Nutella Buttercream Frosting

I know, I know... I am a terrible food blogger. I made a promise and I have not kept up my part of the bargain. It's no excuse, I know, but life has been very busy lately. Luckily I have a couple of days to slow down and catch up. Today is Alexander's Half Birthday. I have decided to celebrate it but he has no idea. I baked a chocolate cake last night while his older brother gave him a bath. While I baked Rebecca ran down to the basement to wrap the small gift I had gotten him.

Today I made the frosting. The best, EVER, frosting I have EVER had.

I love Nutella. I cannot get enough of Nutella.
We all love Nutella. So I decided to make a Nutella frosting. I saw some recipes online but they seemed just so-so. I liked the idea but they lacked in true Nutella flavor. So I toyed around until my taste buds deemed my recipe to be perfect. I think you'll agree. You'll have to!

Nutella Buttercream Frosting
1 stick of butter
2 cups of confectioner's sugar
4 tbs milk
3 tbs cocoa powder (unsweetened)
ONE CUP of Nutella!

In a large mixing bowl fitted with a paddle, cream together butter and sugar. Add to the mixture the milk and the cocoa powder. Mix well. Finally beat in the Nutella. Beat on high so frosting gets nice and fluffy.

DO NOT eat all the frosting out of the bowl before you put it on the cake!

Peanut butter... Fluff... Chocolate... Cupcakes... Oh My!

Don't you just want to take a bite?!!!

Alexander wanted to make cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes. He wanted vanilla frosting. I wanted peanut butter frosting. And then I had to wonder what a Fluffernuter-Peanut butter frosting would taste like! Damn it was good!

Cupcakes. From a box. Doctored up. Taste like home made but without the work.

1 box Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix
3 eggs

1 Cup of buttermilk

1/3 Cup of butter, soft

Beat eggs, buttermilk and butter and cake mix until well mixed. Line 12 cupcake tins (we don't kid around with puny cupcakes here!) with cupcakes liners and fill with batter. Place in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Peanutbutter-Fluffernutter Frosting

(I eyeballed all portions)

1 cup of Fluffernutter
1 cup of peanut butter
2 tbs butter

1 cup of confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a mixer add all ingredients and beat on high until well blended and fluffy.

This makes enough to cover all 12 of my monster cupcakes!

National Peanut Butter Lover's Day!

I heard on the news that today is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day!
So  I am reposting this recipe for Peanut Butter Frosting!
Add to a chocolate or peanut butter cake for even more peanutbutterier goodness!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cups of peanut butter, smooth or chunky, but NOT freshly made or all natural

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1 cup of confectioners sugar

Using a handheld mixer, mix until ingredients are well combined and the texture is creamy and smooth

For a quick and easy peanut butter cake, use a white or yellow boxed cake mix, follow directions and add 1 cup of smooth peanut butter!

For more peanut butter recipes be sure to check my side-bar.

Bite Me! The Best Cupcake EVER! (According to my husband who knows his sweets!)

 

 

 

Best Ever Vanilla Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups of canola oil

1 cup of buttermilk

2 large eggs

3 small drops of red food coloring -- for pink cupcakes

3 small drops of green food coloring -- for green cupcakes

1 tsp vanilla

Sprinkles!

The secret to the lightness of these cupcakes is the buttermilk and the crunchiness of the top is from the canola oil. Crunchy, light and sweet these cupcakes are pure delight!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large mixing bowl beat together oil, buttermilk, eggs and sugar and vanilla. Add baking powder and flour, in small cup by cup. If desired add food coloring. Note: if more than one color is desired, separate the batter into equal parts and add desired food coloring.

Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and fill approximately 3/4 to the top.
Bake in oven for 25 minutes.
Make 20 nicely sized cupcakes

ButterCream Frosting
3 cups of powdered sugar
2 sticks of butter
2 tsp vanilla
3 - 4 tbs of milk

Place butter and vanilla in mixing bowl and beat well. Add sugar slowly, and milk. Beat till light and fluffy. Add food coloring if desired.

The Peppermint Stars are Brightly Shining!

I love working with shortbread. I love the taste of shortbread. Though these could certainly be made with a sugar cookie recipe. I'll be bundling these stars up with the chocolate shortbread stars to give as a little extra to teachers and faculty at school. (We've pooled our funds with the other parents in the classes and the children will be giving a big gift card, but still I like to give a little something extra with a personal touch.) Some of these will be packaged up with 1/2 pound bags of Starbucks Holiday Blend Coffee.

I used a classic shortbread recipe.

• 3/4 pound butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar
  
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 - 2 tbs vanilla
• 2 cups of vanilla *frosting, canned or home made
• Food coloring, your choice
  
• Mini candy canes in individually wrapped (about 6)
  
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. Add flour to the to the butter-and-sugar mixture. . Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. You can either wrap the dough and refrigerate for later use or roll dough and start cutting into desired shapes with the cookie cutter of your choice. Be sure to liberally apply flour to your work surface as well as your rolling pin.

As cookies are cut place them onto your cutting board. When ready bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown. (May require up to 20 minutes)

As the cookies are baking use a rolling pin and carefully smash the miniature candy canes.

When cookies have cooled you can start to decorate. You can use store bought frosting or make your own icing. If you use store bought, color it with food coloring to get the desired shade. Then add about 2 Tbs of water to the container and mix well.

Using a pastry knife or butter knife carefully spread the frosting on to the cookie. Once the cookies have been covered (I usually do this in batches) shake some of the peppermint candy cane crumbs on to the cookie. A little goes a long way for a perfectly and not overwhelmingly pepperminty cookie! Cookies frosted with a canned frosting will need a longer time for the icing to harden, at least overnight.

Recipe Courtesy Cooks.com

ROYAL ICING FOR SUGAR COOKIES

3 egg whites 1 lb. confectioners' sugar 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar 1/2 tsp. almond extract or white vanilla extract Place all ingredients in bowl and beat on medium high for a full 10 minutes. Icing will become thick and glossy but will not increase in volume. Keep covered with damp cloth while using, removing small portions to bowl as needed. Tint if desired. To thin, add a few drops of water. Royal icing hardens with a nice sheen.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Peanut Butter enthusiasts of the world can rejoice! I made this incredible frosting last night that was also incredibly simple. We were celebrating Alexander's Half Birthday as you probably read about in my other blog. Alexander loves peanut butter ( as do we all) and this was a hit. I must confess to having used a packaged cake recipe though. I did not have the entire day to spend on the cake.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cups of peanut butter, smooth or chunky, but NOT freshly made or all natural

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1 cup of confectioners sugar

Using a handheld mixer, mix until ingredients are well combined and the texture is creamy and smooth