Reese's Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Some combinations are just so monumentally Earth shatteringly brilliant like cookie dough and ice cream or chocolate combined with peanut butter that one's life cannot be labeled complete until their mind has been blown by the flavor pairings. This year for Halloween, I did a lot of soul searching and tried to figure out how I could possibly make the grandaddy of chocolate/peanut butter permutations, a Reese's, even more delicious (Did anyone else just get a mental image of a Rhesus monkey at a BBQ? No, just me? Good.). After countless hours and much cursing of the stars, it finally popped in my head. I could surround them with even more chocolate and peanut butter! It was just crazy enough to work.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Modified from Food.com

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Time: 45 minutes

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups milk

10 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp cider vinegar

2 tbsp vanilla extract

24 Reese's peanut butter cup miniatures, frozen

48 Reese's minis (yeah there's a difference)

Peanut butter frosting (recipe follows)

Inspiration for filling these with a frozen peanut butter cup courtesy of Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes. 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.
3. Stir the milk, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla together in a stand mixer at medium speed.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ones at low speed until just incorporated.
5. Fill lined cupcake tins 2/3 full with batter. Place one frozen Reese's miniatures in each cupcake.
6. Bake for 16-22 minutes or until the toothpick test comes back clean (be careful of the peanut butter cup). Make sure to rotate once halfway through.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
8. Cover in peanut butter frosting and garnish with two Reese's minis.

This is my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe with the added twist of having a frozen Reese's peanut butter cup inside of it (freezing it keeps it from melting while baking). The cupcake itself is wonderfully moist and bouncy with just the right hit of chocolate (while also being eggless!). But who are we kidding. Even if it was a terrible cake, it would be completely redeemed by the awesome inner peanut butter cup filling.

This recipe was inspired by my friend Alex who loves her some Reese's peanut butter cups, but hates her some egg allergy.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker

2 cups confectioner's sugar

2 cups creamy peanut butter

10 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

 2-3 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2/3 cup heavy cream

The results will look shockingly like peanut butter but be 10x as bad for year!

1. Beat the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt together with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-low speed until creamy.
2. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar until smooth.
3. Add in the cream and beat at high speed until light.

Not surprisingly, the frosting is like a creamier, sweeter peanut butter that brings home that peanut butter taste without giving you unfortunate peanut butter mouth (note to self: go as "unfortunate peanut butter mouth" for Halloween next year and just wait for the ladies to come rushing over)

Rich doesn't even begin to describe these.

Our second cupcake of Halloween was a far prettier delicious morsel with swirly frosting and additional Reese's minis toppings. These chocolatey peanut butter powerhouses fittingly encapsulated the spirit of the almighty Reese's (ok now all I can see are Rhesus monkeys wearing crowns and holding scepters) with each bite incorporating multiple, seemingly never-ending layers of chocolate on peanut butter (or is it peanut butter on chocolate). This debaucherous cupcake will surely stand out at any Halloween gathering with its unforgettable combination of tastes. However, I find myself having to declare the salty, sweet Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes the victor of my self-imposed Halloween Cupcake Wars. Fortunately, both were absolutely amazing, so I didn't have to soak my slutty Einstein costume in tears. Check back later in the week for the final entry in my Halloween Bakeathon- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Since I made the frosting look spiky, I obviously didn't need to do any other decoration.

Halloween is a glorious time of year where you get to dress funny and accept candy from total strangers (owners of windowless vans rejoice!)! This year I wanted to commemorate the glory that is a caramel apple by forever immortalizing it in a cupcake. The result was a teeth bustingly good combination of salty and sweet that will become a staple of my Halloween repertoire for years to come. (See, we're totally catching up to the present with these blog posts. Last week was Labor Day and now we're practically in November!)

Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes
Modified from Cupcake Wars
Servings: 24 cupcakes
Time: 45 minutes

2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2-3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and chopped
2 Fuji apples, cored, peeled and chopped
Salted Caramel (recipe follows)
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Your house will deceptively smell like apple pie, leaving you longing for pie and eating to cope.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Combine the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla extract in a stand mixer at medium speed.
3. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter and mix over low speed until just incorporated.
5. Stir in the apples.
6. Fill lined cupcake tins 2/3 of the way with batter and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when touched (the toothpick test is a little tricky because of the apples). 
7. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
8. Top with salted caramel and let cool.
9. Pipe on the cream cheese frosting.

The apples may have hurt the structural integrity of the cupcakes, but they really bursted with flavor.

The cupcake itself is fantastic even without the toppings (trick your friends into believing they're healthy muffins!). Any time you can combine apples, cinnamon and butter, you are instantly transported to the magical land of apple pie, and that is always a good thing.

Salted Caramel

Previously seen in Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

From Bakingdom.com

Time: 15 minutes + cooling

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp corn syrup

1/2 cup cream

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

Sadly, attempts to bob for apples in the caramel were a colossal failure that wreaked havoc on my beard.

