Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate is probably the messiest thing to have around on a hot summer day, but I love chocolate and I love chocolate and peanut butter even more. Remember my earlier post about spreading peanut butter on my chocolate brownie? Yes, I have it bad and I'm craving peanut butter and chocolate right now. So, to help take care of that craving, I thought I would share my recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.

Looks a little like a Hostess Cupcake doesn't it? Oh, but it is so much better. I usually use chocolate frosting on top, but lately I have been thinking about trying a peanut butter icing. I've never made peanut butter icing, but I think if I mix together powdered sugar, peanut butter, and a little milk, it would be perfect.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Filling:
2 T. whipping cream
2 squares of semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 t. granulated sugar
1/4 C. peanut butter

In a small saucepan, heat the cream until just boiling. Add in the chocolate and sugar and stir until all is melted. Refrigerate the mixture for about 40 minutes. It needs to be firm, but not hard.

Mix together a chocolate cake mix according to the directions on the box. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper baking cups. Fill each cup almost 1/3 full of the cake batter. Using the palms of your hands, roll the firm peanut butter filling into a ball and put one into each cup in the muffin pan. Cover each ball with the rest of the cake batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350° f. or until the center springs back when touched lightly. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting and serve. They taste the best after they have cooled.

Enjoy,
Carol

New Discount on my book

My publisher is offering a new discount on my book, Masters & Disasters of Cooking. From now until May 31, 2011, you can get 15% off of the print edition of the book. Don't delay and miss the deal. Clock here to get the code and order the book.

Thanks,
Carol

Food Tip of the Day

First, Happy Kentucky Derby Day! I live in southern Indiana near Louisville, Kentucky and love to celebrate Derby Day. It's way too wild for me to attend because I would only be able to go to the infield and believe me the infield is crazy on Derby Day. You also rarely see a horse when you're in the infield. So, I'll be watching at home, television turned up loud, drink in hand, and cheering for my horse. I haven't really studied them close, but I think I'll chose Twice the Appeal. He's a long-shot, but the name is sort of related to my day job.

Okay, so for my Food Tip of the Day, I made brownies this week so we would have something sweet in the house to eat. The pan is on the counter in the kitchen and when I went in to get a brownie, I noticed our jar of Jiffy Creamy Peanut Butter next to the pan. Hmmm, I love Reese's Cups and wondered how a brownie would taste with peanut butter spread on top of it. OMG, it was wonderful. You have to try it.

Carol

Oysters

I do believe that fried oysters are my favorite seafood. I've had a can of them on the shelf for a while now waiting for the opportune evening to fix them for supper. The reason I have to wait is because my husband does not like oysters, so I wait until he works late so I can fry them. Tonight is that night. He has to work late filling in for a coworker and it's oysters for me tonight. Now, don't feel sorry for him, he already told me not to make him anything for supper as he would probably just eat at work, or grab something on the way home. Perfect for me.

Frying the oysters is pretty simple. Rinse them off and make sure there are no shells pieces or pebbles in them. I then dip them in beaten egg and coat with crushed cracker crumbs. Fry in a hot skillet of oil until they reach the desired doneness. I really wish I could find my iron skillet because that would be perfect for the frying, but it's no where to be found.

Carol

A new story for Masters & Disasters 2?

I baked fish a few days ago for supper. It wasn't until I already had it in the over when I realized we didn't have any tartar sauce. I called my mom to see if she had any I could borrow. She didn't, but suggested that I just make some. Hmmm, how do I do that? She told me to use Miracle Whip and relish. Okay, I have both of those and this would work out great for the Product Testing I'm doing with Miracle Whip. So I asked her how much of each I use. Her answer, "I don't know, I just mix some together until it tastes right."

Why not? I throw things together like that all the time. I started by mixing equal amount of each and gave it a taste. Too sweet. I then added just a pinch of salt. Too much. How about a little sugar. Better, and I thought I had better stop or it might end up worse.

