Happy Valentine's Day- Creamy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! I hope that all your days are filled with love!  Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays- always has been. Even when I was in my late teens and never had a boyfriend on this day. I just love making Valentine's for my family and friends and sharing the love! 

This Valentine's Day I made some yummy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcakes for my coworkers, hubby and family.  I also got a new frosting decorator so they are really pretty! It made it so easy to make the swirl on the cupcakes.  I wasn't able to eat them due to dietary restrictions but I have it on pretty good authority that they were yummy.

I used a chocolate cupcake recipe I have used before.  I omitted the almond extract just because I didn't have it on hand. It is so good. Moist and yummy!

For the frosting I used a new recipe found here. I ended up using partially chunky peanut butter (I ran out of smooth!) and a little more milk than it called for. This is a good recipe for frosting- my coworkers absolutley loved it. Plus it looks really cute on the cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes

10 Tbsp Butter

 1 1/4 cup white sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flower

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In large bowl mix butter and sugar with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend until smooth.

Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and then add to wet ingredients. Add milk. Mix until just blended.

Pour into cupcake liners. Fill liners 2/3 full.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean from center of cupcake.

Let cool completely on rack. Frost with your favorite frosting. I used Whipped Peanut Butter Frosting.

Whipped Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used about 1/4 cup crunchy)

2 cups powdered sugar

milk as needed

Combine butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar in large bowl. Mix until well blended.

Add small amount of milk, blending until you get consistancy you want. I added about 5 Tbsp total.

I would not recommend using chunky peanut butter if you are going to use a cake decorating dispenser. Some of the chunks got stuck in the tip and made it a little frustrating to decorate!

Enjoy!!

I had originally planned on putting Reese's Peanut Butter hearts on all of the cupcakes, but they were not quite as cute as I though they would be. Also my husband told me they were way too rich with the additional Reese's on top so I just put them on some.

I will be sharing with some of These Parties!

Have a great Valentine's Day and Thanks for stopping by!

Cream Cheese Frosting- New Food Friday

Looking for a great Cream Cheese frosting recipe? I love cream cheese frosting, but not the kind from the jar.

Here is the one I came up with-

1 cup butter softened
2 containers (8 oz) cream cheese softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
milk to desired consisitancy

Add all ingredients to bowl and mix with mixer. Add milk slowly until desired consistancy is reached!

This cream cheese frosting was very delicious- creamy and smooth!

I used mine to add a little oomph to my banana bread for the holidays!

Linking with some of these parties!

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

Andes Creme de Menthe Chunk Cookies

It's time for another addition of New Food Friday! I decided to try out a new cookie recipe for holiday baking this year. This recipe was sooo good! I took some as a gift to my friend and she went out the next day and made them for her family get together.

Andes Creme de Menthe Chunk Cookies-
1/2 cup salted butter- softened
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 package (10 oz) Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips
2 2/3 cups sifted all purpose flour

Blend butter, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and eggs until mixed.

Stir in Andes Baking Chips and then flour.

Chill approximately one hour in refridgerator.

Measure out approximately 1 oz of dough, form ball and slightly flatten.

Bake on non-stick baking pan at 350 degrees F for about 8-10 minutes.

Cool on pans for two minutes before removing.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

If you have a New Year's Party to go to this would be an excellent recipe to take and share!

Linking with some of these parties!

Thanks for stopping by!

Chocolate Cupcake Goodness!!

Last week I was craving cake for some reason. I didn't feel the best so I wanted to make it from a box mix during the day, but I didn't have any. In the evening I found my second wind and decided to go for it. I found this cupcake recipe here. And the frosting recipe here.

I loved the frosting and the cupcakes super moist and yummy!!!

Yummmy!!!

I don't bake a lot of cakes or make frosting a lot but when I do I am always surprised at how easy they are to make from scratch- it's kind of funny how popular cake mixes are!!

So I hope I have inspired you to get out and BAKE FROM SCRATCH! You can do it!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!