1. Stir the sugar, water and corn syrup together in a medium-sized sauce pan (make sure there's plenty of extra room to avoid scolding hot sugar).
2. Bring to a boil and occasionally swirl (do not stir).
3. Remove from heat when the mixture gets a hint of amber color to avoid burning (it will rapidly change once it hits amber).
4. Carefully add the cream in a slow, steady stream and stir with a long wooden spoon. Wear a cooking mitt and be wary of the steam.
5. Stir in the butter and salt then let cool to room temperature.

Whenever a recipe calls for caramel and I'm not feeling overly lazy, I always rely on this salted caramel to deliver a winner. The delicious smooth caramel is perfectly sweet and gooey, while the bites of sea salt make it unforgettable. 

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Modified from Cupcake Wars

Time: 5 minutes

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp

8 oz cream cheese, room temp

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp salt

All my frosting pictures may look the same, but I guarantee they're all uniquely delightful.

1. Beat the cream cheese with the whisk attachment of a stand mixer over medium speed. 
2. Add the butter and vanilla extract and  beat until well mixed.
3. Slowly add the powdered sugar and salt until smooth. 

I then proceeded to lick the tops of each cupcake. Trick or treat indeed.

This unassuming looking cupcake may not win any costume contests, but it'll hold a special place in your party guests' hearts. That cinnamony apple goodness and vanilla cream cheese provide a wonderfully sweet combination that is balanced beautifully by the salted caramel. When I set out to make a caramel apple cupcake, this is exactly what I was hoping for. Stick around to find out if this apply delight reigned supreme over my other act of cupcakery, The Reese's Peanut Butter Cupcake, on All Hallows' Eve.

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

Because we weren't disgustingly full enough from our pizza adventures (See: Bacon Jam and Margherita Masterpieces), we decided a dessert course was in order. To our credit we did walk around (and repeatedly jump up and down) on the beach in between. We needed something that would pack a punch if our dessert had any chance of holding up to the delightful pizzas we started the day with. This powerful and sweet Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream was just the thing to end our adventure.

Lars and I jump for joy over our delicious day of eating. This is take 37 of 42.

Courtney got in on the jumping merriment too. 

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream
From Food & Wine
Servings: 1 quart
Time: 40 minutes plus freezing

2 cups whole milk
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup ground Vietnamese Coffee
Pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks

It's important to utilize your kitchen space as efficiently as possible.

1. Combine the whole milk, condensed milk, ground coffee and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let stand for 20 minutes. 
2. Strain through a fine sieve lined with several layers of moistened cheesecloth.
3. Return the milk mixture to the saucepan and bring to a simmer.
4. Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl until slightly pale. 
5. Gradually whisk in the hot milk. Refrigerate until cold
6. Freeze in an ice cream maker. Then transfer to a container and freeze until firm enough to scoop.

Attempts to strain our mixture proved unsuccessful...

One of my favorite activities is making my way over to Cafe TH on Saturdays and recovering from all the heavy studying and philosophical pondering of my Friday night with an insanely strong and delicious Vietnamese Coffee. The condensed milk gives the perfect creaminess to that robust blend. This ice cream perfectly encapsulated that experience to put a refreshing end to our day at the beach. Our only real regret is that we had trouble straining the mixture (sadly cheesecloth was not available), so some grounds remained, leading to minor bitterness which really only made our ice cream that much stronger. I would definitely recommend making this a day ahead of time to give everything time to properly strain.

Courtney must have bitten into some of the bitter grounds. That's surely the only explanation. Also, can you guess which one of the two has a Ph.D.?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Los Angeles is really pretty.

Los Angeles Pizzanistas: Margherita

No, we did not reassemble the already sliced pizza to take a pic. That'd be crazy.

Before I sing the praises of the latest oven baked Italian odyssey, I want to say that I generally don't like Margherita pizza. Sure it's great to snack on at a Happy Hour, but, in general, it just seems so plain and looks so uninteresting. Plus, I had just ingested the world's most superb realization of cheese and meat and bread coming together to fight for the good of mankind (see: Bacon Jam pizza). My mind was about to be changed.

Pizza Sauce
Courtney's original recipe
Servings: Many pizzas worth
Time: 20 minutes

1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste

1 small can (15 oz) tomato sauce

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme

Pinch to 1 tsp salt (depending on if tomatoes have salt)

1/4 to 1/2 tsp pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 small onion, diced

1/2 small carrot or 1-2 baby carrots, grated

Carrots in the sauce. Craziness. 

1. Cook the onions in olive oil until they start to soften, then add in the garlic and cook for another minute or so.
2. Mix in the tomato sauce, paste and spices. Stir to incorporate everything, and cook for 15 minutes to let all the flavors marry.

Since there isn't a whole lot going on in a Margherita pizza, it's base components better be spectacular. This carefully crafted sauce truly brought the winning flavor to our pizza to save it from a drab fate. This masterful sauce isn't just relegated to pizzas, it would also make a welcome addition to any pasta (just thin it with a little water or stock first).

Margherita Pizza

Infused... with awesome!

Pizza sauce (recipe above)

Pizza crust (recipe found here)

Mozzarella

Fresh basil

Garlic and basil infused olive oil

Delicious bubbly cheese. Also, the name of my new Indie rock band.

