A Quick Update, And Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies Preview

Sorry for the immense silence around here, folks!

I've gotten caught up in all that darned "real life" junk, like working and dealing with family issues, and all that lovely junk. On top of that I got involved in this awful thing called Tumblr which just saps hours of my time in the blink of an eye and I love it.

But I digress. Baking!

It's that time of the year where I have a billion things to bake, so I'm gonna do my best to tell you guys about it! Right now I'm in the middle of a big batch of 60 cupcakes for a baby shower, so keep an eye out for those. At the moment the farthest I've gotten is...

... cake mix! I'm so busy I know I can't make all those cupcakes from scratch in one night, so I've spread out the work. The frostings are all fully made and hanging out in the fridge, and here I have all the dry ingredients for my cupcakes pre-mixed and ready to go with the remaining ingredients and instructions sticky-noted right on them. In a prettier container, these would make a great gift!

Getting ready for this crazy baking season also meant cleaning and organizing all my cookie cutters. I never realized just how many I had until I put them all in the sink to wash, and the sink was completely full. No, really, completely full! Look at this:

It's not just that plastic ones are floating here, there are metal cutters at the top of the sink. There's... there's at least 300 cutters here. I might have a problem.

Just to prove I really have been baking and not just slacking off, here's a preview of a post I just haven't gotten around to writing yet:

Mmm, peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips and - and... what is that peaking out of the chewy peanutbuttery cookie bite? How mysterious!

I guess y'all will find out next time!

You Got Your Peanut Butter Cup in my Cookie!

Now, I am well aware that I am not among the first to do this. Far from it, but please realize I made these cookies under extreme duress.

By which I mean a friend linked me to an article about them on Facebook, and baker-shamed me into making them ASAP.And if you don't believe me, look what someone left on my timeline:

If you'd like to visit the original link Leigh shared, it's here. Now, let's look at that comment again, shall we?

Yeah. No pressure at all. 

So, when I saw that a local store had 8 packs of Reese cups on sale, I knew what I had to do.

These cups are ever-so-slightly smaller than the ones you get in a standard 3-pack, I think, and they worked out really well in this recipe.

Start with your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, or use the recipe listed here at Picky Palate, where Jenny has tons of cookies-stuffed-in-cookies inspirations! I found that my personal recipe was similar enough that I just stuck with it.

In either case, you probably have to start with room-temperature butter. I personally was busy with a garage sale and laundry that day, and forgot to put the butter out to warm up, so instead I chopped up my butter into little cubes and left it out for a half hour.

Then I used a hand mixer to beat it into submission, and you know what? It was the perfect consistency. Forget leaving butter out for hours to come to temperature! This was much faster and wasn't much extra work.

(If you're very familiar with making chocolate chip cookies, or you've recently read my Easter M&M Cookies post, you can probably skip ahead a bit, cuz I'm going to go through all the steps for making cookie dough here. Again. Because of reasons.)

As long as I had the mixer out, I used it to cream in the brown and white sugars as well, then switched to a wooden spoon to work in the egg and vanilla.

Even though my arms were sore and tired from garage-sale-manning and laundry-hauling all day, I made myself do the rest by hand because over-working the egg (or later, the flour) could result in disastrously tough cookies.

And, honey, I am the only tough cookie around here!

... Oh, man, that was lame. I should stick to baking.

So anyway, once you've worked in the egg and vanilla thoroughly, pile the flour, baking soda and salt on there and fold together until a firm dough forms.

And add your chocolate chips... Mmm.

So now you have chocolate chip cookie dough. You could just stop here, grab a spoon and go to town (if you're not afraid of raw eggs, dun dun dunnnnn) or you could man up and make the craziest cookies ever.

De-package your Reese Cups. 4 of mine mysteriously disappeared somewhere along the way, but I still had enough to make a dozen of these cookies.

Scoop out one regular-sized cookie's worth of dough onto your baking sheet, press a peanut butter cup on top of it, and top with another dough ball, then press down a bit. Leave lots of space for these to spread because they are going to. A lot.

Once your pan has 6 big cookie dough sandwiches on it, start forming the dough with your fingers so that it covers the peanut butter cup and pinch the dough around the sides to be sure it's sealed well. You don't want the Reese cup's chocolate to melt and run out the sides!

This pic does not convey it well enough, but trust me, these are huge. They are nearly the size of my fist.

For comparison, here's the Reese cookie on the left and a regular cookie dough ball on the right. Dang.

In any case, I baked my cookies at 350 degrees for 15  minutes, and they came out perfect!

Once cooked, let the cookies cool at least 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack, or they will fall the heck apart.

Another comparison shot of a regular cookie next to these monsters. I am usually the type to eat quite a few fresh baked cookies because they are just too good but I could not get through even 2 of these. They are massive and crazy rich!

Oh man, look how golden-brown and delicious these look. And once cooled, and cut in half...

You can view the peanut butter cup glory within!

These are rich, giant, and completely excessive. I'm sure the calorie count is through the stratosphere and they have next to zero nutritional value. So of course, I highly recommend them! They are insanely delicious.

