I saw these cupcakes on Pinterest awhile ago, and have been waiting to make them until Valentine’s Day was closer. Since that day is almost here, I figured it was time to post this recipe.

The original recipe is on Allrecipes.com. No surprise there! A brownie box mix is used as the bottom of the cupcake and then whatever cake mix you choose goes on top. Going with our Valentine’s theme, I chose a strawberry cake mix.

This cupcake recipe was really easy to put together. A box of brownie mix, a box of cake mix, with whatever frosting you like, and there ya go! The only problem I ran into with this recipe is that on a few of my cupcakes the brownie bottom was still a tad bit gooey. I can’t complain though because it tasted awesome!

I chose my favorite frosting recipe, but made the chocolate version. Oh. My. Goodness. It’s really light, creamy and basically tastes like chocolate mousse. Yum!

A lot of the reviews I read for this cupcake recipe said they used a box of white cake mix and then a peanut butter frosting. I am definitely going to try that next!

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

recipe from Allrecipes.com and Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1 (19.5 oz) pkg of brownie mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (18.25 oz) cake mix, (I chose strawberry, but any would be good!)
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 & 1/3 cup water
• 3 egg whites

Chocolate Frosting:

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 T unsweetened cocoa powder (I ended up using 2 more tablespoons at the end.)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• more cocoa powder if you want more chocolate flavor

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 (some got up to 36 cupcakes. I must like big ones!) muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix your brownie mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup water. Mix until it’s all incorporated.
3. In another bowl, mix the cake mix, 2 T vegetable oil, 1 & 1/3 cup water, and 3 egg whites using an electric mixer until combined. Then mix for another 2 minutes on medium speed.
4. Here I used an ice cream scoop, and did one scoop of brownie batter for the bottom, and one scoop of cake batter for the top. It makes about 24 cupcakes, with a little bit of cake batter left over that I made into mini strawberry cupcakes for the kids.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched. I also recommend using a toothpick to make sure the brownie part is done.
6. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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What they really should be called is Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Filled Strawberries. But that is wayyyyyy too long for a name.

If you make these, you will be delighted. And so will anyone you feed them too. (That is if you want to share. If you don’t, I don’t blame you at all.)

I think these little guys would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. They’re easy to make, perfectly sweet and yummy!

We had these for dessert last week, and as soon as the Baby saw them she cried and whined until I gave her one… ahem, or three. Needless to say, I think I’ll have to make these again soon or I won’t hear the end of the whining (and boy, can that Baby whine!).

I also just wanted to say that if you do make these, make sure you make alot. They will go like hot cakes, and you’ll be left wanting more. Seriously.

Strawberry Delights (Chocolate Covered Cheesecake Filled Strawberries)

recipe inspired from The Sweets Life

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. fresh strawberries
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 T powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• chocolate, melted (I used white chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips)
• sprinkles, for garnish

Directions:

1. Wash your strawberries, cut the tops off and use a paring knife to cut out the middle. Set aside on a paper plate lined with paper towels.
2. In a small bowl, cream your cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract together until all mixed together. Put cream cheese mixture in a piping bag or a small ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. (In the original recipe she doubled her cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. The holes in my strawberries weren’t that big, so I halved it. Do what you think is best.)
3. Fill strawberries with cream cheese mixture.
4. Dip the tops of your cheesecake filled strawberries in your chocolate. Set on wax paper until chocolate is set and dry. Keep in refrigerator until ready to eat.
5. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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Are you ready for a winner?! These No Bake Reese’s Bars are awesome! And really, really easy to make. (Have you noticed that I’m all about easy on this blog?)

I got this recipe from my friend, Mel, and she got them from her mom. Mel brought these bars to our book club meeting once, and I literally ate like 5. Ugh. They are so, so good! If you have a problem with self-control, you might not want to make these.

No Bake Reese’s Bars

recipe adapted from Mel’s mom

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, at room temp.
• 1 & 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups graham crackers, crushed
• 1 & 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Directions:

1. Grease a 9×13 pan, and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream your butter and peanut butter. Mix in your powdered sugar. Then add in your graham crackers.
3. Pat this mixture into your greased pan.
4. Melt your chocolate chips, and spread across the top of your peanut butter bar mixture. Refrigerate at least one hour to set chocolate.
5. These bars should be left in the fridge until you’re ready to eat them.
6. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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Peanut Butter Blossoms are so classic-y Christmas. I love it.

I made a couple dozen peanut butter blossoms a few weeks ago, and they were gone pretty much right away. So, I figured it was time to make some more blossoms, and then I found this recipe over at Betty Crocker, and I was so excited! Chocolate Peanut Butter Blossoms?! Why had I never thought of that before?

So, I made them. And they are delicious. In fact, I think I like them even more than the regular peanut butter blossoms. There’s something about that chocolate and peanut butter mix that’s simply perfect. Yum!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Blossoms

recipe from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 & 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• hershey’s kisses, or some other chocolate you can use (I had the stars)
• additional granulated sugar
• chocolate decorating decors

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
2. Cream your sugars, peanut butter, and butter together. Mix in eggs, and then melted chocolate chips.
3. In another bowl, mix your flour, baking soda, and baking powder together. Add to your sugar mixture until well-combined.
4. Roll into 1-inch balls, and then roll in sugar or chocolate decorating decors, and put on baking sheet leaving 2 inches between cookies.
5. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until cookies have cracked edges. Press one chocolate candy into the center of each cookie. Let rest on cookie sheet for a few minutes, and then move to a wire rack to completely cool.
6. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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I got a text from Reinman on Monday wondering if I could make something sweet for his office party that he has today. Immediately I said yes, and then I started to think about all the baking possibilities: Did I want to make cookies? A cake? Some salted caramel shortbread bars that I’ve been drooling over forever (I will be making these. Soon. I just need to get over the fact that there are 5 sticks of butter in this recipe. Ouch!)? Or cupcakes?

