Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

This is probably the most moist, picture perfect cake I've made.  It was a different kind of recipe in that it used oil instead of the butter like I normally use.  They "domed" ideally too.  Found the cake recipe off tastykitchen.com and the frosting recipe off food.com

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

cake:

• 2 cups Flour
• 2-½ cups Sugar
• ¾ cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 1 teaspoon Instant Espresso Or Instant Coffee Granules
• 1-½ cup Water
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tablespoons White Vineger
• 2 whole Large Eggs, At Room Temperature

1.Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well.
2. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend.
3. Mix the ground espresso into the water then gradually beat into the batter mixture.
4. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla.
5. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed.
6. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.
7. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.  Let cool completely before frosting.

frosting:

• 1 cup butter (softened to room temp)
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Cream butter and peanut butter together.
2. Add half the powdered sugar and blend.
3. Blend in milk and vanilla.
4. Add remaining powdered sugar.
5. Stir until smooth and well blended. 
   Fill in decorator gun and pipe on top of cupcakes.

Bagel Dogs

Who doesn't love bagel dogs?! This recipe is super easy if you have a Kitchenaid mixer and the hook attachment.  Easy peasy.  And don't they look pretty??  Yummers. Recipe from tastykitchen.com

 

 Bagel Dogs

• 4 cups Bread Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1-½ teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Or Olive Oil
• 2 teaspoons Instant Yeast
• 1-½ cup Warm Water
• 10 whole Polish Sausages Or Hot Dogs

Mix all ingredients but the sausages, and only 1 1/4 cups of the water into a large bowl. You can add the additional water if it looks like not all the flour will mix or the dough is extra stiff. (I end up using about 1 1/3 cups, but altitude, indoor temp, etc may change it). Dough will be sticky.
Tip dough onto clean counter and knead about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth.
Cut dough into even pieces and let rest 10-20 minutes. (10 for bagel dogs since smaller dough is better, but 8-10 regular bagels can be made with the dough.)
Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough into a long rectangular piece twice as long as the hotdog/sausage. Wrap diagonally across the hotdog, making sure there is overlap, then tuck the ends in when done.
Let rest 5 minutes.
While resting, boil a large pot of water on stove and preheat oven to 425. Once boiling is reached, place bagel dogs in water for one minute each, then let them sit on a tea towel/paper towel to dry for 30 seconds. For authenticity, sprinkle top with poppyseeds. You can also use dried onion, sesame seeds, kosher salt, or anything else.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until bagels are golden, take out and let cool. If you didn’t wrap them tight enough with good overlap, they can unwind a bit, as shown for the middle one the picture above (I was impatient).

Rice Krispie Utopia treeats

Hands down, this is seriously one of the best things I've ever made.  And it's probably the easiest too.  How the hell does that work???  I tried these tasty treats originally in San Diego at a little bakery in Ocean Beach.  I've been trying to remake the delights ever since.  Finally found a recipe suggesting melting white chocolate and rice krispie treats and I said AH HAH!

Rice Krispie Utopia treats

1/4 c peanut butter
1 bag white chocolate chips
3 c rice krispies
1 1/2 c mini marshmallows

Melt white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.  Melt initially for a minute, stir, and nuke another 30 seconds.  Stir and repeat the 30 sec intervals until fully melted.  Stir in the peanut butter until well combined.  Mix in the rice krispies until coated and then the mini marshmallows.  Pour into a dish sprayed with non-stick spray and lightly press down into the form.  Allow to cool and cut into squares.