The really tough thing about these is resisting eating more than one... because maybe I lost my mind a little and finished that second cookie after all. And maybe my tummy paid dearly for it. But my mouth... oh, my mouth danced for joy!

So yes, try these. But proceed with caution, my friends, for this is a deliciousness from which you may never escape. Or maybe you'll be fine, I don't know. They're tasty cookies, is what I'm trying to say.

So! Thank you, Leigh, for the mad inspiration. Now please never give me another baking idea, my tummy can't handle it! (Just kidding, of course.)

Until next time!

Peanut Butter Pancakes with Lazy Chocolate Ganache

On the way home from work the other night, I was struck with a violent, all-consuming craving. Soon, the only conscious thought my mind was capable of was - 

Pancakes.

Fluffy, glorious, buttery, slathered in real maple syrup pancakes. I turned to my co-worker and erstwhile chauffeur and expressed my craving, and as I put it into words, I knew it would not be enough. The conversation went something like this...

"No, not just plain pancakes... I want to do something more."

"Well, you could put fruit in them, blueberries or apple slices-"

"I'm all out of fruit... but I have lots of peanut butter."

"Oh, well, you could certainly spread peanut butter on them-"

"What if I put peanut butter in them?"

".. That might not work."

"Only one way to find out!"

So I got home and threw down my work bags, kicked off my kicks and started chucking stuff in a bowl. My favorite pancake recipe is super simple - starts with an egg, a cup of buttermilk and a bit of veggie oil.

I eyeballed a couple of heaping tablespoons of smooth peanut butter and chucked them in. I only realized after that maybe I should have started by whipping up the peanut butter and oil to soften the consistency a bit, oops.

As it was, it took quite a bit of whisking vigorously to get the peanut butter incorporated enough.

As you can see, there are still tiny globules of peanutbuttery goodness floating in the mix. This is okay!

Next, you pile on some flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt (which I reduced from my regular pancake recipe because the peanut butter brings its own saltiness to the party.)

Mix it up until it juuuuust comes together. Over-mixing at this point will may result in peanut butter-flavored manhole covers.

Fire up your favorite griddle, and butter that baby generously.

Unceremoniously plop some nice, thick, chunky batter onto your griddle.

If you're feeling fancy, throw some peanut butter chips on there. I discovered through trial and error that they turn out a bit better if you mix the chips into the batter first, but this works too and is a good option if you want to play around with different mix-ins.

Now, the difference between a perfect pancake and an overly dry and flat one often comes down to when you flip it. As soon as you see bubbles coming up to the surface of the pancake, flip it!

If you let too many bubbles break the surface, you're letting out the precious gases that make your pancake fluffy! It takes some practice to be able to do this without slinging half-cooked pancake everywhere, but the results are worth the effort!

And there you have a lovely stack of peanut butter pancakes... Hm. Something's still missing.

Ready for the laziest, will-appall-pastry-chefs-with-its-lack-of-finesse ganache ever? Throw hot water into a pot and put over medium heat, put a heatproof bowl over said pot, chuck in a cup of chocolate chips, a tablespoon of butter and a splash of milk. Melt. Add milk as needed for desired consistency.

Pour chocolate ganache over stack of pancakes...

Mmm... But it still needs something...

Ah yes, bacon. Everything's better with bacon! Now all we need is a fork...

Oh yes, it's pancake time!

If you want to take a shot at making your own rich & delicious peanut butter pancakes, here's my little recipe:

Peanut Butter Pancakes


2 heaping tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil (peanut oil if you have it)
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Peanut butter chips (optional)
Butter, for greasing grill

Note: If you just want good ol' buttermilk pancakes, skip the PB and double the salt. 

Heat electric griddle to 350 degrees or place large frying pan over medium heat.

Whisk together peanut butter and oil. Add egg and buttermilk and whisk until well-combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Butter the griddle/pan. Drop batter onto cooking surface with serving spoon or ladle. Add peanut butter chips if desired. Flip over as soon as bubbles start coming to the surface and underside is golden.

When both sides are golden brown, you're done! Top with ganache, or syrup, or...

Or bananas sliced and sauteed with a bit of brown sugar and butter and maybe a splash of brandy? Oh, yeah... Darn it, now I have to go buy some bananas.

Until next time!

Fireworks Cupcakes: Sweet, Spicy, and Unexpected!

Besides working full-time as a charity fundraiser, I help out seasonally at a fireworks shop called Kaboom! Let me tell you, it is super-fun answering the phone and saying, "KABOOM! How can I help you?"

But maybe that's just me.

In any case, I had been batting a new flavor idea around in my head for a while and being called back to the shop for Victoria Day weekend gave me the nudge I needed to put it into action!

So I whipped up my favorite yellow cake - Bonnie Butter Cake, recipe below - and as a control batch, made 12 plain cupcakes in plain white wrappers.

Then it was time to experiment!

That, my friends, is crushed red chili flakes, which I crushed myself in my mortar and pestle. I knew I bought that thing for a reason.

Next, to be sure there'd be no confusion as to which cakes were regular and which were extra spicy, I chose bright red wrappers for the spicy half.

