Happy Birthday & Happy Easter!

Chocolate, peanut butter, and oreos?? Yup, you bet!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lindsay and Sammie!! I love that you both have the same taste in treats as I do...;)

These are Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting and topped with crushed up Oreos!!!

(^^No Oreos on these guys yet!^^)

All boxed up and ready to go to the birthday girls!!

As someone who is not a big cake fan, I LOVE these!! It was a new recipe, and one that I will definitely make over and over again! Check out the recipe at the end of the post!!

Peanut Butter Oreo Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

12 T (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk (I used unsweetened soy milk)

Crushed up Oreos (however many you want! I do two sleeves)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with 24-30 baking cups (I made 2 dozen cupcakes, plus a small loaf "cake" with the extra batter).

Combined the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and eggs and beat well. Alternate adding the flour mixing and the milk. With the beater on low speed, I poured in about half of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, then the last half of the flour mixture, and ending with the rest of the milk. Gently fold in the crushed Oreos.

Scoop into prepared baking cups and bake in preheated oven for 16-24 minutes, or until they spring back when lightly touched. Cool on a baking rack.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup cocoa powder

dash of salt

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup milk (again, I used soy milk)

6-7 cups powdered sugar

In a large bowl, melt the stick of butter. While the melted butter is still hot, mix in the peanut butter with the butter. Add the cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt, and stir until well combined. Then break out your hand mixer if you have one, because the next step is MUCH easier with a mixer, rather than by hand with a spatula or spoon. Add in about half of the powered sugar and about half of the milk. Use hand mixer on low speed until well combined. Then add the rest of the sugar and milk, and again beat until combined.

Frost cooled cupcakes with frosting. Top with additional crushed Oreos if you desire! (of course!!)

P.S. I know 6-7 cups of powdered sugar seems like a lot, but it's right, trust me!! I used 6 cups. You get enough frosting for all of the cupcakes and it tastes delicious!!

If you have any issues let me know! I will try to help ya through it!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful friends, and Happy Easter!

Enjoy!

Salty Pretzel Peanut Butter Oreo Dark Chocolate Brownies...oh yes, I did!

Dark Chocolate Brownies with a Thick Peanut Butter Oreo Swirl and a Salty Pretzel Crust

Am I serious? Well...

Yes, yes I am!

When people ask me what my favorite thing is to make, I always say brownies. Why? Because they are my favorite thing to eat! I am a self-proclaimed chocoholic, and my favorite flavor combination is chocolate and peanut butter. I've made a lot of different versions of brownies, but one thing they all have in common is that they are chocolatey and fudgy. These are my favorite so far.

I started with a salty crust, made from pretzels, some sugar, and butter.

Then, I made the peanut butter oreo batter, and the dark chocolate brownie batter.

Layer them on the crust
(pour in half the brownie batter, then dollop the peanut butter oreo batter on top and spread with a knife, then the rest of the brownie batter, and finally the last of the peanut butter mixture).
Spread and swirl with the tip of a knife, and pop in the oven!

Voila!

These are some super-thick brownies. They took almost an hour in the oven, but for real, they are SO worth it!! Probably my favorite baked good to date, and loved among my friends and co-workers who had them!

It's the perfect salty-sweet treat! :)

Update #1! Brownies, Apple Cake, & Banana Bread!

This week was Spring Break and I had SO much fun! I also baked quite a few things!

I went home for a few days to surprise my mom for her birthday! The first night we celebrated I made my homemade brownies with oreos and chocolate chips! Served with vanilla ice cream, it was perfect after b-day dinner!

Candle for the birthday girl of course (she had already blown it out when I took the pic though)!!

the brownies...mmmmmmm

Birthday celebration night #2 I made Merryfield Apple cake. It is a super delicious, moist cake with apples, raisins, and walnuts, dusted with powdered sugar! It's one of my parents' favs! :)

THEN, back in DC, I had bananas ready to bake with! So I made fat-free whole wheat banana bread! But instead of one big bread, this time I made 3 minis! Brought one into work and froze the other two for later!

To see what else I baked this week, check out update #2!! There's a picture limit per post so I'm making two posts for the week!

And the Oscar goes to...

