Peanut Butter Sandwiches

As you may have noticed, Girl Scout Cookie season has arrived. For most people, that is great news. For me, not so much. I find them pretty gross and artificial-tasting. The only thing I think Girl Scout cookies are good for is reinvention. I think the cookies sometimes have good flavor combinations and can be used in other desserts. This idea got me thinking about taking other commercial baked goods with bad quality ingredients and remaking them using good recipes and ingredients. I would be lying if I said I didn't like Nutter Butters. They're good. But they could taste so much better. The filling in a Nutter Butter tastes kind of like an Oreo's: bleck. Using natural peanut butter that has only two ingredients (peanuts and salt) makes for a healthier and tastier filling.




I want to apologize for how few posts I've been doing. Believe me, I would do more if I could. I expect the next several weeks (months) to be equally as busy, so there won't be an abundance of posting in the near future. I will do posts whenever I can.

Peanut Butter Shortbread

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 300 F. Beat butter and peanut butter together until thoroughly combined. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla extract and salt, then flour. Beat until a dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill overnight.

Once chilled, roll on a floured surface until the dough is 1/4 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 16-18 minutes, until the cookies are firm to the touch. Let cool for 2 hours before filling.

Peanut Butter Filling
1.5 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup cream peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine butter and peanut butter well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large circular tip, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Sandwich two cookies together, with filling in between.

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Cupcake Duo

This was definitely one of the more frantic baking orders I've done. It's all thanks to this darn heat. It's not supposed to get this hot here. Several things went wrong, starting with the frosting. Seeing as it rarely goes above 70 degrees here, I didn't plan on any difficulties with making buttercream frosting at 2:00 in the afternoon. Wrong. I made two batches of peach frosting, using my delicious, ripe peaches from Pike Place Market, only to find the butter breaking down. I didn't figure that out until the second batch of frosting. I'd already made the cakes earlier in the day, before it got too hot, but I couldn't make the frosting until late at night when it cooled off. I also needed to make recipe cards, as it was for a little in-office cook off at the University of Washington, for my aunt. It was too hot to do anything (for me, at least), so I slept. Then I realized I hadn't made the recipe cards, and did so frantically. They were all printed and ready to go when I realized I would have to make different frostings because of the heat and my wasted peaches :( . I quickly made new ones, after I had frosted my cupcakes with their final frostings: chocolate peanut butter and lemon (with drops of peach puree on the cake). While the recipe cards ended up being kind of ugly, due to it being 12:30 at night, the cupcakes turned out well, which is what mattered in the end.


Lemon, Peach & Blueberry Cupcakes

Vanilla Blueberry Buttercake

1 stick unsalted butter
1- ¼ + 2 tablespoons cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 medium peaches

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin, or mini muffin tin with paper liners. Sift 1-1/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and whisk thoroughly. In a stand mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, and the milk in 2 parts, starting and ending with the flour. Beat just intil combined. Toss the blueberries in 2 tablespoons of flour to coat. Add the batter and mix in by hand. Fill each cupcake liner to the top (whether standard or mini sized). Bake standard cupcakes for about 18 minutes and minis for 12 minutes.
In a food processor, puree peaches until liquid consistency. Pour through a sieve to remove chunks. Spoon ½ teaspoon of peach puree on tops of cupcakes.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

1-1-½ stick unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1-1-½ teaspoons lemon oil
Sanding sugar (for sprinkling)

In a stand mixer, beat softened butter and powdered sugar, then salt, and mix thoroughly. Add in lemon oil and mix. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Sprinkle sanding sugar.



Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate Cake

4.25 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter; softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir until melted. Remove from water and let cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. On low speed, add the melted chocolate until incorporated. On medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture has changed to a slightly lighter color. Mix in the yogurt until completely blended. Dissolve espresso powder into water and pour into batter. Mix on low speed just until smooth. Line a muffin tin with paper cups and spray the whole pan with vegetable oil [to prevent sticking]. Fill each cup almost to the top. Bake regular sized cupcakes for aprox. 12 minutes, minis for 8 (depending on your oven.)

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter; softened
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1- 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Combine butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix thoroughly.
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