Next on my to-bake list: these hot cocoa cookies.
I spent a solid 4 and a half hours baking today for the shelter tomorrow, and along with these sugar cookie bars (a recipe/photo post for these coming soon), I made peanut butter cup cupcakes: a rich chocolate cupcake with a peanut butter cookie filling topped with a chocolate buttercream frosting & garnished with a mini peanut butter cookie. They did not turn out near as pretty as I was hoping, but they’re still delicious!
Cupcakes:
One recipe’s worth of your favorite chocolate cupcake batter (I used this one)
Peanut Butter Filling:
One recipe’s worth of your favorite peanut butter cookie dough (I used this one)*
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (via Pinch of Yum):
● 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
● 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (more to your taste)
● 1/2 cup milk
● 2-3 cups of powdered sugar (more or less to achieve desired consistency)
To make:
Preheat your oven to 350ºF. After preparing both the cake batter and cookie dough, prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill each 1/2 way with cake batter and top with a 1” ball of cookie dough. Cover with cake batter.** Bake 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of one cupcake comes out clean.
For the frosting, whip the room-temperature butter on medium speed. Shift to low and add cocoa powder slowly, spoonfuls at a time, until fully incorporated. Still on low, add in the powdered sugar (also one spoonful at a time), alternating with the milk, to achieve desired consistency and taste. Then, beat on medium speed until very light and fluffy, another 3-5 minutes. Add in more sugar if consistency is too thin.
*I saved the extra dough and made miniature cookies to garnish. To do this, bake the cookies at 350ºF for about 10-15 minutes.
**Be careful not to overfill the cupcakes! (a mistake I learned the hard way.)
I was long overdue for another recipe, and I wanted to make this one a little bit lighter! Perfect for a hot summer day. {feel free to message me with recipe requests.}
Brownies are without a doubt my favorite dessert.
For rainy days like today, you just need a little chocolate…
recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 10 to 12 very large sandwich cookies*
For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg
For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’[powdered] sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.
*The original recipe claims to make 25-30 sandwich cookies, but I made mine pretty large and wound up with about 10.
Recipe on next post…
(Recipe from Can You Stay For Dinner?)
Ingredients:
For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
1. Preheat the oven to 350º. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
2. In a separate, large bowl, combine oil, sugar, egg and milk.
3. Add dry ingredients and stir only to combine.
4. Coat your muffin pan well with nonstick cooking spray and divide the batter evenly among the cups.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
6. Run a knife around the sides of the muffin and shake them out of the pan while still hot.
7. Melt the butter in a bowl.
8. Combine the white sugar with the cinnamon in another bowl.
9. Dip muffins in butter, then into the sugar/cinnamon mix. Let cool.
I think I could spend a whole day baking.