The verdict? All I'm going to say is that we ate the fish without tartar sauce, which is now on my grocery list for my next shopping trip.

A NEW OFFER:
I also wanted to remind everyone of the limited offer of free shipping on my book, Masters & Disasters of Cooking and tell you of a new offer. From now until April 26, 2011, you can get 20% off of the purchase price on the print version of the book. Visit my M&D web page for the codes for both offers. These offers cannot be combined, but must be used individually.

Thanks,
Carol

Dandelion Jelly and a Special Offer

I was sitting in my office at my day job the other day looking out the window. With the beautiful weather on that particular day, I was wishing I was outside instead of in my office working. One thing I noticed was all of the dandelions in the yard. It looked like a yellow blanket had been spread over the whole lawn. The landlord actually came later that day to mow the grass and all of the dandelions succumbed, too. The next day, I turned my desk chair around to look out of the window again and there they were. The dandelions had returned strong as ever. Don't you just hate that?

So, today I give you my way of revenge over the ever mortal dandelion with my recipe for Dandelion Jelly. The main thing to remember when harvesting the dandelion blossoms is to not use them if they have been treated with any type of insecticide or fertilizer, and it wouldn't hurt to make sure the dog or cat haven't watered them in their own special way either. Lastly, please check below the recipe for a special offer for my cookbook, Masters & Disasters of Cooking.

Dandelion Jelly

1 quart dandelion blossoms
2 T. lemon juice
4 1/2 c. sugar
1 pkg. Sure-Jell
1 pkg yellow food coloring

De-stem and rinse dandelions thoroughly. Boil them in one quart of water for 3 minutes. Strain out 3 cups of the water and return it to the stove. Discard the blossoms. To the water, add the lemon juice, food coloring, and Sure-Jell. Stir well and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the sugar and stir. Boil again for more 3 minutes. Pour into jars and seal.

Special Offer from my publisher:
From now until April 30, 2011, my publisher is running a special offer for free shipping (up to $4.99) on orders of my cookbook, Masters & Disasters of Cooking. This would make a great gift for Mother's Day. To find out how to get this special offer and to order, visit this page on my web site.

Thanks,
Carol

Potato Soup

I think I've mentioned before what a wonderful cook my husband is. Well, I'm going to remind you again and share a recent recipe of his. Here at home, we share the cooking duties for our dinners. As with most other families, we get into a rut by preparing the same things all the time. It gets old and we are always looking for something new to try. This past week, my husband decided to fix some potato soup before our potatoes went bad. I could not stop myself from telling him over and over how good his soup was.

When he decides on a new dish, he usually searches online for a recipe, even though I have hundreds of cookbooks on the bookshelf to look through. Sometime ago, he found a recipe for potato soup. It was good, but nothing to really brag about. This week, he pulled that recipe out and found that we didn't have all of the ingredients. Being the good cook that he is, he improvised and the result was the wonderful delicacy that I am bragging about. The only thing I added was a small amount of shredded cheese to my bowl. But, even without the added cheese, it was still good. I took some to work the next day for my lunch and forgot the cheese. Even without the cheese, I think it was even better the next day. Below is his final recipe after changing a few of the original ingredients and amounts.

Steve's Potato Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 C. celery, chopped
2 T. chopped parsley
5 T. butter or margarine (we use butter)
4 T. flour
2 1/2 C. chicken broth
1 1/2 C. whole milk
4 potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. chicken bouillon powder
pepper, to taste

In a large pot, saute onion, celery, and parsley, in the butter until soft, but not brown. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring for about 2 minutes. Still stirring, slowly add in broth.

Add the rest of the ingredients and allow to simmer and thicken. Stir frequently to keep from burning for about 25 minutes until the potatoes are cook thoroughly. (My addition to the recipe is to add shredded cheese to each bowl and stir until melted.) Serve warm.