Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Dark Chocolate Brownie Cups

I'm sorry I haven't been around lately with a yummy recipe to share with you all. Been busy busy! And we were away in NY this past weekend, which means I didn't have time in the kitchen to create any new recipes. However, as soon as I returned I got right back to it! And the first thing I made was these absolutely delectable peanut butter cup stuffed dark chocolate brownies. Yep, I did that.

I'd had this box of brownie mix sitting around for a while so I felt like using it...

And I also had these Reese's peanut butter cups lying around (bought in an after-Easter 50% off sale, woohoo!)...

So I thought, why not put the two together? And the result? Perfection.

And the recipe itself could not be any simpler.

Ingredients:

-1 box brownie mix (any flavor or brand)

-15 (or so) unwrapped peanut butter cups

Instructions:

Unwrap the peanut butter cups. Preheat oven and prepare brownie mix according to directions on the box. I chose to make the "fudge-like" brownies and only added 1 egg (vs. the "cake-like" with 2 eggs). After mixing together the brownies according to the package's directions, line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Spoon one generous tablespoonful of brownie batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner (the batter will be about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up the liner). Next, place one peanut butter cup in the center of each brownie cup. Finally, place another generous tablespoonful of batter on top of the peanut butter cup until it is covered and the batter fills each muffin cup 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake (at temperature specified on the brownie box) for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until brownies are "cracked" on top and the batter is cooked through (it will be easy to tell by looking at the brownie cups; however, if you'd prefer, you can also place a toothpick in the outer edge of the brownie to test for doneness - not the middle because that's where the peanut butter cup is!).

After removing the pan from the oven, let the brownies sit in the muffin pan for 3 to 5 minutes before removing and placing on cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

This recipe made 15 brownie "cups" for me with the 19.8 oz. family size brownie mix.

The first layer of brownie batter...

Next - the all-important peanut butter cups!

And lastly, the remaining brownie batter goes on top....

The brownies will indent a bit in the middle. No worries there! It's normal.

I "forced myself" to taste test one (and I really needed to in order to get a picture of the inside!!). This one was fairly fresh out of the oven and oh-so-gooey-and-delicious.

Out of control good, I tell ya!!!

Can't you picture yourself enjoying one of these with a tall, cold glass of milk?! Thought so. Better go get yourself a box of brownie mix and some peanut butter cups... ;)

Four Years Ago Today

Four years ago today, I went on a first date with the wonderful man who will become my husband on November 3rd, 2012!! Awwwww. For some people the number 13 is unlucky, but for us, it's extremely lucky. :) Back on April 13th, 2008, we had our first date at a local pub, James' Gate; we drank Sam Summer and chatted for hours. And since then, life has been more amazing than it's ever been! Mike proposed back on August 19th last year (you can watch a video and read about the proposal here if you'd like), and we've been happily and busily planning our big day ever since!

A few pics from our journey over the past four years...

This was the first picture taken of us together (in May or June of '08 maybe?).

One of our many one-arm-out-pictures, taken while hiking (a fav activity of ours!).

Sitting on a cow bench, obviously.

At one of the many craft beer festivals we've enjoyed!

At my graduation in 2010 for my Master's!

On our awesome Yellowstone trip.

In Kauai last summer!

After I ran the marathon last fall (and Mike ran the last 5 miles with me!).

And this one's from August 19th, 2011, the night Mike asked me to marry him! After he proposed, we went out to celebrate where we had our first date. :)

Only 204 days from today until we become Mr. and Mrs.! And I cannot wait.

Happy 4 years since we met, future hubby!! ♥

Maple Snickerdoodle Whoopie Pies with Maple Cinnamon Buttercream Filling

I love maple syrup. The funny thing though, is that I used to not like it. What??! When I was younger, I chose to put butter on my pancakes but no maple syrup. I liked the flavor maple when I was younger though, so I'm really not sure what my problem with syrup was. All I have to say now is it's a good thing I've gotten over it!! I now love putting maple syrup on my pancakes and waffles, and I also love baking with it! On the blog thus far, my maple-themed recipes include maple date bars, maple date scones, pumpkin maple oatmeal cinnamon chip muffins with maple pumpkin glaze, zucchini whoopie pies with maple buttercream filling, apricot maple chicken, and maple snickerdoodles! Phew. That's a lot of maple.

