Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

Hey! Take a look at my weekend.

Oh yeah. You got that right. It's the perfectly heavenly combination of my three favorite things: peanut butter, cookie dough, and chocolate. I happened to get this recipe from my favorite food blog. This woman is probably the biggest fuel to my baking addiction. I try out a ton of her recipes. I promise to blog about them today between intervals of dancing to James Taylor and Neil Diamond with my little sister, Alaina. She really seems to love to dance with me... That probably has to do with the fact that I make silly faces while lip-syncing.
Anyways... On to these amazing things!

You can either click the link, or I'll just re-post the recipe here.

What you'll need:

• 2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

-In a small saucepan, warm butter until melted. Whisk in the 1/3 cup of brown sugar until fully dissolved, then let the mixture bubble for a minute or two. 

-Remove pan from heat then whisk in peanut butter, then vanilla. The mixture will be very liquidy, let it set for twenty minutes to cool fully.

- Line a mini cupcake pan with 24  mini cupcake liners. Melt 1 1/4 cups of milk chocolate chips in the microwave. Then pour about one teaspoon of chocolate in each liner and using a pastry brush (or in my case, a rubbery basting brush thing, that looked more like a squid, but was fun to play with) and brush the chocolate around and up the sides of the liner. Place in freezer for twenty minutes to harden.

-Once heated mixture has cooled, whisk in powdered sugar, salt and flour and combine until just a few lumps remain. Then fold in the chocolate chips, and place the mixture in the fridge for fifteen minutes so the mixture can solidify. 

- Take mixture out of fridge and the chocolate cups out of the freezer. Roll about one teaspoon of the cookie dough mixture into a ball and place in the chocolate cups. 

-Melt the remaining chocolate and top the chocolate cups. Then place back in the freezer for fifteen minutes.

After that, feel free to enjoy! I had to keep these in the fridge because they were melty, but they were devoured all the same. I made these on Saturday with my two amazing friends Chelsea and Meghan and by Sunday they were gone. I'm definitely guilty of eating one or twelve... I can't wait to make these again.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Okay, so today I really had no excuse to bake... Except that I wanted these...

It's finals week! A girl can bake and eat her stress away about a Chemistry final, right?

You're going to have to excuse the crappy photography that goes along with this post. I ran out of natural light, and the lights in my kitchen like to make everything look unappetizing- the complete opposite of what should happen in a kitchen- but nothing else could be done. You'll just have to trust me on this one; these were AWESOME. I love to bake, but I don't usually like what I make. Today was an exception.

The best part is that these were super simple! I just used a recipe for the cupcakes from a Betty Crocker cookbook and I found an amazing frosting on Food Gawker (if you haven't seen this website before, go. Now. It's like food porn. Wait, I probably shouldn't say that on my blog. Too late.)

Okay, seriously bad picture. I know. I'll just stop with this madness and get on to the recipe. Cool? Okay, cool.

What you'll need-

For the cupcakes:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs

To make cupcakes: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat all the ingredients in a large bowl on low for 30 seconds, then beat on high for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour into baking liners, then bake for 20-25 minutes.
4. Wait until cupcakes are cooled completely before frosting.

What you'll need for the frosting:

• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup cream cheese at room temperature
• 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) butter at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 oz dark chocolate

To make frosting:

1. In a bowl, beat one stick of butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes.) 
2. Add sugar and continue to beat on low, then add vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, melt half a stick of butter and the chocolate for about 20 seconds and stir until smooth.
4. Slowly beat the chocolate mixture into the butter and sugar mixture for two more minutes at medium speed.
5. Spread on cupcakes and enjoy!

Angry Bird Cucpakes

Today is my favorite brother (to be fair, I only have one brother), Cooper's 8th birthday! I remember on this day, what seems so many years ago... My mom came into my room to tell us her water broke, to which I reacted by jumping up so high I hit my head on my bunk bed, while my sleepy sister Morgan simply mumbled "What happened to your sink?" It was a very exciting day and I've loved every minute of having a little brother... Including the moments where I've wanted to tear my hair out when he's being annoying!


Anyways...Since my mom and her boyfriend are jetting off to Mexico (lucky ducks!) on Friday, we celebrated Cooper's birthday on Saturday. Since I'm the baking addict, it was up to me to come up with his cake.

