Reese's Pieces Cookie Dough Cupcakes

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Been in a crazy cookie phase recently, but not the traditional kind of cookies. Earlier this week I made these chocolate chip Rolo toffee cookie bars, and today I made cookie dough cupcakes with Reese's Pieces and peanut butter frosting.

In a medium bowl, combine 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt. In a separate bowl, cream 1 cup butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and 1 cup brown sugar. Blend in an egg, egg yolk, and 2 tsp vanilla. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients with the sugar mixture, then fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup mini Reese's Pieces

Mmmm cookie dough

Fill a cupcake pan with liners (don't judge my Christmas liners--they're all I had!) and divide the dough equally among them.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes at 325*.

While the cookie cupcakes are baking, make a batch of peanut butter frosting. I happened to use this kind of peanut butter, but regular is fine too.

Combine 1/2 cup softened butter and 1 cup peanut butter

 Add 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, and about 3 tbs of cream. That's it! I added a handful of Reese's Pieces to my frosting as well

After the cupcakes have finished baking, let cool for about an hour, then spread the frosting on top!

 So yummy!

If you like peanut butter, you will love these!

Reese's Pieces Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup miniature Reese's Pieces

For the frosting:

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tbs cream (or milk)

1/4 cup Reese's Pieces (optional)

Directions:

1) Pre-heat oven to 325*.  Line a 12 count cupcake pan with liners.

2) Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.  In a large, separate bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Blend in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.

3) Fold dry ingredients into sugar mixture. Once incorporated, fold in chocolate chips and Reese's Pieces. Divide dough into cupcake tins. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown

4) To make frosting: Combine butter and peanut butter. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix in cream. Add additional Reese's Pieces if you want. Once cupcakes have cooled for about an hour, spread the frosting on top and enjoy! 

Chocolate Chip Rolo Toffee Cookie Bars

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Once upon a time I had a huge sugar craving.  I wanted chocolate chip cookies. And caramel. And candy. And toffee. So I decided to combine all those things into bar form.

I love cookie bars more than plain cookies, because they're really just improved versions of cookies. Cookies get all flat on the edges. Bars get thick and gooey and amazing everywhere--this recipe came out like a cookie cake :)

Here's what you do. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp baking soda

In a separate, large bowl, mix 1 cup butter (softened) with 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Mix an egg, an egg yolk, and 2 tsp vanilla into the sugar mixture. Then fold in dry ingredients

And some of these. Ok, I didn't measure out the toffee and chocolate chips, but I'd say go with 1/2 cup of each to start. Add more or less depending on your tastes!

I unwrapped about 40 Rolos, chilled them in the fridge, then chopped them into quarters. Sometimes halves. Doesn't matter :)

I ate a lot of Rolos in the baking process too...

After folding the chopped Rolos into the dough, place the dough in a greased 8X8 baking dish (cover dish with foil first if you want to be able to lift the whole slab from the dish after baking). Bake for about 30 minutes in the oven at 325* (check after 20 minutes, and if the edges are starting to get brown, cover with foil)

The next step is optional, but highly recommended. Make a batch of caramel sauce to later pour over your cookie bars! It's super easy! In a small pot, mix 1 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup heavy cream, 4 tbs butter, and 3 tbs corn syrup. Heat on medium, stirring to incorporate everything, until the candy thermometer hits right below the soft ball stage mark (candy thermometers are super cheap if you don't already have one, and Walmart sells them). Then turn the stove to low and let the caramel sit until ready to pour onto the cookie bars

When the cookie bars are done baking, let them cool for about 20 minutes before adding the caramel, so that the caramel doesn't cause the center to collapse

Look what you're missing if you skip the caramel on top. Sogoodsogoodsogood!

Did I mention I love Rolos? Add extra chopped Rolos and toffee to the top

Let cool for a few hours, then dig in!!

Chocolate Chip Rolo Toffee Cookie Bars

Ingredients:

For the bars:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup toffee bits

40 Rolos, chopped 

For the caramel sauce:

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 tbs butter

3 tbs corn syrup

Directions:

1) Pre-heat oven to 325*.  Cover 8X8 inch dish with tinfoil and grease with cooking spray.

2) Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.  In a large, separate bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Blend in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.

3) Fold dry ingredients into sugar mixture. Once incorporated, fold in chocolate chips, toffee bits, and chopped Rolos. Chill Rolos before chopping for easier handling

4) Press dough into dish and bake for about 30 minutes until lightly browned and center is cooked all the way through. After 20 minutes, check to see if the edges are getting brown, and if so, cover with tinfoil.

5) While bars are baking, make caramel sauce. Combine all ingredients in a medium pot and cook over medium heat until a candy thermometer hits right below the soft ball stage mark. Remove pot from stove for several minutes, then place back on low heat so that the caramel stays soft until you're ready to pour it over the bars. 

6) After the cookie bar have cooled for about 20 minutes, pour warm caramel over them, add chopped Rolos and toffee bits on top, and let cool for a few hours. Once cool, use tinfoil to remove the whole slab from the dish, take the foil off, and cut bars into pieces. 

Slow-Cooked BBQ Ribs

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I made bbq ribs to go along with this cornbread recipe last night, and I'm pretty sure this is the easiest way to get delicious, fall-off-the bone ribs! Best part is it only takes 3 ingredients!