Peanut butter, Oreos, and Chocolate!!

Since it's such a winning combination of flavors, I decided to use them to bake for the Oscars (as if I really needed a reason)! I made a peanut butter oreo sheet cake and frosted it with chocolate oreo frosting!

They look a littttle sloppy...I was in a rush so the cake wasn't completely cool before I put the frosting on. So that's why it was gooey...

...but oh-so-delicious! The cake was really moist and the frosting was wonderfully chocolaty!!

One thing I love about sheet cakes is that you can cut them into bars ahead of time, making them easier to eat at group gatherings. No need for cutting a cake while everyone waits for a piece, no forks, and really plates aren't even necessary (though it doesn't hurt if you have them)! Also, it makes it so the quantity goes further! I used them for three different things!

(1) I brought some to the Oscars party I went to with my sorority sisters, (2) kept some for me and my roommates, and (3) am bringing the rest to work tomorrow!!

Enjoy!

Have a great week!

Super Bowl = Ultimate Brownies

GO PATS!!

and eat brownies.

I tried something new, and I am officially addicted to them! Think, fudgy, chocolate chunk brownies with layers of peanut butter oreo swirl. OM NOM! You gotta see this...

As you've probably gathered from reading through my blog, I am basically obsessed with peanut butter, oreos, and chocolate...

Pats + Super bowl Commercials + these brownies + great friends = huge win :)

Two of my Favs!

2 different treats this week; 1 made for big/little week, and the other made for Halloween! First, for my little and glittle to give to their new littles, I made my super fudgy, chocolate chunk brownies. YUM! Always one of my favorites.

THEN, in the spirit of Halloween, I made possibly my favorite cookie of all time. 100% Oatmeal cookies (no flour) with peanut butter, oreos, and reese's pieces, topped with Halloween sprinkles.

Enjoy!

Some new treats...

Haven't posted in awhile! The pictures say it all- YUM!

The most moist chocolate cake EVER with peanut butter frosting, topped with peanut butter cups. Oh. baby.

Should have taken a picture after cutting into it. Guess I'll have to make another one! :)

Super-thick, gooey, delicious, Oreo brownies. A personal favorite of mine and a sure crowd-pleaser!

Oatmeal cookies with cut-up Hershey's minis (milk chocolate, dark chocolate, Mr. Goodbar, & Krackel) and Hershey Kisses. Eclectic? Perhaps, but a wonderful combo!

And finally, Pumpkin Bread. with 1/3 less sugar than the recipe originally called for actually. Make this one every fall- another fav!

the center is my favorite part ;)

That's all for now!! More to come soon! Recommendations? Shout 'em out!

Oreo Overload

I LOVE Oreos. A lot. So it's only natural that I would make a cupcake like this. It's an oreo cupcake (aka vanilla cupcake with oreos mixed in), with oreo frosting, and an oreo on top. YUM! Didn't make these for any particular reason, so let me know if you want one!

Chocolate oreo cake

This cake should look kind of familiar. I've posted about it a few times, but I will never make any other chocolate cake. The first picture was when I made the chocolate cake and frosted it with cookies 'n' cream frosting (vanilla frosting with oreos mixed in) and topped with more oreos, some of which are in the shape of an A (for my friend Andria's birthday).

Then other people who had seen the cake but didn't get to eat it wanted some, so I decided to make another one the next weekend just for fun (and let's get real, I wanted more of it too) SO, the same chocolate cake recipe, but I frosted it with half chocolate cookies 'n' cream frosting, and half of the frosting I made for Andria's cake, the regular cookies 'n' cream.

amazing. best cake ever. (but you must like chocolate in order to enjoy the full experience ;))

Katya's 21st!!!

LOVE Birthdays!!! A GREAT reason to make a cake! :)
This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe. It's the first time I decorated with vanilla frosting. And this frosting tasted great! I saved the extra to eat with...well, whatever will be good with frosting? My cake writing skills need some work, but the cake itself = YUMMMMMYYYYYY! and Oreos make everything better :)


Cake + frosting (before I spread it)

Spread the SCRUMPTIOUS chocolate oreo frosting. Yes, I included crushed up oreos in this frosting recipe!
Happy Birthday!

Way better than store-bought :)