Tada! Cooper is obsessed with the game Angry Birds, that can be found for iPhones, iPads, and you know all those other Mac products. With a little bit of help from Google, I was able to come up with these!

I can tell you right now that I have no future as a cake decorator, but these were sure fun to make.

The best part was that these were pretty easy to make! I started out by simply baking a box of vanilla cupcakes, because Cooper is weird and doesn't like chocolate cake... Well, he is only half-related to me. Something had to be off with him. Once I baked the cupcakes, I grabbed a tub of frosting and split it up into four separate bowls to dye the frosting.

Once I frosted the cupcakes, it was time for sprinkles! My mom had a tough time finding tubs of just one solid color sprinkles, but was luckily able to go up to the bakery at the grocery store and they sold them to us. The sprinkles act as feathers for the birds, and the best way to get the cupcakes "feathered" up was to simply dunk them in the sprinkles.

Next I cut marshallows in half and flattened them, so they could be placed on the red and blue cupcakes to act as the bellies for the birds.

To put together a bird: Place half a flattened marshallow on the bottom of the bird. Cut orange gummies into thirds for the beaks, and place one beak above the belly. Slice mini marshallows in half, and press into frosting for eyes. With a toothpick and frosting, attach mini chocolate chip to eyes. For the angry eyebrows, either slice up black licorice pieces, or go for black licorice rope. I added some other sprinkles and jelly beans above the eyebrow to complete the Angry Bird look.

I also made the pigs! I started by covering  half a marshallow in frosting, and sticking it on the cupcake for the snout, then placing mini chocolate chips for the nostrils. The eyes are the same as the bird's, with half a mini marshmallow and mini chocolate chips. The teeth were created by slicing a mini marshmallow into fourths. Finally the ears are just Sweet Tart jelly beans and I threw some green sprinkles on at the end to complete the piggies!

All in all, I think these were pretty awesome- even with my amateur decorating skills. Oh, but I wasn't alone with this decorating. I must give some of the credit to Noah, who probably didn't expect that I'd post this next picture of him!

Well anyways, Happy Monday and happy birthday to Cooper! I'm going back to bed. Enjoy!

Cakeballs

I can't believe that I've been making cakeballs for almost four years and I have failed to blog about them until now. Fear not! I am here to share one of the most popular treats I make, and one that it seems most of the country has found an obsession for. But how could anyone resist this?

That's right. You can't resist them. I can't resist them either, especially because they're red velvet. I know, I have a problem. It's not cool... But it sure is tasty. The calories in these don't exist if you don't count them, right? Oh how I wish that was true.

What you'll need:

• 1 box of cake mix and any ingredients needed on the box to bake the cake.
• 1 tub of frosting (you'll only need about 3/4 of it)
• 1 package of almond bark, chocolate chips, or candy melts (I typically just use almond bark)

To make:

1. Mix and bake the boxed cake according to the directions.
2. Let the cake cool completely then crumble.
3. Pour cake into large bowl then dump in 3/4 of a tub of frosting.
4. Mix until the frosting is no longer visible.
5. Form the cake into one inch sized balls.

6. Freeze the cakeballs for 15-30 minutes, then dip in melted almond bark. Let coating dry, then enjoy!

Now I'm going to post a ton of these pictures, drool, then go eat a cakeball. Wouldn't you do the same?

Valentine's Day Red Velvet Rice Krispies

As you may or may not know, last week was Valentine's Day. I've never before gone all out in dorkiness for this holiday, but this year Noah was my excuse. He was my excuse for these things...

They are sinful. As if you need cake mix, chocolate chips, and cream cheese frosting in your rice krispies... Okay, in this case maybe you do.

They were a hit with Noah and his family, to say the least. I definitely encourage you to try them, even if they aren't cut outs as hearts.

What you'll need:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups mini marshamallows
• 1/3 cup red velvet cake mix
• 4 cups Rice Krispies
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)
• 1 tub cream cheese frosting

To make:

1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-low heat.
2. Add marshmallows and cake mix. Stir until melted.
3. Remove from heat then add cereal. Then add chocolate chips
4. Pour into pans and press flat, using wax paper (unless you find a better method. If you do, please let me know what it is!)
5. Cut into hearts if desired and top with cream cheese frosting.

These were the beginning of my going overboard for Noah, (hello, glitter valentines!) but I kinda hope these were the favorite.

Enjoy!