Weekly Winner #42

Talk about a variety-filled week!  Lots of different fruits, beer, cinnamon candy, Cracker Jacks…Wow!

Sweet Tea Cupcakes

Atomic Fireball Cupcakes

Guinness Cupcakes

Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

Fresh Mango Cupcakes

Ballpark Caramel Cracker Jack Cupcakes

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

And, with 20 points, the winner is…

The Ballpark Caramel Cracker Jack Cupcakes from Suitcases & Sweets.  Check out that fun day here.  And check back on June 30th to see how it does in the Monthly Competition.

Day 319 – Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Today is Father’s Day.  I hope you all are as lucky as I am in the “dad” department!  So, Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful dads out there.

But, today is also my 13th wedding anniversary (And no, I’m not old enough to have been married for 13 years.  Thank you for noticing!).  So, in typical “me” fashion, here’s a little before/after action for ya!

Ken and I, 13 years ago today:

And, Ken and I last year, on our 12th anniversary, at the Jazz Age Lawn Party:

Every year for our anniversary, I like to make Ken one of his favorite childhood treats.  Here’s what you need:

• Ritz crackers
• Peanut Butter
• Chocolate (milk, semisweet or dark – depends on your taste), melted

Take 2 Ritz crackers and sandwich them with peanut butter.  Then coat your peanut butter-Ritz sandwich in melted chocolate.  Put them on wax or parchment paper.  Pop em in the freezer til the chocolate hardens.  Simple.  Yummy.

So to celebrate our anniversary AND the peanut butter-chocolate tradition, I picked these Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcakes (recipe below from Culinary Couture).  (These cupcakes are meant to be minis, so they are judged and graded based on the minis.)

    

The cupcakes are squishy and very sticky. A little like Devil’s Food cake. It’s got a nice chocolate taste. Not too light, not too dark.

The peanut butter frosting is very thick and smooth. It has a nice, light peanut butter flavor. Not rich at all.

The ganache is thick and gooey. It has a strong milk chocolate taste. Not overly sweet though.

    

Together it’s moist and gooey and rich. The chocolates go nicely together. With the peanut butter as the standout middle. It’s not a knock-your-socks-off cupcake, but it’s adorable and tasty. It would be perfect for a party of any kind.

Scoring Sheet:

• Cupcake Taste: 3.5

• Frosting Taste: 4

• Overall Taste: 4

• Appearance: 4

• Ease of Making: 3.5

• TOTAL: 19

RECIPE

Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcakes (recipe from Culinary Couture)

Chocolate Cupcakes:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• pinch of vanilla powder (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Peanut Butter Ganache:

• 10 oz. peanut butter chips
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Chocolate Glaze:

• 3 oz. milk chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons hot water

For directions visit Culinary Couture.

*Tomorrow: Caramel Macchiato Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes*