Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes

So a few months back, for my brother-in-law's birthday, I created the Snickerdoodle Cupcake. It was a hit. A new fave of most who tried it. So going with that theme, I decided to create a whole line of "Cookie Jar" Cupcakes! The Peanut Butter cookie is one of my husband's favorite cookies, so this one was a must try. I went with a chocolate cake . . .because everyone knows that chocolate and peanut butter go hand in hand!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes

CUPCAKES:
1 cup softened butter
3 cups packed brown sugar
4 eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa
3 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups strongly brewed coffee, cool
1 1/3 cups sour cream

1. Cream together butter and brown sugar and vanilla.

2. Add in eggs, one at a time.

3. Stir in vanilla.

4. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda.

5. Add dry ingredients to creamed ingredients alternately with coffee and sour cream.

6. Scoop into a muffin pan lined with cupcake papers, mostly full.

7. Bake at 350 for about 18 to 20 minutes or until set.


PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 or 3 Tbsp milk


1. Prepare cupcakes and let cool completely.

2. Mix together butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.

3. Stir in milk.

4. Whip frosting till it's light and fluffy.

5. Pipe onto cupcakes and top with a cookie!


REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter (I recommend Jif or Reese's. . .In my ipinion it's the BEST!)
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups flour

1. Cream together brown sugar, white sugar, and butter.

2. Add peanut butter.

3. Add in egg and mix until combined.

4. Mix in baking soda, salt, and vanilla.

5. Mix in flour until combined.

6. Roll balls in sugar, and then press criss-cross with fork.

7. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until cookies are puffy and slightly browned.

8. Top cupcakes!

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookie Cupcakes

Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookie Cupcakes!

VANILLA ALMOND CAKE: 1 box white cake mix (Duncan Hines super moist is best, and yes that’s not what’s in my photo)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp salt
4 egg whites
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract (use clear vanilla if you want a pure white cake)
1 tsp almond extract

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients.

2. Add in eg whites, water, oil, vanilla, and almond extract.

3. Fold in sour cream.

4. Scoop into paper lined muffin pan, and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

5. Frost and top with sugar cookie!


VANILLA ALMOND BUTTERCREAM:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp  almond extract
6 cups powdered sugar 1/4 cup milk

1. Beat together butter and shortening.

2. Add in about half of the powdered sugar.

3. Mix in vanilla and almond extracts and half the milk.

4. Add in the rest of the powdered sugar, followed by the rest of the milk.

5. Beat buttercream to desired consistency. At this point you can add more sugar or milk if too thick or thin.

6. Frost Cupcake and Top with a Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookie.


VANILLA ALMOND SUGAR COOKIES:
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 3/4 cup flour
Additional sugar for rolling cookies in

1. Cream together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs in one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Continue to beat until fluffy and lemony color.

4. Add in extracts and salt.

5. Sift together powder and flour.

6. Roll into 1" balls and roll in sugar.

7. Bake at 350 for about 11 minutes.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

No kidding. . . BEST CAKE EVER!!! I know, everyone says that, but this is the real deal. No faking. Dense, moist, chocolatey, perfection. I made it for myself for mothers day. It was a huge hit with everyone. The frosting was silky, velvety, chocolate insanity! The recipe for the frosting actually came from one of my favorite blogs, www.ourbestbites.com. I have made MANY chocolate cakes, and none even come close to this recipe. The coffee is mandatory! It will not taste the same without it. You don't taste the coffee at all though. It just REALLY intensifies the chocolate. Also, I use dark chocolate cocoa powder. Makes a huge difference. This one's a keeper. . .unless I find something better, which I highly doubt I will!

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

Cake:
1 cup softened butter
3 cups packed brown sugar
4 eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa
3 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups strongly brewed coffee, cool
1 1/3 cups sour cream

1. Cream together butter and brown sugar and vanilla.

2. Add in eggs, one at a time.

3. Stir in vanilla.

4. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda.

5. Add dry ingredients to creamed ingredients alternately with coffee and sour cream.

6. Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 9" pans.

7. Bake at 350 for about 20 to 30 minutes or until set.

8. Cool and Frost!

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting:
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 Tbs unsalted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream

1. Melt Chocolate in microwave until smooth.

2. Meanwhile, heat butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted.

3. Increase heat to medium; add sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with heatproof rubber spatula until sugar is dissolved, 4-5 minutes.