This recipe came about because a generous friend of mine recently gave me some awesome, pure maple syrup straight from the wonderful area of the Adirondacks in upstate New York (where I come from ;)). She gave me grade B syrup, which is darker and a bit more intense in its maple flavor than grade A, making it great for adding an enhanced maple flavor to baked goodies. It was perfect for these deeelicious maple snickerdoodle whoopie pies!

Below are the recipes for both the cookies and the maple cinnamon buttercream filling. Hope you don't mind, but I just copied and pasted the snickerdoodle recipe from my post last year. :) The recipe for the filling comes from an awesome little cookbook I have that's completely dedicated to whoopie pies! The recipe is for just maple buttercream, but I added some cinnamon to it.

Maple Snickerdoodle Ingredients:

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder

-1/4 tsp. baking soda

-1 and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

-1/2 cup margarine, softened

-1 cup white sugar

-3 Tbsp. real maple syrup

-1 egg

-1/2 cup white sugar

-1/4 cup maple sugar (or 2 tsp. cinnamon)

Instructions:

Now, I did not have the maple sugar, so I just used cinnamon instead. The recipe calls for mixing the last two ingredients listed, white sugar and maple sugar, and then rolling the balls of cookie dough in that mixture. So my mixture was simply cinnamon and sugar instead. If you can find maple sugar though, I bet that would enhance the maple flavor of these cookies! I see that King Arthur Flour carries maple sugar. I may have to look into getting that...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1 and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the softened margarine and 1 cup of white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and maple syrup. Gradually add the dry ingredients until everything is just mixed in. In a small dish, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup white sugar 1/4 cup and maple sugar (or about 2 tsp. cinnamon). Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and roll the balls in the sugar mixture until coated. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until the cookies are "cracked" on top. They may look slightly wet in the middle still (that's okay!). Cool completely on cooling rack. Makes about 24 - 30 cookies.

Maple Cinnamon Buttercream Ingredients:

-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

-2 cups confectioners' sugar

-1 Tbsp. milk

-2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup (grade A or B is fine)

-1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions:

In the work bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand-held electric mixer, beat the butter on low speed until creamy. Add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, with the mixer on low until incorporated. Add the milk, maple syrup, and cinnamon, and beat on medium for 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically.

Match up two cookies that are roughly the same size, spread a generous tablespoon of filling on one cookie, put the other cookie on top, and you're good to go!

These whoopie pies were a huge hit among the friends and coworkers I shared them with. And I was a pretty big fan of them myself!

I would absolutely make this recipe again in a heartbeat. And now that I have a lot of quality maple syrup from good ol' upstate New York, I just might!!

Creamy Fruit Mousse

Happy Easter, friends! It's Sunday night as I'm writing this post, and I'm back in Boston, settled in after a wonderful weekend with my family back home in upstate New York. It's always great to be home! We enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner together, and our dessert was this yummy creamy fruit mousse! This is quite possibly one of the easiest desserts I've ever made. Seriously.

The original recipe for this creamy fruit mousse is from Our Best Bites. When I saw it on their blog a couple weeks ago, it looked like the perfect springtime, Easter dessert so I pinned it, purchased all the ingredients, and I was ready!

Disclaimer: this dessert isn't as pretty as it could have been because I wasn't thinking smartly when I made it. The mousse needs to set in the fridge for a few hours, and to do that, I just put the mousse in a couple tupperware containers overnight. What I should have done was pour it into these pretty glasses before refrigerating it so that the mousse molded right to the glass and was more flush with the sides of the glass like it is this picture:

So pretty!! Oh well. Next time I'll know!

Ingredients:

-1 box (.3 oz.) fruit flavored gelatin, regular or sugar free

-1 cup boiling water

-8 oz. cream cheese, divided

-1/2 cup cold water

-8 oz. container Cool Whip, divided

-1/2 cup powdered sugar

-1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 small orange

Instructions:

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Place in blender and add 4 ounces of cream cheese (half the package). Process until smooth. Add cold water and pulse blender to stir. Add half the container of cool whip to the blender and process until mixture is combined and free of lumps. Pour mixture into one serving bowl or into several individual serving dishes (this is where I failed!! oops). Refrigerate until firm, 3 to 4 hours.

