Decadent Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Homemade Vanilla Frosting

August 27, 2012 by Mom on the Make 3 Comments

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

Decadent Cupcakes

Oh my goodness, these are so good. I love homemade frosting and I love moist cupcakes.

So, when I found this recipe, it went on my “to make” list about a month ago.

Finally I made them a few days ago.

The family raved and raved.

Poor Mountain Man only got two of them.

I need to make them again soon.

They’re pretty easy to make and the few extra steps are so worth it.

Here’s the scoop:

Ingredients for Hershey's Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

Gather Ingredients: sugar, flour, Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Cocoa, eggs, baking soda, salt, butter, vanilla, vegetable oil, milk, water

Mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl

Add eggs, oil and vanilla to dry ingredients and blend on medium for 2 minutes

Add 1 cup boiling water to bowl and stir in

The boiling water will create a very moist cupcake in the end. At this point, the batter will feel a little runny, but there is no need to worry. It is supposed to somewhat runny at this point. This step makes the texture of the cupcakes perfect and very moist.

Scoop out batter. I used a 1/4 cup and this was perfect to fill the cupcake liners halfway full.

Fill cupcake liners halfway full and they are ready for the oven!

Place cupcakes in oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes

Homemade Vanilla Frosting Ingredients: 2 sticks softened unsalted butter, 4 cups powdered sugar, 2t vanilla

Blend butter until broken up

Add 4 cups powdered sugar little by little, then add the 2t of vanilla and blend for 2-3 minutes until the frosting is at desired consistency. You can add water, but I did not need to.

After cupcakes have cooled on wire racks, you can frost them

Aren’t they beautiful?

And then there was one. They disappear quickly. 🙂

I want to thank Aly at 17 Sirens for sharing this recipe. I did not add coffee as Aly suggests, but I’m sure that would add a nice flavor kick too!

Enjoy!

For print out:

Decadent Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Homemade Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate Cake:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Vanilla Frosting:

2 Sticks Softened, unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla (or more to taste)
1-2 teaspoons water (optional)

Instructions

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 cupcake tins with paper liners.
Gently mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla to dry mixture and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. Your batter should be somewhat runny or pourable.
Use a ¼ cup measuring cup or liquid measuring cup to scoop out dough. Fill each cupcake liner about halfway full.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
Vanilla Frosting
Place your butter in a bowl and mix for a minute to break up the sticks.
Add powdered sugar a little at a time, completely incorporating into the butter.
Add vanilla. Mix for 2-3 minutes. If you frosting is too thick, add 1-2 teaspoons of water to thin.
Frost your cupcakes and ENJOY!

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies

August 24, 2012 by Mom on the Make 1 Comment

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookie

Ok, let me start by saying, these are by far the BEST peanut butter cookies I have ever tasted in my life. By a long shot.

The reason these cookies are better is because they use honey roasted peanuts rather than regular peanuts.

Also, I made homemade peanut butter, rather than store bought. Homemade peanut butter sounds tricky, but it is the easiest thing in the world.

I’m so glad I didn’t shy away from trying the homemade peanut butter, because it really just takes a few minutes with a Vitamix or another food processor.

Here are the steps to these decadent cookies:

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookie Ingredients

Gather Ingredients for Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies

Pour Honey Roasted Peanuts in Vitamix or other Food Processor and blend until smooth

Place 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, 1 stick butter and 1 cup homemade peanut butter together in large bowl

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies blend

Blend together sugars, peanut butter and butter

Add 1T vanilla and two eggs to sugar/peanut butter mixture and blend

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookie Dough

After whisking together 2 1/2 cups flour, 1t baking soda, 1t baking powder, and 1/2t salt, add to dough and mix on low until combined. Picture of Finished Dough Above- Delicious, by the way 🙂

Peanut Butter Cookies mix in sugar and cinnamon

Mix 1/3 cup sugar and dash of cinnamon to roll dough in

Peanut Butter Cookies dough in sugar mixture

Roll dough into ball and roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture

I used a meat tenderizer for the holes on top. Love this idea: thank you Amanda from kevinandamanda.com 🙂

Almost finished with decoration on top

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies go into oven

Place Cookies in oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until edges are brown

The finished product. Notice, there are a few missing – they were so darn good, we couldn’t help ourselves.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies Displayed

Display of these delectable treats!

I have to send a huge Thank you to Amanda at Kevin and Amanda for this recipe. These truly are unique cookies and I’m so glad I stumbled upon this recipe.

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family. 🙂

Here is the recipe for print out:

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

25 mins

Delectable Honey Roasted Peanut Cookies with Homemade peanut butter

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

1 16oz jar of honey roasted peanuts
½ cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1T vanilla
2½ cups flour
1t baking soda
1t baking powder
½t salt
For topping:
½ cup sugar and dash of cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Add the peanuts to a Vitamix or other food processor and blend until smooth. Add salt if desired.
Beat butter, sugars and homemade peanut butter for several minutes on medium-high speed until smooth.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix on medium for 2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to dough and mix on low speed until combined.
Using medium cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into ball. Then roll the ball into the sugar/cinnamon mix.
Use Meat Tenderizer to make a decoration on the top of each cookie and flatten.
Place in oven and cook on 350 degrees for 10 minutes until the edges are golden.
ENJOY!

Oreo Cookie Cheesecake Cupcakes

August 17, 2012 by Mom on the Make 2 Comments

Oreo cookie cheesecake cupcakes

Yum. I made these cupcakes this past weekend, and everyone was impressed with the unique flavor and presentation.

My brother and his family came to visit so I was motivated to make a special dessert.

I decided to make this one since its been in my Evernote list of “recipes to try” for at least a month.

I’ve never tried making miniature cheesecakes before, but this is a brilliant idea, since cheesecake is so rich. Sometimes its nice to have just a little taste.

I’ve also never made a cheesecake with oreos. I will tell you, this is definitely a great combo.

Here’s the recipe…..

Oreo Cookie Cheesecake Cupcakes

Delicious oreo cookie cheesecake cupcakes that are so easy to make.

Author: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Ingredients

42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.
With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.
Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Beat in sour cream and salt.
Stir in chopped cookies by hand.
Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes.
Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight).
Remove from tins just before serving.

Ingredients for cupcakes: 42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped, 2 pounds cream cheese room temperature, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 4 large eggs room temperature lightly beaten, 1 cup sour cream, Pinch of salt