Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and made only two minor tweaks swapping out what was called for with what was in my fridge. My technique is also a little different...I just have a hard time dirtying more dishes than I need to :)

Boyf needed a dessert for his work Christmas potluck & these sounded perfect.

The recipe said it made 10 cupcakes...it really only makes 10 cupcakes, so I doubled everything (reflected below). I tried to stretch it to 12 and it just didn't work.

According to boyf, all of the cupcakes were devoured & deemed delicious!

ingredients
for cake
1.5C all-purpose flour
2/3C cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1C + 4 tbsp sugar
1C half & half
2/3C vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

for peanut butter buttercream
1C sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
3 sticks of butter, softened & cut into pieces
2C peanut butter (I prefer Peter Pan)
4 tsp vanilla extract

for chocolate coating
2C semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp vegetable oil

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cake: In a large bowl (I used my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer), whisk together sugar, half & half, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Cake: Add dry ingredients a little bit at a time until well blended.
4. Cake: Distribute batter even amongst 20 cupcake liners.
5. Cake: Bake ~25 minutes until center is cooked. Let cool.
6. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream!
7. Buttercream: In metal bowl (or Kitchenaid Mixer Bowl), whisk sugar, egg whites, and salt.
8. Buttercream: Boil water in sauce pan.
9. Buttercream: Set bowl in sauce pan, and whisk until ingredient appear to be melding together. (The recipe calls for a thermometer and waiting for ingredients to be 160 degrees, I didn't have that so I just kept sticking my finger in it until it got hot - safe, probably not but it seemed to have work...I probably whisked with the bowl in the pan for 8-10 minutes.)
10. Buttercream: Remove bowl from the pan and whisk at high speed until mixture resembles shaving cream.
11. Buttercream: Whisk in butter, vanilla, and peanut butter a little bit at a time until mixture is well combined.
12. Buttercream: Transfer buttercream to pastry bag with tip OR if you're like me - a freezer size ziploc bag and snip the end off.
13. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes.
14. Chill the cupcakes in the fridge for about an hour (to allow the buttercream to harden for dipping).
15. Chocolate: In double boiler OR if you're like me - a metal mixing bowl on top of a pot, melt chocolate chips and vegetable oil, whisking until completely melted and thin.
16. Transfer melted chocolate to a deep bowl or large coffee mug.
17. Dip cupcakes one at a time by holding on to the liner and dunking frosting into the chocolate. Let the excess drip off, flip over and let harden.
18. I stuck my cupcakes back in the fridge for a bit to help the chocolate hardening process.
19. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I posted the Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, and they were delicious.

Today I made the Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from the same blog - they were delicious!

It made 2 big pancakes each for my and the boyf. Plus, 2 for each of us for breakfast tomorrow.

The only thing I changed from the original recipe is the subbing of 1C skim milk & 1/2C half & half for the listed 1.5C whole milk because I never have whole milk in my house.

ingredients

cinnamon filling

1 stick butter, melted

3/4C brown sugar

1 tbs cinnamon

cream cheese icing

1/2 stick butter

2oz cream cheese

3/4C powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pancakes

1C milk

1/2C half and half

1C pumpkin puree

2 eggs

2 tbs canola oil

2 tbs apple cider vinegar

2C flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbs pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs brown sugar

directions

1. Prepare cinnamon filling: In small bowl, whisk butter, brown sugar, and cinnoman together. Pour filling into sandwich bag and snip off an end. Put in small bowl on the counter until you start pancake making (otherwise it drips on the counter).
2. Prepare icing: In microwave, heat butter and cream cheese 45 seconds. Whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.
3. Prepare batter: In large bowl (I used my KitchenAid Stand Mixer), combing milk, half and half, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vinegar. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and brown sugar little by little to milk mixture.
4. Heat greased skillet on medium heat. Scoop desired amount of batter into skillet and swirl cinnamon filling on top of batter. Once pancake batter starts to bubble, flip pancake so both sides are cooked.
5. After cooked and on a plate, top with icing.
6. Enjoy!

BBQ Sauce

This past weekend I had no cable or internet due to a cut cable outside.
I should have been studying, instead I did some reading and some napping.
For dinner, I decided on pulled pork in the slow cooker. Soooooo I chopped up a yellow onion, tossed in a tablespoon of minced garlic, and some frozen (pre-pulled) pork. I went to the fridge to grab some bottled BBQ sauce....and we were out.
So I phone-googled for a recipe. I decided upon this because I had all the ingredients, with only 1 ingredient tweak and little prep tweak.
My vote...it is DELICIOUS! I may never buy BBQ sauce again now that I know how easy it is!

ingredients
2C ketchup
1C water
1/2C apple cider vinegar
5 tbs brown sugar
5 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp pepper (recipe says fresh ground, I used regular)
1/2 tbs onion powder
1/2 tbs ground mustard
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs worcestershire sauce

directions

1. In a medium pot, combine all ingredients.
2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring regularly, for 30 minutes (for crockpot use) or 1 hr, 20 minutes (sauce use).
4. Enjoy!

I simmered for 30 minutes, and then put the sauce in the crockpot with pork, 1 yellow onion (diced), and 1 tbs of minced garlic. SO delicious. You should try it.