Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwiches

It’s no secret that DC is a city of Type A’s, a fact to which any tourist who’s committed the egregious sin of standing on the left side of the metro escalator can attest. We don’t have a job, we have a career. We don’t jog, we run. We don’t go to happy hour, we go to networking events. In short, we don’t do anything halfway.

I’ve been back in DC for over a year and a half at this point, and yet I find myself continually surprised by our community-wide need to overachieve. This weekend’s cookie swap ranks up there with the best of them for hammering this point home.

After a holiday party-filled weekend (thanks W’s, A’s, G’s, & B’s for hosting!), it was cookie swap time chez Ros. My only previous cookie swap experience was in Seattle, where I was one of three people who actually brought homemade cookies and the remaining group came with Oreos in tow (holiday Oreos, mind you).

This experience was different. I walked into the party feeling preeeeetttyyyy dang good about my [chewy, moist, rich, unique] cookie sandwiches and was abruptly met with the most beautiful display of cookies that I may have ever seen in person. I’m not just talking a sprinkling of powdered sugar here and there; there was literally a tower of cookie rings that I can only assume were Norwegian-inspired (or so I was led to believe by the miniature Norwegian flag flying from this golden stack) that was mysteriously stacked around a champagne bottle.

Are. You. Serious?

All of a sudden, my cookie sandwiches looked like the rec league soccer star in a room full of David Beckhams.

These rec league cookies tasted awesome - one of David Beckham’s managers even told me as much. And that’s the big picture. But what lesson did I learn? MAN those DC’ers know how to overachieve!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Recipe Adapted from Joy the Baker

Cookies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups uncooked old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk

Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Beat the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add the vanilla extract and beat until blended.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture slowly beating on low speed until just incorporated. Stir in the pecans last.

The cookies will be small, so portion about 1 heaping teaspoon of cookie dough into your hand. Roll into a ball and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Keep cookies about 1 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. If the cookie dough begins to stick to your hands as you’re making dough balls, rinse your hands and portion the dough with just slightly damp hands.

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until they’ve reached your desired doneness. I like mine a little underdone and cook them for 10 minutes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare the filling, place butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed, drizzling in vanilla extract. Scrape down the bowl as necessary. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until you’ve reached your desired consistency. The filling should be easily spreadable.

When cookies are completely cool, flip over and spread half of the cookie bottoms with peanut butter filling. Top with a similar size cookie. Wrap individually and store in the refrigerator. Cookies are best served slightly chilled. Cookies last, wrapped in the fridge, for about 5 days.

Traditional French Onion Soup

I never thought that I would be welcoming in the cold weather, but here I am, reveling in the little nip in the air. This could be partly due to the hard-wiring in my head that has me instinctively feeling inappropriate if I walk out of the house without a heavy jacket once the calendar reads December. Or it could be due to the excessive (but exciting) holiday decorations strewed about my office building that seem like a heavy dose of snow could really polish off the effect.

But mainly it's because cold weather justifies my love affair with soup. This french onion soup satisfies a craving that you didn't even know you had. It's hearty and rich, and feels like an incredibly decadent way to warm body and soul on a cold, dark night. It only makes four servings, and I can tell you that four servings later, I wish I had more. I plan on making this for friends when they come over - not only because it tastes so good, but it just looks so beautiful when it comes out of the oven! 

(Lesson learned - let this soup cool for a few minutes before serving. It is HOT when it comes out of the oven. We almost had a coup in our house when someone realized his only two options were to burn his tongue or wait for the soup to cool before digging in. Of course, I would never say who...)

Traditional French Onion Soup 

Recipe Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 large red onions, thinly sliced
3 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
1 quart chicken broth
1 quart beef broth
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 thick slices French or Italian bread
6 slices Gruyere or Swiss cheese slices, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded Asiago or mozzarella cheese, room temperature
4 pinches paprika

Directions: 
1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in salt, red onions and sweet onions. Cook 35 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are caramelized and almost syrupy.

2. Mix chicken broth, beef broth, red wine and Worcestershire sauce into pot. Add spices and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Reduce the heat to low, mix in vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep over low heat to stay hot while you prepare the bread.

3. Preheat oven broiler. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and broil 3 minutes, turning once, until well toasted on both sides. Remove from heat; do not turn off broiler.