4. Add melted chocolate, butter mixture, and cream to clean bowl of stand mixer and stir to thoroughly combine.

5. Place bowl in refrigerator and cool until thickened.

6. Place bowl on stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.

Strawberry Jello-sicles

I have a 7 year old daughter who LOVES to cook. In fact, all my kids like to cook. Because of their love of cooking we've begun a "Junior Chef" program at home. Which means that EVERY night I have a helper in the kitchen. I allow them to do as much as possible for our dinner prep. Chopping (which is scary at times), stirring, measuring, you name it. We have the kids on a rotation and they work with me every night. Another perk of being the "Junior Chef" is that child gets to say prayers before dinner or choose that evenings prayer.

This has been so much fun. We've only been doing it for about a week and a half now, and it's been great for me and the kids. I get one on one time to chat with the kids while teaching them something, and they get knowledge and special "mom and me" time. I've also tried to take advantage of their willingess to try what they make, and have them each cook things that in the past they wouldn't eat.

Getting back to my 7 year old. . .Ava. . .she is the one who enjoys cooking and hands on things the most. She wanted to make something that she could do all by herself. No help. So we got a popsicle mold, and started making popsicles. It's quick. It's easy. And the possibilities are endless. We made Vanilla Pudding Pops yesterday, and today she wanted Strawberry Popsicles. So here's the recipe. She made them all by herself!

Srawberry Jello-sicles

1 small package of strawberry Jello
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup finely chopped strawberries

1. Mix together Jello, boiling water, cold water, and sugar until all is dissolved.

2. Evenly distribute berries in popsicle molds.

3. Pour Jello mixture over berries and insert popsicle sticks.

4. Freeze solid and enjoy!

Peach Berry Shortcake

I don't know about you. . .but I'm a Sams Club and Costco shopper. Big Time. I buy everything I can there, and fill in with groceries from Target. The last few times I've been to Sam's Club they have had cases (8 GIANT) of peaches for $6.98. They are the BEST peaches ever. You can smell them when you start to get close to them in the store. Perfectly ripe, juicy, and super sweet. I've bought 3 cases this summer already. They just taste like summer. So last night we had my parents and my sister and her fiance over for dinner. This is what I made for dessert. It was a hit. Everyone loved it. Especially my kids. . .who asked for it for breakfast this morning. So good.

Peach Berry Shortcakes

2 1/3 cups Bisquick
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 cup fresh blueberries
3 cups fresh, diced peaches
Sweetened Whipped Cream

1. Mix together Bisquick, and sugar.

2. In another container, mix together vanilla, milk, and butter.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and then fold in blueberries.

4. Scoop into muffin pan, sprayed with nonstick baking spray.

5. Bake at 425 for about 10 minutes.

6. Cool and slice each one in half.

7. Top with Sweetened Whipped Cream and Peaches.

8. Then put the top of the shortcake back on.

HIdden Treasure Cookies

Back in June we were at my Brother and Sister-in-law's house for my Brother's 30th birthday. My sister-in-law, Adrienne, made the BEST cookies! They were so good.

Light, flaky, cookie dough, surrounding a smooth as silk Hershey Kiss, and lightly dusted with powdered sugar and cocoa powder. They were melt in your mouth amazing.

She shared her recipe with me, and I ended up making a few changes to it. The original recipe called for cinnamon in the cookie dough, which some people really like, but not me. Don't get me wrong, I love cinnamon. . .just not with my chocolate. Also, I subbed Rolo's for the Hershey Kiss. I'm sure I'll make it with a Kiss at some point, but my husband is a huge fan of the classic Choco-Caramel mixture.

So here you go. . .make 'em, or change it up and make it yours!

Hidden Treasure Cookies

3/4 cup softened butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
28 Rolo's
Powdered sugar for Dusting

1. Cream together the butter and brown sugar.

2. Add in vanilla.

3. Mix in the flour until combined.

4. Scoop, by Tablespoon, and roll into a ball.

5. Flatten ball and place a Rolo in the center.

6. Wrap dough around Rolo and roll back into a ball.

7. Place on cookie sheets.

8. Bake at 350 for about 10-13 minutes.

9. Cool, and dip tops in powdered sugar.

Blueberry Syrup

Way too easy to taste so good!

Blueberry Syrup

3 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup sugar

1. Toss ingredients into a glass bowl and microwave for five minutes.

2. Puree with handheld blender.

3. Let cool slightly, syrup will thicken as it cools.

4. Serve with pancakes or waffles.