Most of the meat fell off the bones as soon as I tried to lift them out of my Crock-pot.  This picture is proof--the bones slid right out, clean as can be!

I used country style ribs

Start by slicing half an onion into rings, then layer them onto the bottom of your Crock-pot.  If you don't like onions, then exclude them, which makes the recipe even simpler!

I didn't bother seasoning the ribs, but feel free to do so if you want.  Layer 2 ribs over the onions and drench them with bbq sauce. Add the rest of the ribs, then coat with more bbq sauce.  I didn't measure the sauce out, since it's not really necessary.  Just feel it out ;) Put your Crock-pot on low for about 7-8 hours.

The ribs are ready to eat at this point, although if you want to make them extra special, place them in a baking dish after removing from the Crockpot, cover them in a little more bbq sauce, and bake for 15 minutes in the oven at 400*.  There you have it, super easy ribs. Yum :)

Slow-Cooked BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:

4 country style ribs

1 bottle bbq sauce

1/2 sweet onion

Directions:

1) Slice onion into rings; place rings into Crock-pot

2) Stack 2 ribs in next, cover with bbq sauce, then add the other two ribs. Coat with another layer of bbq sauce.  Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

3) Preheat oven to 400*.  Remove ribs and onions from Crock-pot, place in a baking dish, coat with more bbq sauce, and bake for about 15 minutes to let the sauce carmelize.

Buttermilk Cornbread--Plain and Jalapeño

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So.

To those of you who know me personally, it is no surprise that I like to cook, considering all I do is talk about food and post food pictures to Facebook haha. To those of you who do not know me personally, it's probably pretty obvious I like to cook, considering I have a food blog and all :) 

However, it's not simply the act of cooking I enjoy, but the act of cooking for others.  When I have just me to feed, I will easily resort to a cup of top ramen or a microwavable dinner.  Not those small portion, healthy ones, but the calorie-laden, Hungry Man ones.  Because f*** Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice--I could eat like 3 of those before I'm full! 

Please don't judge...

Anyway.

Most of my culinary creations come about when I cook for my boyfriend; however, since he currently lives 5 hours from me, I see him only once a month, on average.  I recently took a week off from work during my spring break to visit him, devoting the whole trip to cooking for him.  Literally. He started a new job at FNMOC that week, so I kept myself busy during the day by planning out meals. And I enjoyed it a lot!  

My obsession with cooking that week made me realize I needed to find a reason to cook more often even when we're not together, since that is my favorite hobby.  It's hard enough being apart from him, let alone practicing my hobby only when he's around. Figured I might have an easier time being away from him if I could busy myself with more of the things I enjoy doing while we're apart. Not sure why it took me a year and a half of being apart from him to realize this, but I was right.

My roommates and I decided it would be fun to do roomie dinners at least one night a week, and even though it's only the second week since we started doing this, I already feel genuinely happier with life, being able to devote my free time to planning out recipes even with my boy not here.  Since today is the only day I have off from both school and work this week, I decided to do dinner tonight.  Stuck some ribs and bbq sauce in the Crock-Pot (post to follow) and made a couple batches of cornbread--one plain and one with jalapeños.   

This cornbread is soooooo easy and tasty!  It came out dense and sweet (which is how I like it).  This recipe makes a double batch, so cut it in half if you don't want two loaves, but I recommend making both and freezing one if that's all you need

In a medium pot (yes, a pot--this is going to be your main mixing bowl to save you dishes), melt 1 1/4 cups of butter. Remove the pot from heat, stir in 1 1/4 cups of sugar.  Incorporate 4 eggs together in a small bowl, then add to the sugar mixture 

  

Add the 2 cups of buttermilk, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 cups of cornmeal, and 2 cups of flour. Stir until well blended--it should look like the batter in this high quality Instagram picture.  Kinda like a thick cake batter

Separate half of the batter into a medium bowl and add diced jalapeños if you want a jalapeño loaf, otherwise just divide the plain cornbread batter into 2 greased pans (doesn't really matter if you use round cake pans, square cake pans,  or casserole dishes).  I just grabbed a good handful of sliced jalapeños from a jar--came out to about 3/4 cup, so eyeball the amount based on your preferences, then chop them up and mix them into the batter  I also added 2 tbs of jalapeño juice from the jar into the batter, and added a few jalapeño slices to the top. Then pour your batter into a pan

Here's the plain cornbread

I used a casserole dish and an 8-inch cake pan, since that's what I could find

Cook them together in the oven at 375* for about 20-25 minutes. Mine were perfect after 20

Lots of hidden jalapeño surprises :)

Close-up!

I let both batches cool for 20 minutes, then cut them up into slices

The jalapeño loaf is my favorite!

Buttermilk Cornbread--Plain and Jalapeño

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs, beaten together

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups flour

2 cups corn meal

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup canned sliced jalapeños (optional)

2 tbs jalapeño juice from can

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375*. Grease your 2 cake pans.

2) Melt butter in pot. Remove from heat and mix in sugar. Once that is incorporated, add your eggs and blend well.  Add buttermilk, salt, baking soda, cornmeal, and flour. Stir until blended--a few lumps are ok.

3) Pour half the batter into a medium bowl if making a jalapeño loaf. Add jalapeños and juice. Stir until incorporated, then pour batter into one of the cake pans.  Pour the plain batter into the second cake pan.

4) Bake both loaves in the oven for 20-25 minutes until done. Serve warm with butter :)