4. Arrange 4 large oven safe bowls or crocks on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each bowl 2/3 full with hot soup. Top each bowl with 1 slice toasted bread, 1.5 slices Gruyere cheese and 1/4 of the Asiago or mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle a little bit of paprika over the top of each one.

5. Broil 5 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. As it softens, the cheese will cascade over the sides of the crock and form a beautifully melted crusty seal. Serve immediately!

Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars

Happy holidays, all! Since my blog posting comes with such dependable regularity, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you all that I am slightly off-schedule with my holiday greeting cards.

Did I say off-schedule? I meant to say, “So far behind that they’re not happening this year.”

Oops.

In the spirit of the holidays, I present to you an open letter to all of my friends and family spread far across this big ol’ country (and others!).

Dear friends,

I probably don’t tell you this enough, but I consider myself one of the top three luckiest girls in the world to have you in my life. (I think Kate Middleton and Suri Holmes may have me beat – though the Duchess has morning sickness and mini-Holmes inherited Tom Cruise genes, so maybe I’m not so far behind?)

Here’s the thing. How many people can honestly say that they have true friends. We all have the friends who you say “hi” to on the street, or with whom you abstractly talk about getting together for coffee but never actually follow through. On the other hand…you guys, well, let’s just say that it’s pretty incredible to be surrounded by people who let you show all of your colors, good, bad, and dance moves….and they love you all the same.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your jokes (well, most of them), your hours of conversation, your jogs around the city, your glasses of wine, your gchats, your treks up mountains, your lazy Sundays, your homemade dinners, and your presence in my life.

Thank you to all of you for all that you bring to the table as individuals, and please know that I wish nothing but happiness and good things for you for this holiday season and the year ahead.

With all my love (and by some mathematical property I learned in elementary school, MM’s love as well),

Sharon

P.S. It felt wrong to post a holiday letter without something sweet to go with it. Enjoy these bars! General consensus – these are yummy, but it would be fun to make them even more yummy with a new filling. Experiment time, anyone?

Creamy Pumpkin Pie Bars 
Recipe from Joy the Baker

Crust: 
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 large egg white
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon all-spice
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
9 roasted pecan halves for topping

Directions:
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8×8 square pan, then line with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, and oats. Add cold butter and quickly but thoroughly break the butter up into the dry ingredients. When broken down, some butter pieces will be the size of small peas, others will be the size of oat flakes. Add the chopped pecans and toss to thoroughly combine.
3. Remove about 2 cups of the mixture from the bowl and place in a small bowl in the refrigerator. This will be used for the crumble topping.
4. Dump the remaining crust mixture into the prepared pan and use your fingers to quickly and evenly press the crust into the bottom of the pan. Place the pressed crust in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
5. To prepare the filling place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat cream cheese on medium speed for about 1 minute, until smooth and pliable.
6. Add pumpkin and sugar to the softened cream cheese and beat on medium speed. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring that the pumpkin and cream cheese are thoroughly combined. If the cream cheese looks chunky, switch to the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until most of the cream cheese lumps are incorporated.
7. On medium speed add the egg and egg white. Beat to combine (about 1 minute). Add the spices, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat to combine.
8. Remove the pressed crust and loose crumb from the refrigerator. Pour the creamy pumpkin filling over the pressed crust. Sprinkle generously with crumb topping and top with pecan halves. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan and slicing. The bars are best served chilled.

Rich, creamy roasted butternut squash soup

Does anybody else feel like winter just snuck up on them without any time to transition at all? One day, I'm sweating to the oldies (that would be 80s music, to clarify) on a run around the neighborhood, and the next day I'm searching through a bin of hats and gloves to find accessories to keep me from freezing  through like last year's leftovers (what, you don't freeze leftovers?).

It's not that I'm not ok with the changing seasons -- I am. In fact, as you well know, I consider soups and pumpkin to be the holy grail that may or may not be able to actually accomplish world peace. No, what I'm not sure about here is just how quickly this came about. A gentle introduction to not seeing daylight after work hours would be a start.

Since there's not much I can do about it (other than dream of warm, tropical vacations on sunny beaches), I suppose the old adage rules: If you can't beat it, join it. And so, in a true change of direction from normal, I made soup.

To be fair, I made this soup before San Francisco. And I was planning on writing about it that week. But then I got distracted by these sunsets:

And this parade to celebrate the World Series win of the San Francisco Giants:

And this view from Sausalito (if you quint really hard, you can see the San Francsico skyline across the water)

And this road sign (one day, I will claim this was named after me):

Not to mention, all of the wonderful people who I shared countless afternoons and evenings with sipping coffee, strolling around, testing local wines, and eating fabulous meals. Alison, Kristin, Amy, and Anna, thanks for being such wonderful hosts and company during my trip!

