Peanut Butter Heaven

Your chocolate fell into my peanut butter!  Your peanut butter got on my chocolate!  I think I have started at least three other blogs posts with a similar refrain, but you know the drill: peanut butter and chocolate are a classic, delicious combination.  Consider its many iterations: Reese's, Buckeyes, Peanut Butter Oreos (and their Paul Newman knock offs) and the classic DQ Peanut Buster Parfait.  To name just a few.

But have you made peanut butter frosting?  If not, you're in for a wonderful surprise: it is even better than you could possibly imagine.  On top of your favorite chocolate cake?  Heaven.  Sandwiched between chocolate cookies?  Amazing.  Topping your favorite double chocolate chunk brownie recipe?  Against. The. Law.

I got it from Martha and only made a slight adjustment: vanilla, which complements everything.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Frosting


2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

In a big yellow bowl, cream peanut butter and butter on high speed with hand blender until smooth and creamy. Switch to low speed and add sugar until combined, then add vanilla and mix on high until it is smooth.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Buckeyes

Mitchell's favorite flavor combination (in the sweet realm) is chocolate and peanut butter, so for Valentine's day, I made him a box of peanut butter buckeyes. These treats are intended to resemble the nut of a tree by the same name. They couldn't be easier to put together and are prefect if you know someone who loves peanut butter dipped in chocolate. They are also a fun kitchen activity to do with kids as there is some mixing, rolling and dipping but not much else in the way of haute cooking techniques needed. After a long week, I didn't have the patience to make mine 'Martha Stewart-pretty,' but they were super-tasty which is what counts.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Buckeyes
You can use what every chocolate you prefer in these, but most recipes suggest semi-sweet. I used bitter sweet, as the peanut butter filling is mostly sugar and I thought the contrast would be nice. I also use Smart Balance spread instead of real butter which works just fine. If you use unsalted butter, add a small amount of salt (may 1/4 tsp) to the mix.

2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
4 tbsp Smart Balance spread, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Put the powdered sugar in a big yellow bowl and whisk briefly to make sure all of the lumps are removed. Add the peanut butter, Smart Balance and vanilla extract. Stir with a spoon until the mixture comes together. Use a small ice cream scoop or spoon, divide the peanut butter mixture and roll into balls, placing on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet as you go. Place the balls in the freezer and freeze for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate. You can do this in the microwave or a double boiler, but I have a small electric fondue pot which works perfectly for melting chocolate and keeping it warm. Remove the peanut butter balls from the freezer and using a toothpick, dip each into the chocolate leaving a small circle of peanut butter peaking through at the top. Twirl quickly to remove an extra chocolate then place back on the wax paper. After all are done, return to the freezer for 5-10 minutes to set. You can put these in individual wrapper or just on a tray if you're serving for dessert. Some people like them at room temperature, but others prefer them just from the fridge with a little chill. I fall into the latter camp.

Makes about 24 candies.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Map

One of my favorite things is a chocolate map! I remember when I was little and my mam-ma would get chocolates for Valentine's Day or some other holiday, I loved looking at the map and imagining all of the choices. Plus, the map ensured the avoidance of the repulsive coconut cream chocolate! Ugh.

Thank you chocolate map!

Restaurant: Sprinkles of Beverly Hills

If a place sells only cupcakes, is it really a restaurant? Is the cupcake craze really over? Or just reaching critical mass? Should a cupcake really cost $3.50? These are the questions I was asking myself as I entered Sprinkles of Beverly Hills' Dallas location with Kristina and Gab.

And by entered, I mean waited outside to get in the door. Seriously, there was a line out the door and the people were three deep inside. All waiting to get these gorgeous, supposedly sublime cupcakes. I had seen the proprietress of Sprinkles of Beverly Hills (I mean the name says it all, right?) last year on the Martha Stewart Show during cupcake week. And there were raves, from Martha and the audience. But could they be any better than any other cupcake?

I doubted it. The store itself is incredibly chic and well-branded, with light pink and browns covering the walls, and a very modern wood counter and display. At Sprinkles, they sell: cupcakes; drinks to go with cupcakes; t-shirts that talk about cupcakes; stands to put their cupcakes on; and their own brand of cupcakes mixes. That's it.

But was this 'experience,' this highly stylized store built to deliver the simplest of childhood treats, worth the cost? I wondered if the people standing there were all fools, and I with them, to stand in like for cupcakes and pay such a price for them. You can buy a pretty good cupcake at Central Market for $.50 and Whole Foods has some pretty fancy ones that cost a little more. But the ingredients are simple and the delivery basic. How can you make that better?

And then I tasted the dark chocolate cupcake. It was unbelievable: The crumb was moist and you basically need a fork to eat these little guys, and I should clarify that this $3.50 cupcake is no larger than a regular cupcake. The frosting was perfect, an absolute balance of chocolate and sweetness and creamy delight.

But, how?

Gab & Kristina Ogle the Cupcakes

When I bake, I use good chocolate, organic sugars, the best cocoa, good butter and free range eggs! I am pretty good at technique and know how long to beat things and what batter should look like. What could you possibly do to make a cupcake THAT much better? That divine?

I tasted the red velvet and the experience was similar. The banana chocolate, I think I could top. I could try and top anyway, but the addition of banana to batter lends a heaviness to the crumb that is impossible to combat. Yet, part of the charm.

You can find her strawberry cupcake recipe here. Notice anything out of the ordinary? Thought not.

I imagine she is leaving out some secret ingredient: MSG? Crack? Heroin? Something delicious and addictive. I don't know, but I do know that I want more and I would shell out $3.50 without a whimper, without a second thought. After a taste, you would too. Hold your breath, because Sprinkles could be coming to a town near you very soon...

The candy dots on top of the cupcakes distinguish flavors that might look similar, as in the variety of chocolate frosted cupcakes they sell. Here's the codes and the day on which each are available. I wanted to try lemon, so next time I'm going to try and hit them on a lemon day.



Brownies

Everyone knows how strongly the writers at bYb feel about chocolate, because we write and talk about it all the time. We have made 175 posts in nearly four years, 31 of them mentioning chocolate in one form or another. Chocolate cookies, chocolate pie, bars of chocolate, candy, caramel, and brownies. Remember the infamous brownie war between Kathrine Hepburn and Lady Bird Johnson? That was vicious. But there is a new contender: Nick Malgieri's "Supernatural" Brownies.

In the Classic column of the most recent issue of Saveur, Dana Bowen gives a history and some theories on what makes a brownie great. She also presents three recipes: Krystal's Espresso Brownies; Katherine Hepburn's Brownies; and Nick's "Supernatural" Brownies. Well, you all know we tested Kate's against Ladybird's last year (There was no clear winner, but preference seems distinctly drawn along the Mason-Dixon line.) and I'm sorry to sound prejudice, but I'm just not sure I trust a person named Krystal when it comes to brownies. Cut-offs and canned beer, yes. Brownies, no. But Nick is the author of Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers, so I felt like I should give his recipe a try. And supernatural? I mean, he didn't seem to base it on Alice B. Toklas' recipe, so I wasn't sure of the reference.

But they are. Supernatural that is. Transcendental. Dense, chocolaty and moist. Everyone at work agreed and I think that Nick may even be ready to take on Kate and Ladybird in that big brownie bake-off in the sky.

Recipe: Nick's "Supernatural" Brownies
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter, more for pan and parchment paper
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup whole walnuts, optional. (I made without nuts.)

Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a big yellow bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.

Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. If using chopped walnuts, stir them in. Pour batter into prepared pan. If using whole walnuts, arrange on top of batter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Makes 15 large or 24 small brownies.

Triple Threat

Triple Threat: \tri-pəl thret\
1. Adjective. A performer who can act, sing and dance, e.g. Liza Minelli.
"I just love Cabaret, it proves that Liza is the consumate triple threat!"
2. Noun. A cookie containing cocoa, bittersweet chocolate chunks and cacao nibs.
"Wow, Liza really loves those triple threats! I think she ate two dozen without batting a seriously fake eyelash."

Recipe: Triple Threat
This cookie was inspired by a recipe by Dorie Greenspan, one of my favorite food writers.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (my favorite natural cocoa powder comes from Penzey's)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
16 oz best quality bittersweet chocolate bars, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup cacao nibs

Preheat your over to 375 degrees.

In a big yellow bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa. Whisk to combine and aerate.

With a stand or hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. On low, add your dry ingredients and mix until just combined. With a wooden spoon or spatula, add the chopped chocolate and cacao nibs.

Spoon the dough (about a tablespoon) onto baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes. They may still be a little soft, but allow to cool on the pan for a minute before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Yields about 4 dozen cookies.

One Million Chocolate Cakes















There are at least one million chocolate cake recipes out there in the big wide world, and I hope that in my life I get to sample all of them. My mother makes a mean Texas sheet cake that we call Mrs. Buchanan's (BUCK-anan's) Chocolate Cake after the woman who gave the recipe to my grandmother. I've made chocolate Bundt cakes, chocolate cheese cakes, and a variety of chocolate layer cakes. But this cake recipe, THIS CAKE, from Everyday Food is absolutely wonderful, not to mention versatile. I've baked it as a layer cake, cupcakes, a Bundt cake and today, mini-cupcakes. Each iteration as delicious as the last. Try it for yourself, it's moist and dense, yet light and delicious. You can top it with a chocolate glaze, cream cheese frosting, vanilla ice cream or simply lightly-sweetened whipped cream. This cake is the stuff that dreams are made of...













Recipe: Everyday Chocolate Cake
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Butter the baking dish of your choosing. (See below.)










In a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flower, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla and beat to combine. With mixer on low, add half of flour mixture, then sour cream, and finally rest of flour mixture. Spread batter in pan and tap to remove bubbles.











Bake all until toothpick comes out clean according to following times for pans:

For an 8-inch round pan: bake for 30-35 minutes and cool 10 minuts before removing.
For regular size cupcakes: divide between a twelve-cup muffin tin lined with paper liners, 20-25 minutes, cool for 10 minutes before removing.
For mini-muffin tins: fill mini tins with 3/4 full. bake 12-13 minutes. makes approximately 36.
For Bundt cake: double recipe and bake for 50-60 minutes.










Top with:

Chocolate glaze
4 oz. chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream

Heat cream in sauce pan until steaming, pour over chocolate then whisk to combine. Pour over 8-inch round cake and smooth sides or drizzle onto Bundt cake.

Easy white icing:
1 1/2 sticks softened butter
1 lb. box confectioners' (powdered) sugar

Combine in bowl and beat until smooth and creamy. Add 1 to 2 tbsp. milk if too thick.

Mangez!