caked on cocoa.

Reattach and turn mixer to medium, letting run one minute.

Stop mixer again.

 

Sift together dry ingredients and pour into wet mixture.

Mix on low speed until just combined.

Remove bowl and use scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring everything is mixed.

 

Scoop cake batter into prepared pans, filling cups 2/3 of the way.

 

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway through (I don't rotate them....shhh, don't tell).

Cupcakes are done when the centers spring back when you touch them.

 

Remove cupcakes from oven.

Let cool completely. 

 

Peanut Butter Buttercream:

 

Ingredients:

 

3 sticks unsalted butter

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

 

Directions:

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

Add powdered sugar a 1/4 cup at a time, beating well between each addition.
Add heavy cream.
Once combined, taste for flavor.  I added more peanut butter -- probably about 1/4+ cups.

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

Classic Chocolate Ganache:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup cream
pinch of sea salt

Directions:

Place chocolate in a bowl, and shake back and forth until it flattens out on top.

 

Heat cream and sea salt in a medium saucepan until it comes to a boil.

Immediately pour hot cream mixture over chocolate, and allow to sit for two minutes to allow chocolate to melt.

 

Using a heatproof spatula, stir the cream and chocolate together until completely smooth.

 

Allow to cool slightly before drizzling on cupcakes.

Ganache should not be hot to the touch, but still be liquid.

If it cools completely and becomes solid, microwave on 50% power in 20 second increments, stirring between each, until desired consistency is reached.

 

Toppings:

 

3/4 cups roasted peanuts

1 1/2 cup pretzels

 

Directions: Pulse pretzels and peanuts in a food processor until they're coarse crumbs.  (Alternately, place in a strong ziptop bag and repeatedly smack with a rolling pin, a heavy skillet, or anything else your find enjoyable. Place crumbs in a pie dish or baking pan.)

 

Assembly:

Fill pastry bag fitted with regular tip with peanut buttercream, and pipe onto each chocolate cupcake.
Put cupcakes into the refrigerator so buttercream hardens- about 20 minutes.  Don't skip this step - my icing was pretty soft otherwise and I'm sure they wouldn't have been nicely domed afterwards.

Gently roll the sides of the buttercream in peanut/pretzel mixture.
Pour a handful over the top and lightly pack on with hand. Do NOT dip them top down into the bowl and press.  The icing isn't THAT hard.  You will flatten out the icing on the top of the cupcakes.  I learned that lesson after cupcake #1, and the rest of them looked perfect (if I do say so myself).
Shake off excess and set aside.
Drizzle ganache across each cupcake

 

Brownies two ways

I have a party to go to tomorrow, and I wanted to bring something that was easy (or relatively so) to transport, since my way to the party is not direct.  Brownies and cookies, I rationalized, were easier to carry around than, say, a cupcake carrier with 36 cupcakes in it.  No cookie recipes were calling to me, so brownies were the answer.  But not just any brownies.  Cappuccino Brownies and Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with Salted Peanuts!  I've made the cappuccino brownies before and am a huge fan (as is my mother).  The peanut butter and fudge brownies with salted peanuts were impressive looking enough on the website that I decided to try them (and they were worth it!).

Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with Salted Peanuts



Cappuccino Brownies

And all packaged up and ready to go!