Blue Moon and Corona Cupcakes

With citrus at its prime this month, these cupcakes are the perfect combination of the seasonal fruit and the upcoming seasonal event - the Super Bowl.  Everyone around here is very excited for the game since Connecticut people tend to be either Patriots or Giants fans, but personally I'm excited because it means the end of football season is near!  Maybe I can actually get Ryan to hang out with me on Sundays again :)  So if your football enthusiasm is anything like mine, consider making these beer-infused cupcakes to celebrate instead.  If I can't enjoy watching the game, at least I can enjoy the food that surrounds it!

I could have used some Budweiser and Coors Light for these cupcakes if I wanted to be truly Super Bowl-esque, but Corona Light and Blue Moon are my favorite so I went with selfishness instead.  Plus I wanted to incorporate a complimentary fruity frosting, and since Corona is always served with a lime wedge and Blue Moon with an orange, they were the perfect lagers for the job!  I used my favorite cream cheese frosting spiked with some lime and orange zest and juice and it was a great compliment to the boozy cupcakes.  The beer flavor doesn't always survive the baking process very well, so I just poked some holes in the cupcake tops and brushed a little beer on each to increase the flavor.  Worked out wonderfully in the end, thanks to Miss Make for the inspiration!

Since the beer, zest, and citrus juices are added to the cupcakes at different times throughout the batter-making process, I couldn't just split the cake batter and mix in Corona/ lime in half and Blue Moon/orange in the other half - it involved a little more work than that.  I actually whipped up the two batters separately, so if you're looking to save some time just choose one flavor combination to work with.  I was more partial to the Blue Moon and orange combo, but probably because I've always favored orange-flavored goodies.  Plus I also love the stark blue and orange contrast and think it pops incredibly.  If you wanted to omit the orange slice and add red sprinkles instead of orange, they'd be perfectly festive for your favored Super Bowl team!

Blue Moon and Corona Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Miss Make

For the beer cupcakes: 

3/4 cups butter, at room temperature

1-3/4 cup sugar

2-1/2 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp orange or lime zest

1 cup Blue Moon or Corona beer, plus more for brushing on tops

1/4 cup milk

Orange/lime wedges and sanding sugar for garnish

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners.

- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

- Add eggs, beating after each addition then add the vanilla and zest.

- Combine milk and beer and alternatively add this mixture and the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture with the mixer on low speed, starting and ending with the flour.  

- Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 18 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.

- When cupcakes are done, poke holes in the tops of the cupcakes with toothpicks and brush some beer on each while still warm.  

For the citrus cream cheese frosting:

12 oz cream cheese, cold

6 tbsp butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange/lime juice

1 tsp orange/lime zest

4 cups powdered sugar

- Cream together the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.  

- Add the citrus juice and zest and gradually add the powdered sugar until well-combined.  Beat until smooth for about 2 minutes.

- Load frosting in a piping bag fit with a large star tip and pipe cupcake tops once cooled.  

Recipe yields 24 cupcakes.  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

There's no cute story to go along with these cookies - Ryan and I were just in the mood for cookies a few weekends ago and since I had some Reese's leftover from my Christmas stocking, I decided to incorporate them into a batch of chocolate cookies.  Nothing beats a warm homemade cookie on a lazy winter Sunday afternoon, and when the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is involved, there really is no competition.  This is another cookie recipe that doesn't involve chilling the dough (like these Cookies and Cream Cookies), so you can have these out of the oven in about 30 minutes depending on how quick you can throw together the ingredients.

These cookies are a true peanut butter-chocolate lovers dream - there is peanut butter in the dough as well  as peanut butter cups mixed in and more pressed on top.  I love the peanut butter cup chunks that are added on top so everyone knows at first glance that these cookies are chock-full of peanut butter cups.   The cookie itself is moist and cake-like and full of amazing chocolate flavor.  Don't skimp on the cocoa powder here - the higher quality the cocoa, the more delicious these cookies will taste.  I buy Valrhona brand cocoa powder from Whole Foods whenever it goes on sale and highly recommend it!  If you don't have access to this type of chocolate, either order online or I fall back on Hershey's Special Dark if need be with good results too.  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats

1-1/2 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour

6 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

2 cups coarsely chopped peanut butter cups, divided 

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  

- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  

- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 inutes. 

- Add the egg, vanilla extract, and milk and beat until well incorporated.

- With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients until just incorporated.

- Fold in 1-1/2 cups of the peanut butter cups with a rubber spatula. 

