Cupcakes!

After a 2 month hiatus, I'm back! I have no excuse for not posting for so long, I just got lazy one week, and that one week turned into 2 months. Oops! So much for my resolution of posting a new creation every week. I may have been missing in action from my cyber world, but I did have a couple yummy experiments that I would like to share. They're both cupcakes...my current obsession.

The first were key lime cupcakes with cream cheese frosting I made for a baby shower at work. For these I just used a Betty Crocker recipe you can find here. They turned out pretty good. I had a lot of fun playing with different designs using my new piping bag!

My next cupcake adventure was inspired by the 3 boxes of Tagalongs sitting in my cupboards staring at me every time I opened the door. Tagalongs are one my absolute favorite treats, and I needed to get them out of my house before I devoured all 3 boxes. I googled tagalong cupcake recipes, and came across several variations, but no one recipe stuck out to me. So, I got creative and took ideas I liked from each and made my own Tagalong Cupcakes.

The best part of this recipe (besides the fact that it is nothing but choclatey-peanut buttery goodness) is that the cake itself was just a box mix. You can use any chocolate cake mix you like. I think I used Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate. Prepare the mix according to the directions on the box. Place one tagalong in the bottom of each cupcake liner. Pour batter on top so that your liners are about 2/3 full. Because the tagalongs take up a little room you will have extra batter after filling two 12-cupcake pans. You have 2 choices here: 1. Eat the batter (the prefferred choice); 2. make a couple extra cupcakes. I must admit, I took the high road and baked the extra batter using one of my mini-cupcake pans. Bake the cupcakes according the the box directions.

While the cupcakes are baking go ahead and whip up some peanut butter buttercream frosting. This stuff absolutely makes the cupcakes. I got the recipe here. For something so delicious, it was pretty simple.

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter
1 c creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Add vanilla as the butter and peanut butter are mixing. Add the powdered sugar and mix well. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency. Let the icing whip 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. This is more important in this particular buttercream than a basic vanilla buttercream.

Ice your cupcakes and decorate with 1/2 a tagalong. Try not to eat too many in one sitting! I took them to work, and sent the rest with Brian to work, only keeping a couple for myself. I knew I would have no self-control if these things were sitting in my kitchen for too long. Bathing suit season is right around the corner you know!