Cupcakes won out. While I don’t necessarily like eating cupcakes (weird, I know), I love to make them, especially since I bought some decorating tips, and found some cute Christmas-y cupcake liners (they stink though. Don’t even look at them.). And cupcakes are the perfect party food too!

I found a cupcake recipe last week while browsing Annie’s Eats, and I knew it would be perfect. Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes. As obsessed as I am with those Peppermint Mochas over at Caribou, I knew this would be a hit. Well, with me at least.

I tried a cupcake before I sent them off with Reinman, and they were delicious. Chocolatey, with a hint of mint. Perfection!

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

recipe from Annie’s Eats

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 2 & 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2-3 tsp. espresso powder
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee
• 1 tsp. peppermint extract
• 1 cup butter, at room temp.
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs

For the frosting:

• 6 large egg whites
• 1 & 3/4 cup plus 2 T granulated sugar
• 1 & 1/2 cups butter, at room temp.
• 4 tsp. peppermint extract
• 1-2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. For the cupcakes: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine the milk, coffee, and peppermint extract in a liquid measuring cup.
3. In a another bowl, combine the butter and sugars. Using either a stand mixer, or a handheld mixer, beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. Blend in eggs one at a time. Alternately mix in the dry and liquid ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing until just incorporated.
4. Using an ice cream scoop, divide batter evenly among the lined cupcake pans. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 5-10 minutes in the pan, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. For the frosting: combine the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F and sugar is dissolved. Transfer mixture to another bowl. Using either a stand mixer, or a handheld mixer, beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks are formed and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated. If the frosting looks soupy or curdled, continue beating on medium-high speed for another 3-5 minutes. Stir in the peppermint and vanilla extracts and mix until just incorporated.
6. To get the red and white swirled frosting look, remove about half of the frosting to a bowl. With the remaining frosting in the mixing bowl, add red coloring and mix until you have your desired shade. Fit a pastry bag with a large tip. Fill one side of the bag with the white frosting, and the other side with the red. Pipe a test streak until you see both colors coming out of the bag. Frost cupcakes as desired, refilling the pastry bag as needed.

The kids licked the frosting spoon. I think they loved it!

– the Jilb

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I learned something last week. Or maybe it was more like I remembered something: If you bake a lot, you should probably wear an apron. I have this really cute apron that I got from my mom years ago and I believe the first time I wore it was this past weekend when I was making cupcakes for the Baby’s birthday party. Up until then I was apron-less, which meant lots of flour hand prints on my pants because I am more concerned with whatever baking I am doing than staying clean. And that’s not good when you realize you are down to your last pair of “clean” jeans. Hmm…

I made some cupcakes yesterday. Not sure why. I think it had to do with the fact that it was snowing, I was cold, and I thought that turning on the oven would warm me up. Weird, I know. Anywho, these cupcakes are to die for! Especially if you like coffee.

I found these cupcakes at Baking with Basil. I didn’t change a thing. And I don’t think I needed to. Except maybe I’ll add more coffee next time because coffee is awesome!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream Frosting

Recipe from Baking with Basil

Ingredients:

• 1 & 3/4 cup flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (or here’s a buttermilk substitute, which is what I did)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, at room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside.
2. Mix your flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In another bowl, combine your buttermilk, vegetable oil, and eggs. With an electric mixer set on a low-medium speed, add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients. Once mixed well, add in your coffee. Make sure to scrap down sides of bowl.
4. Using a large scoop, fill your paper lined muffin tins 2/3rds full with batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes sit in muffin tins for 10 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to completely cool.

Coffee Buttercream Ingredients and Directions:

• 2 sticks butter, softened to room temp
• 2 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 T coffee at room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Beat butter until light and fluffy, around 4-5 minutes.
2. Slowly add in powdered sugar, and mix another couple of minutes until well combined.
3. Add coffee and vanilla extract. Continue to beat until you reach your desired constistency. I beat for another 2 minutes or so.

Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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These mocha scones are awesome! If you like scones, and even if you don’t, you must try these. Coffee+chocolate= perfection!

I made these yesterday morning for a tea/coffee/snack get together, and they were a hit! Before I left the house, Reinman kept asking me to leave him a few. Hehe.

Mocha Scones

recipe from My Baking Addiction (great food blog, by the way!)

Scone Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 8 T butter, frozen
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup strong coffee, room temperature
• 1 egg

Mocha Glaze Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup strong coffee
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, and heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a box grater, grate your frozen butter in flour mixture. Mix until you get a coarse meal, and then add in chocolate chips.
3. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream, coffee, and egg.
4. Stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until you get a nice dough formed. Then use your hands to get a nice ball formed. The dough with be sticky.
5. Lightly flour a work space, and put your dough there. You can cut these scones in two ways: You can form dough into a circle and cut into 8 triangles, or you can form dough into a rectangle and cut dough into 10 squares, and cut those squares into triangles to get 20 scones. I did the rectangle version, and got 20 scones.
6. Put scones in prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes for smaller triangles, and 18-22 for larger triangles.
7. Cool on wire rack. Once cool, time to make your glaze!

Glaze:

1. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and coffee and whisk until smooth. Whisk in melted chocolate until smooth.
2. Lay a piece of parchment paper on a work surface, place a wire rack over paper, and put scones on rack. Put chocolate glaze in a zip baggy, and cut off a small piece of plastic off the corner of the bag.
3. Drizzle glaze over scones, and let glaze set for an hour.

There ya go! So yummy, and really pretty easy.

– the Jilb

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