Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

'Tis the season for cookies! Christmas is almost here and I have been baking, baking, baking! I love spending this month making cookies...not only because I love eating them, but because I love the experience of baking. Baking is a wonderful way to spend time with loved ones. This year I was able to bake with my husband, my mom, one of my sisters, my grandmother, my aunts and cousins and my cousins' children! What fun! The memories will last a lifetime! I absolutely love baking family recipes...cookies I grew up making...and sharing these recipes and experiences with my family's next generation. Watching the little ones decorate Great Grandma's sugar cookie cuts-out and our family's Italian sugar cookies just makes me feel that special holiday glow. Passing these recipes and experiences down through the family...I can't think of a better way to share our heritage.

These peanut butter cup cookies are definitely a family favorite! I have helped make them every Christmas since I was tall enough to reach the table. They have become my husband's "must have" Christmas cookie and we love to make them together. They are also super simple! Here is what you need:
 
Ingredients
1 3/4 Cup flour
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 Cup shortening
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Egg
1/2 Cup peanut butter
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla
40 or so peanut butter cups, unwrapped
 
Step 1

The first step is to unwrap your peanut butter cups. Once the cookies are out of the oven, you will need to QUICKLY place the cups in the hot cookie, so I like to get ready before I do anything else by unwrapping them. I also like to eat one...or two...or three...
 
Step 2

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Then cream the sugars, peanut butter and shortening until fluffy (approximately 3 to 5 minutes). 

Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until just combined. 

The dough will be fairly crumbly but should stick together when pressed.

 
Step 3

Fill mini muffin tins 2/3 the way up each cup, pressing the dough to make it smooth and to evenly fill the cup. I get about 40 cookies from this recipe. Then bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until slightly browned.
 
Step 4

As soon as you take the cookies out of the oven, press a peanut butter cup in the center of each one until the top of the cup is level with the top of the cookie. Then refrigerate the cookies in the pan (if you are impatient like me...if you aren't, just let them cool completely on the counter :-)) for about 20 minutes. Then use a paring knife to loosen the cups and pop them out of the tin.

 Enjoy while the peanut butter cup is still melted...the gooey chocolate and peanut butter is soooo good!  Leave some for Santa and I guarantee you won't receive coal!

Hot Fudge Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Are you sitting down?  You will need to be when you see these decadent little beauties…so trust me…please, sit down.  Are you ready?  Drum roll please…

Hot Fudge Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Have you ever seen anything that knocked the breath out of you quite this much?  When I first saw the recipe for them on the Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen site, my pulse and breathing quickened and I KNEW I had to make these.  My two favorite combinations in the universe are chocolate and coffee AND chocolate and peanut butter (there seems to be a chocolate theme…hmmm…I shall need to consult my shrink…or maybe my nutritionist…about this).  When I saw the mound of peanut butter with that oh so enticing drizzle of hot fudge, I thought I had finally attained nirvana.  So I made them.  And I loved them.  And I am tempted to go into the kitchen and make them again.  I shall try to refrain.  My butt will thank me.

I did make them slightly differently than the original recipe, so here is what I did.  You can check out the original at the link above.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 Egg

¾ Cup brown sugar

½ Cup milk

½ Cup, plus 1 Tablespoon heavy cream

½ Cup butter, melted

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons sour cream

1 1/8 Cup flour

¼ Cup cocoa powder

1 ¼ Teaspoon baking soda

½ Teaspoon salt

¼ Cup hot fudge (recipe below)

Frosting

½ Cup butter, softened

2/3 Cup peanut butter

3 Cups powdered sugar (you may need more depending on consistency)

1 Tablespoon milk (you will probably need more on hand to make it the right consistency, I did)

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Pinch salt

Hot Fudge

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup cocoa powder

1 Pinch salt

2 Tablespoons flour

1 Cup hot milk

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

Step 1

The first thing you will need to do is make the hot fudge.  The original is written using a double boiler, so that is how I started.  But I stirred and stirred for a very long time and it did not thicken, so I ended up over direct, but low, heat.  You may have better luck with the double boiler than I did, so feel free to try that first if you would like.  This is just to warn you, you may need to switch over to a pot over low heat if it’s not thickening.

Combine the sugar, cocoa, salt and flour in a bowl over the double boiler (or in a pot over low heat).  Heat the milk in a saucepan until it is scalding or you can microwave it until it is hot.  Gradually add the milk to the chocolate mixture and stir constantly until the mixture thickens.  It will probably take about 5 minutes, or 15 if you are like me…but it should have taken closer to five.  When it is your desired thickness, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.  Then let it begin cooling while you start the cupcakes.

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin tin (one recipe will make 12 cupcakes) with cupcake papers.

Step 3

Now it is truly cupcake time…step 2 was just to fake you out.  Combine the egg and brown sugar until they are smooth. 

Add the milk, cream, melted butter and vanilla and mix until they are combined. 

Stir in the sour cream.  Now add all the dry ingredients and mix until they have just combined.  An overmixed batter will result in a tough cupcake…and no one likes a tough cupcake. J  Add the hot fudge and stir it into the batter by hand.

Step 4

Fill the cupcake liners with ¼ cup of batter (as you can see, I am not adverse to using my fingers, but I would imagine a spoon is much more acceptable) and bake them for 15 – 18 minutes.  Let them cool and it’s time to make the frosting.

Step 5

Cream the peanut butter and butter together until they are fluffy…about 3 – 5 minutes.  Add the powdered sugar and then gradually add the milk and vanilla extract.  Add the pinch of salt and beat until it is fluffy.  If the frosting is too thick, add more milk; if the frosting is too thin, add some more powdered sugar.

Step 6

I decided to stuff the cupcakes with hot fudge instead of frosting…the thought of biting into chewy chocolate was just too tempting!  So I filled my pastry decorating apparatus with fudge and inserted the tip into the cupcake and just added a little fudge to the center. 

Then I frosted the cupcakes with the peanut butter frosting...

 and finished by drizzling the hot fudge on top.

I know there are a lot of steps to these cupcakes, but they really were not that difficult and the results were oh so delicious!  Hmm...I may need to get the oven preheating ...just in case...