- Use a medium ice cream scoop to drop rounds of dough onto the baking sheets, spacing 2-3 inches apart.

- Gently press a few pieces of the reserved peanut butter cups on top of each dough ball.  

- Bake 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.

- Let cookies cool on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe yields about 24 medium-sized cookies.  

Swedish Fish Jello Shots

When I first heard that Pinnacle released a "Gummy" flavored vodka, I immediately wanted to create a boozy jello recipe with it.  After a quick search, I also found this fish-shaped candy mold and waited for an occasion to come around that warranted such a cute and delicious treat.  Two of my closest friends from dental school share a birthday, and since one of them is particularly fond of all Pinnacle vodka flavors, I jumped on the opportunity to make these for their joint birthday celebration.  

After some online research, I learned that red Swedish Fish candies are primarily cherry flavored, but some people thought they had a fruit punch flavor too.  So in order to emulate the flavors as close as possible, I used cherry-flavored Jello and some fruit punch Kool-Aid mix as well.  Although the vodka on its own is not overwhelmingly delicious, when mixed into this jello concoction the flavors were all spot-on together.  They were a big hit at the party and people definitely had fun with the fish shapes rather than your conventional shaped jello shot.  But then again mini Dixie cups are so passé - these days it's all about  lime rinds, mini cupcakes, and now animal shapes too!  

Because I only ordered 2 fish molds (which made 22 fishies total) , I used the rest of the jello mix to fill my mini-cupcake silicone mold and  stuck half a mini Swedish Fish candy in each one.  This method forces you to buy a bag of Swedish Fish and  find something to do with the extras, so I was totally in favor of doing this too.  Overall this was a really fun way to use the new vodka flavor and the leftover vodka tied with a ribbon made a great gift for the birthday girl.  

Swedish Fish Jello Shots

1 cup water

2 tsp Tropical Punch Kool Aid mix

2 envelopes (1/4 oz each) plain gelatin 

1 box (3 oz) cherry Jell-O

1 cup Pinnacle Gummy Vodka

- Combine water and Kool Aid mix and place in a medium saucepan.

- Sprinkle the plain gelatin over the Kool Aid and allow it to soak for a minute or two.

- Heat mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until gelatin dissolves (about 5 minutes).

- Remove saucepan from heat and stir in cherry Jell-O and vodka and mix until dissolved.

- Very lightly grease your desired mold (I sprayed Pam on a paper towel and smeared it on inside of the molds) and pour jello mixture to the top of each well.  

- Refrigerate until fully set, about 2 hours.  

Happy Birthday Colleen and Pamela!

(So what if their birthdays were actually in November and I'm a few months late with this post...)

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Muffins

A few weeks ago I was in the mood to bake (shocker) and asked Ryan if he had any requests.  He immediately and randomly came up with cinnamon chocolate chip muffins and sent me on a Google search to find a great recipe.  It didn't take long for me to stumble upon this recipe - it's from Baking Bites but she originally found it from the book "The Best Recipe" put together by the people of Cook's Illustrated.  When it's from Cook's Illustrated, you know it good, but when the recipe title comes along with the prefix "Bakery Style", you know it's great.  And these muffins were definitely great - huge in size and flavor with beautifully browned tops and the perfect amount of chocolate and cinnamon chips. 

These muffins are considered "bakery style" because of their huge domed tops and fluffy interiors.  They are definitely bigger than any muffins I've made at home before and could hold their own in a glitzy bakery showcase.  I love cinnamon muffins, and these are no exception - they are not too sweet so there's no confusing whether or not these are cupcakes or muffins, but I'm still not sure they'd make a well balanced breakfast.  But unless you have some healthy New Years resolutions going on, indulging in one of these for a mid-day snack would be heaven.  Even if you don't have a boyfriend demanding cinnamon chocolate chip muffins one day, you should probably make these muffins as soon as possible anyway!  

I'm definitely going to be using this recipe again as a base with different add-ins and flavors.  I would love to add a streusel topping, maybe some blueberries, and a little lemon zest next time.  If you have any other great combinations in mind, let me know!

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Muffins

Recipe adapted from Baking Bites

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

10 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups plain low fat yogurt

3/4 generous cups chocolate chips

1/4 cup cinnamon chips

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners.

- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together.

- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla.

- Alternate adding yogurt and flour mixture, starting and ending with the flour.  

- Fold in chocolate and cinnamon chips with a rubber spatula.

- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling them to the top or slightly higher.

- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  

Recipe yields 12 muffins.