1. Preheat your oven to 500 F.
2. Heat olive oil and garlic over low heat in a pot for as long as you want (but at least 10 minutes) to infuse the olive oil. Let it come back to room temperature before using.
3. Top your rolled out dough with the ingredients and bake on a pizza stone or oiled cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.

Mmm, basily

Fresh basil and giant chunks of mozzarella combined with the fantastic crust and sauce helped make our Margherita pizza one to remember. The true MVP ingredient, however, was the basil and garlic infused olive oil which really made our pizza pop. In the end, I shockingly somehow managed to eat almost equal amounts of both pizzas. Well played, Margherita pizza. Well played.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to order some pizza after writing about it all day and hope that my mind lets me pretend it's the same thing.

Los Angeles Pizzanistas: Bacon Jam

Whenever I head back to Los Angeles, I fall into a near hibernatory state of eating and sleeping and playing with the world's most awesome dogs, Harry and Faye. It would take something special to get me to emerge from my puppy and Lifetime movie cocoon. Fortunately for my taste buds, a chance to make pizza with Courtney and Lars fit the necessary criteria. This past Labor Day weekend (yep, this post is that long in the making), Lars and I sat amazed in Courtney's kitchen as some of the world's most delicious round cheesy foods filled our bellies with glee.

Stand back, Los Angeles, we're going to try pizza!

When Courtney first discussed making pizza, my mouth began to water recalling the several times I was fortunate enough to gorge on it while we were at UCLA together, but then she said two words that would forever change my life: Bacon Jam.

Pizza Crust
From Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Servings: 4-6 pizzas
Time: 2 hours

3 cups flour
1 tsp (1 packet) yeast
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
1 cup water

It also makes a fantastic face mask.

Can't remember if this is my hand or Courtney's...

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and yeast.
2. Add the water and oil and form a ball.
3. Knead until smooth.
4. Mix in additional flour if the dough is too sticky, or water (1/2 tsp at a time) if it's too dry.
5. Knead your dough ball for a few minutes. Then place it in an oiled bowl, cover it and stick it in a warm place until it rises (1-2 hours). 
6. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and wait 20 minutes or so before splitting it and rolling it out to your desired pizza sizes.

Don't mess around in Courtney's kitchen.

Sometimes less is more, and this fairy basic crust proves that. The barebones approach produces a wonderfully crisp crust that's quite flavorful and really helps compliment any toppings lucky enough to be placed on top of it.

Slow Cooker Bacon Jam

From Martha Stewart

Servings: Enough to make you feel disgusting

Time: 4 1/2 hours

The secret is bacon fat.

1 1/2 lbs sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces

2 medium yellow onions, diced

3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3/4 cup brewed coffee

Must find a way to bottle the smell or make scratch and sniff pictures.

1. Cook the bacon over medium-high in a large skillet, stirring occasionally until it is lightly browned and the fat is rendered (about 20 minutes).
2. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel to drain, and pour off all but 1 tbsp of fat from the skillet.
3. Add the onions and garlic to the bacon fat and cook until translucent (about 6 minutes).
4. Mix in the vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from the skillet with a wooden spoon for about two minutes.
5. Add the bacon back in and stir to combine.
6. Transfer to a 6 quart slow cooker and cook uncovered on high until the liquid is syrupy (3 1/2 to 4 hours). Run it through a food processor if you want it less chunky and more jam like.
7. Have everyone you know come smell how amazing your kitchen is right now.

I'm still curious how it goes with peanut butter.

Pizza sauce is so cliche. It was time for it to receive a modern day makeover courtesy of loads upon loads of bacon. The natural savory manly bacony awesomeness melds perfectly with the sweetness added to it by the brown sugar and maple syrup for a one of a kind pizza topping. Upon tasting this, I contemplated living a life where I spend my days sitting in a La-Z-Boy recliner eating bowlfuls of bacon jam in a heavily stained white t-shirt (I'm 75% sure you will agree upon tasting).

Bacon Jam Pizza

Bacon Jam (Recipe above)

Mozzarella 

Arugula

White onion, thinly sliced

I'd still eat it raw. It was that glorious

1. Take great pride in the fact you fought off the seduction of the bacon jam's aroma long enough to put it on your pizza.
2. Top your rolled out dough with the ingredients and bake for 12-15 minutes on a pizza stone or oiled cookie sheet until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly

Slice 1 of 50 I would consume that day.

Every single aspect of this, the world's most magnificently fantastical pizza absolutely killed it. The crust was, as previously mentioned, awesomely golden, while the bacon jam brought the sauce possibilities to a dream world like level. As far as cheese is concerned, giant chunks of melted mozzarella wins out over shredded every single time. To round things out, the arugula added a nice pepperiness to each bite. I am now severely regretting waiting so long to write this up because I am now forced to relive the sheer incredibleness from months ago, knowing that there is no more readily available to devour.

My pizza making skills on display. Nailed it (although the bacon jam all but assured victory).

Like me, Courtney is never satisfied making just one thing, so stay tuned to learn about our delectable adventures in Margherita Pizza and Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream.

This Margherita Pizza was facing an uphill battle having to follow the bacon jam.  Stay tuned to find out how it held up.