For the frosting, with an electric mixer, beat the remaining 4 ounces of cream cheese with powdered sugar, vanilla, about 1 teaspoon of orange zest, and one teaspoon of orange juice. Mix until creamy and smooth, and fold in the remaining 4 ounces of cool whip. Add more orange juice, if needed, for consistency. Dollop, pipe, or spread topping over mousse just before serving. If you chill the mousse in the fridge with the topping on it, the topping will harden so it's best to make the topping just a few minutes before you're ready to serve the mousse.

Serve with fresh fruit, if desired. Makes about six 1/2 cup servings.

I chose to make this recipe twice - once with lemon gelatin and once with strawberry - and we enjoyed both flavors together. It was a great flavor combo!! If you ever make this, I'd definitely recommending picking two or three flavors that go well together and layering the flavors for a really pretty dessert. This is seriously the perfect dessert for the spring and summer!

Here's a picture of my "problem" I described earlier - when I went to serve the dessert, the texture was not as smooth as I would have liked since I didn't chill the mousse in the serving dishes. Lesson learned I guess! :) We all still loved the dessert though even though it wasn't as pretty as it could have been. I was thinking that this could also be a really easy, yummy treat to serve at a bridal or baby shower. So simple!

Be back again soon this week, I hope! :)

Roasted Cauliflower Cheddar Ale Soup

We all know the old saying, "don't judge a book by its cover." This saying can apply to so many situations, things, people, etc. in life. Well, I'm here to tell you that I think this saying should apply to this dish, roasted cauliflower cheddar ale soup. I don't know about you, but I don't think this soup looks all that appetizing... It's kind of a blah, gray-ish brown color. The bits of bacon and shredded cheese on top help its aesthetic value a little bit, but in general, I think we can agree that this is soup is not going to win any sort of beauty contest based on looks alone!

However, this soup would win a taste contest, I am sure of it. It was delicious! I cooked it this past Sunday night for Mike and me, and Mike loved it too and he actually doesn't care for cauliflower! I think that's one of the sure signs of a winning recipe - when someone who typically doesn't like the main ingredient in a dish actually wipes his or her plate clean. :)

This recipe is based on a recipe from Closet Cooking for Roasted Cauliflower and Aged White Cheddar Soup. I altered the original recipe slightly, and the ingredients and measurements I used are below. A couple points to note... The original recipe calls for 3 cups of vegetable broth. I used 2 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup of BEER! Yep. I couldn't resist. And honestly? I think I could taste the flavor from the beer in the soup! I was glad I experimented and added the beer. :) Also, I randomly didn't have an onion on hand (who am I?), so although the original recipe calls for onion, I did not add it. The soup was incredibly flavorful without the onion though, but I'm sure the onion would be a great addition. Oh, and this made four servings!

Ingredients:

-2/3 of a large head of cauliflower, cut into florets

-2 Tbsp. olive oil or canola oil

-salt and pepper

-2 garlic cloves, chopped

-1 tsp. dried thyme

-1 tsp. dried herbs de provence mix

-2 cups low sodium chicken broth

-1 cup beer (Smuttynose pumpkin ale!)

-1 and 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used VT sharp cheddar)

-1 cup milk or cream (I used 1% milk)

-salt and pepper, to taste

-4 strips cooked bacon, crumbled, if desired

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower florets with canola or olive oil until well-coated, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange the florets in a single layer on a baking sheet or in a 13 x 9 pan (to give you an idea of how much "2/3 of a large head of cauliflower" is, it filled a 13 x 9 baking dish for me). Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the florets are lightly golden brown.

In a large pot on stove over medium heat, heat a couple teaspoons of olive oil and saute garlic for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the broth, beer, cauliflower, and dried herbs, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. Using a stick hand blender (if you have one), puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency. If you don't have a stick hand blender, you could puree the soup in a regular blender in batches and then return it to the pot.