Then I filled the cups and baked like usual. Well, except that when I usually bake cupcakes, I don't get a faint whiff of chili from the oven, but I suppose that's to be expected.

Next I invented a very simple, Thai-flavours-inspired frosting consisting chiefly of peanut butter, icing sugar and coconut milk. My brother, Duck, happened to be assisting, and asked how I made the frosting.

"Oh, it's really easy," I said, "You just throw it all together in a bowl and -"

"... Okay, not that easy, jeez."

Actually, measure out a 1/2 cup of peanut butter and, using a hand mixer, slowly add 3 cups of icing sugar while mixing until the peanut butter is pretty evenly distributed.

Then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and a tablespoon of coconut milk at a time, mixing on medium in between additions until a smooth frosting forms, like so:

Because of the amount of peanut butter, the frosting will have a somewhat goopy consistency. If it gets too soft to pipe, simply add a bit more icing sugar to firm it up.

The plain cupcakes were topped with pretty swirls of peanut butter coconut frosting. Of those who tried the plain cupcakes, I heard both that the coconut flavor was too strong, and that it wasn't strong enough, so I suppose you can adjust the level of coconut milk depending on your liking. Simply replace the coconut milk with regular milk when you feel you have enough coconut flavor.

The spicy cupcakes got a swirl of icing, too, but I wasn't stopping there, oh no. I mixed up a simple icing glaze.

Then I made it less simple and more sensational! Add as much sriracha sauce as you think you can handle.

Then add a little more.

Then a little more than that.

Seriously. I thought I had made mine too hot until I put it on the cupcakes and tried it. The frosting's richness really brings the heat level down, so feel free to go a little nuts with the hot sauce!

You could stop here, but I felt the glaze looked kind of pale-orange-beige and I really wanted it to visually scream: WARNING! SPICINESS AHEAD! So I threw in a bit of red food colour, with a smidge of brown to try to approximate the colour of the sriracha sauce.

Now that says hot! I dipped a spoon into the glaze and simply drizzled it over the top of the cupcake, like so:

Feel free to adjust the amount of the glaze to your own liking. Heat levels are a very subjective thing... 'not hot enough' to me might be equivalent to 'oh god my eyeballs are melting!' to you, so be sure to keep that in mind.

So I packed up the spicy Fireworks and took them to the fireworks store. I also brought the plainer ones in case of non-spice fans. And you know what?

Most of the staff was afraid to try them!

Seriously, guys? Seriously? You're okay to work in a building full of explosives, but a little hot sauce on your cupcake freaks you out? Come on.

The manager was brave enough to try one. Then he was brave enough to try a second, so I'll take that as a good review. Hubby devoured a couple himself and I certainly had my share!

Hubby took what was left to his workplace the next night, and they pretty much disappeared, all reviews were positive - unless hubby just didn't want to hurt my feelings - but seeing as the trays returned very nearly empty, I'm inclined to believe the overnight staff at the fast food restaurant truly did enjoy these!

Of course, these are the same guys who sneak bacon into their ice cream treats, so... take that as you will.

On another note, these cupcakes were featured on My Food Looks Funny (and before you get upset about the caption, know that I wrote it, poking fun at my own creation!) so definitely go check out the other funky treats and oddities over there.

Want to make your own? Here's all the required recipes:

Bonnie Butter Cake

Another one adapted out of the ol' Betty Crocker book

2/3 Cups Butter, salted
1 3/4 Cups Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 3/4 Cups Cake or Pastry Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 1/4 Cups Milk
1 tsp Red Chili Flakes, crushed (if making fireworks cupcakes, optional. Add more if you're a real heat fan!)

Mix butter, sugar eggs and vanilla until fluffy.  Beat 5 minutes on high speed with hand- (or stand-) mixer, scraping sides down occasionally. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, chili flakes (if using) and salt. Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients bit by bit, alternating with milk, until well combined.

Pour into lined cupcake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 17-19 minutes. Makes 24 cupcakes.

***

Peanut Butter & Coconut Frosting
From my brain, where I get most of my ideas.


1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
3 Cups Icing Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
5-6 tablespoons Coconut Milk (not coconut water or beverage!)

Cream peanut butter with hand mixer on low, slowly add icing sugar until peanut butter is distributed throughout. Add vanilla, and first tablespoon of coconut milk. Be sure your bowl and mixer are very secure, due to the thickness of the frosting at this point, the bowl can try to get away from you!

The next thing you know, the mixer's out of control and spraying frosting everywhere! Not that it would ever happen to me.

Get that photo out of here!

In any case, add a tablespoon of coconut milk at a time until the frosting reaches a spreadable (but yes, it will be kind of goopy) consistency.

***

Sriracha Glaze
Only the brave need apply.

1 Cup Icing Sugar
1 tblsp Coconut Milk (or regular milk)
1 tblsp  Water
Sriracha sauce to taste. Then a bit more than that.


Food Colouring, optional

With a fork or small whisk, combine icing sugar, coconut milk, and water. Add sriracha sauce a bit at a time until desired heat level is reached. Add food colouring, if using, until desired shade is achieved.

***

So, feeling adventurous, my friends? Give these suckers a try. If you dare!

Until next time!