Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Brooke had a very specific request for her birthday dessert - chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. I've never heard of peanut butter cream cheese frosting but figured I'd wing it - how bad could it be? Actually, it's very very good. Like delicious. Just about the perfect cupcake. I don't know if she thought the idea up herself or saw it somewhere, but turned out to be a great call.

I made 24 chocolate doctored cupcakes (add an additional egg, substitute melted butter for the oil and milk instead of water, add a teaspoon of vanilla, and a scoop of sour cream); for 12 of them I spooned 2 tablespoons of batter into cupcake liners, put a mini reese's peanut butter cup in the center, topped with another tablespoon of batter. For the other 12 I left out the reese's and went with straight chocolate cake.

For the frosting - the 12 plain chocolate cupcakes were frosted with a big scoop of vanilla buttercream frosting (side note: did you see yesterday's tip for clear vanilla? It's the way to go for white frosting); the 12 that have the reese's baked in got frosted with this peanut butter cream cheese frosting, garnished with another reese's mini cup and some chocolate sprinkles. Yum.


Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:

6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
2-3 tablespoons whip cream (or milk)
pinch of salt

Beat the cream cheese and peanut butter together until smooth. Add the vanilla and salt. Alternate adding powdered sugar and whip cream (or milk) until you get the correct consistency for spreading.

Note: this frosting was firm when I frosted the cupcakes but after being out for a while in a warm room it got soft and wanted to slide off the cupcakes! Next time I'll keep them chilled until it's time to serve them - not the best choice for sitting out for hours.

Cathy's Strawberry Pie

Cathy makes an incredible strawberry/pineapple layered pie that is SO good - she gave me the recipe a long time ago (because you know me, I'm not above begging for a fabulous recipe!) but until now I didn't have a picture to post with the recipe...and now I do. I'm not going to go on and on about how creamy, fruity, yummy, summery, and sweet this is - I don't have enough words. Just trust me, you want to make this pie.

Ingredients:

pre-baked pie crust (homemade or store bought, you decide)

8 oz. cream cheese
6 1/2 oz. crushed pineapple, drained but save the juice
3 T. sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups crushed strawberries
reserved pineapple juice
1 cup sugar
3-4 T. cornstarch

3-4 cups chopped strawberries

Cool whip, Reddi-Whip, or whipped cream if desired

Directions:

1. Mix together the cream cheese, crushed pineapple, 3 T. sugar, and vanilla, and pour into the piecrust.
2. In a saucepan combine crushed strawberries, pineapple juice, 1 cup sugar and the cornstarch. Cook until clear and thick. Cool.
3. Once it's cool add 3-4 cups chopped strawberries and pour over cream cheese layer. 
4. Refrigerate until it sets up. Top with whipped cream if using. 

Robert Redford Cake

In addition to the requested Buckeyes for my sissy's birthday (click here for that post) I also made this cake in case people didn't want just Buckeyes for dessert. A friend from work gave me this recipe like 20 years ago - it's definitely an oldie but goodie!

Ingredients:

1 package oreos
1 stick butter, melted
1 16oz container cool whip
2 large packages cream cheese
1 T. sugar
1 large box instant chocolate pudding
2 cups milk

Directions:

1. Crush cookies in a large bowl, reserve one cup and mix the rest of the cookie crumbs with the melted butter. Put in bottom of 13x9 pan and press down to form the crust.
2. Mix pudding with 2 cups milk and spread on top of the crust. Refrigerate.
3. Mix cool whip with cream cheese and sugar until it's a creamy consistency. Layer on top of pudding.
4. Sprinkle with remains 1 cup of cookie crumbs and refrigerate. 

This looks suspiciously like the S'more pie I made a couple weeks ago, doesn't it? No marshmallows in this one tho!

one year ago today: tip for repotting plants using a coffee filter for drainage.

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Brooke and I each made a side dish to go with the steaks her uncle got us for dinner - I did potato salad (I looked on the blog and can't find that I ever posted the recipe I use, I will do that soon - it's the best and I've been making it forever!) and B made these stuffed mushrooms. She found a recipe that looked good to her online - we tweaked it a little bit (of course) and they turned out so good and delicious I had to share - I will definitely be making these again. Yum.

Here is the recipe as she made them, click the link below to see the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• 12 large mushrooms (1 pound)
• 4 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 cup (more or less) spinach, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup real bacon bits (more or less to taste)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350'. Remove the stems from mushrooms. Mix remaining ingredients and spoon into the mushroom caps. Place them in a shallow baking pan and bake 18-20 minutes until heated thru and bubbly.

See the original recipe here.