Mix in the shredded cheese until it's melted, and then stir in the milk or cream. Remove from heat and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste, if desired. Also, you could add crumbled bacon like we did for extra flavor and a little crunch!

The reason I used Smuttynose pumpkin ale is simply because I had one bottle of it from the fall still (why I hadn't drunk it yet, I don't know! it's a good pumpkin beer :)). And as I said earlier, I really think I could taste a hint of the beer in the soup...

(image source)

To puree the soup, I used my handy dandy Cuisinart stick hand blender. It worked fabulously! But no worries if you don't have one; a blender or food processor should also do the trick.

Mmmmm, cheeeeese.

Another great characteristic of this soup is that it's very filling! I was totally full after one serving and didn't feel the need to go back for seconds. The leftovers worked nicely as my lunch at work the next day too!

Do you know some of the great nutritional benefits of cauliflower??! It is super high in Vitamin C (one serving = 67% of your daily requirement), a great source of folate, high in fiber, has many cardiovascular disease-fighting characteristics, and is low in calories. Awesome!

Happy almost mid-week, friends!!

Peanut Butter Funfetti Cake Blondies (and the Dagoba Chocolate Giveaway Winner!)

Happy April Fool's Day! Has anyone played any jokes on you today? And if so, did you fall for any? ;) Thus far, nobody has tried to play any pranks on me, nor I on anyone else. But the day's not over yet! So there's still a chance...

I'll confidently tell you one thing that is not a joke though - these blondies! These are real and boy, are they good. I was inspired to make these by a recent delicious looking post on a blog I love, Taste and Tell, for cake batter blondies. And I've also seen variations of these blondies floating around on Pinterest like this one from Cookies & Cups. I just happened to have funfetti cake mix on hand and I was in the baking mood, so I got to workin' on making them!

As I just mentioned, I had seen a few different variations of this recipe around the web, so I kind of combined a couple of them to lead to the recipe you'll read below. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the most important difference in my recipe...the addition of Reese's pieces peanut butter eggs! I also had these on hand and figured, why the heck not add them to these blondies? It was a good decision, let me tell you.

Ingredients:

-1 box Funfetti cake mix (18.25 oz.)

-1 egg

-1/4 cup vegetable oil

-1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)

-1 cup Reese's pieces peanut butter eggs

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan with cooking spray. Place the cake mix, egg, oil, and milk in a large bowl and mix until incorporated (you can mix the ingredients by hand or with an electric mixer; I mixed by hand and it worked well). The batter will be pretty dense. Mix in the Reese's eggs until evenly distributed (I chose to leave the eggs whole and not chop them up, but you could break/chop them into smaller pieces if you wanted to). Spread into your prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool and cut into pieces (I cut mine into 20 small bars).

A few other ideas... You could easily make these with a yellow or white cake mix too instead of the funfetti. Also, instead of the Reese's peanut butter eggs, you could add other mix-ins such as mini marshmallows or white chocolate chips (or any other flavored baking chips really!). Finally, I saw some recipes that also called for frosting the blondies. If you want to make them a bit more decadent then by all means, top them with your favorite frosting!! And sprinkles perhaps! :)

The fact that I used the Easter-like, pastel colored Reese's eggs makes these a potential Easter dessert too...just a thought if you're looking for a super simple Easter treat to try!

And finally, as promised, it's time to reveal the winner of the Dagoba organic mint chocolate bar giveaway! Using random.org, the winner is "chocolate mom," who left this comment about her favorite type of chocolate: "What a great idea to have a contest involving chocolate! Anything having to do with chocolate is time well spent. I absolutely love dark chocolate. I use Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chips in my cookies, and I love to nibble on chocolate that is at least 60% or higher dark chocolate. For holidays and special occasions, I like to use Valrhona chocolate. It seems to give a rich flavor to desserts. As for truffles and other similar goodies, I think Neuhaus, which is a Belgian brand, is unbelievable. Thanks for focusing on chocolate. There's nothing better."

Congrats, chocolate mom! Please email me at cbarber15@yahoo.com so I can send you some delicious chocolate! And thanks to everyone who entered by commenting - it was really fun for me to see all your comments! Dark chocolate seems to be a favorite for many of you.

:)