Time to give this soup its moment in the spotlight. This recipe is fast and simple, but it gives you a soup that tastes anything but. A little bit of cream goes a long way here, making this soup taste luxurious and filling. Since the soup makes at least 6 servings, you'll get to enjoy the soup time and again!

How pretty are these?

Aromatics, anyone?

Rich, creamy roasted butternut squash soup
Adapted from New York Times

Ingredients:
4 pounds butternut squash (one medium-sized one was plenty)

Drizzle of olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small red or yellow onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
Crumbled bacon for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Using a large, heavy knife, split the squash in half and scrape out the seeds and discard them. Place the squash halves on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast until very tender, about 1 hour. Use a spoon to scrape out the flesh; set aside, discarding the skin.

2. In a large pot set over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion just turns translucent, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the stock and squash and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes. (If using a food processor, allow to cool; if using an immersion blender, proceed while soup is still warm).

3. Use an immersion blender or food processor (in batches). If you used a food processor, reheat the soup. Stir in the milk and cream, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve garnished with crispy bacon crumbles.

Extremely Moist Jewish Apple Cake

MM has been pitching the idea for an extremely moist apple cake for some time now, and his wish finally came to fruition (get it? Anyone? Bueller?) when we inherited a boatload of freshly picked Stayman-Winesap apples from my parents after their recent apple-picking adventure. Aren't they pretty?

It was the perfect complement to our ultra-fall day, complete with football, chili, and pumpkin beer. The cake is dense, slightly spiced, and delightfully true to the taste of the apples. Adding a glaze over top was a last-minute addition per MM’s expert recommendation (I dragged my feet, but let’s be honest, when does a glaze make something worse?).

Needless to say, the leftovers didn’t stick around long.

I replaced half of the oil from the original recipe with apple sauce – it’s a low-fat, healthy substitute, and it only enhances the cake’s apple flavors. However, I’ve used applesauce in plenty of baking projects that don’t involve apples, and you can’t detect the taste at all. Next time I make this cake, I may swap out even more of the oil for apple sauce, as well as adding just a sprinkle of cinnamon to the batter. 

My other note to the wise - this recipe originally calls for a tube pan or a bundt pan, of which I have neither. I opted to use a springform pan and a loaf pan. Splitting the recipe between the two pans worked out well in terms of baking the cake. However, as you can see, flipping the cake out of the loaf pan presented some, ahem, challenges:

We are off to Detroit tomorrow for the Detroit Free Press Half-Marathon – updates to come! 

Extremely Moist Jewish Apple Cake
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

6 apples (I prefer to use tart apples for this)
1-2 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 ¾ cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup no-sugar added applesauce
2 cups sugar
¼ cup orange juice
2 ½ teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional) 

Glaze (optional)

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan (or two loaf pans...or any two combinations of pans that you have). Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, apple juice, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. If you are spreading this between two pans, start checking the cakes after about one hour.

If you opt to include the glaze, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Whisk in the remaining ingredients and pour over the top of the cake. Allow to cool before serving.

Guida’s Famous Pumpkin Roll

Have you ever had this feeling in the kitchen?

“I know what I’m doing.”

“I’m a great baker.”

“Sure, I can make that - no problem!”

This line of thinking is dangerous, my friends!

I started with the perfect set-up: a birthday-celebrating mother who loves pumpkin, a cream cheese loving father who was in charge of picking dessert, and a high-fiving fiancé who swears up, down, left, and right that his sister-in-law’s pumpkin roll recipe is the world’s greatest.

Not batting an eyelash, I quickly signed up for the task, completely ignoring my never-done-a-roll baking history in favor of a how-hard-can-it-be attitude.

Um. Turns out, it can be hard! Not only did Guida walk me through the recipe, she also walked me through the rolling steps. I took notes, I pictured it in my head, and I was ready to go. Per her suggestion (which I thought was totally unnecessary at the time), I opted to make a practice roll early in the birthday week.

I was sure that Guida’s suggestion of using a cookie pan would spread my batter too thin, so I opted to drop my batter into a 9x13 pan (mistake #1). While that was baking, I dutifully sprinkled powdered sugar onto a dishtowel to prevent the cake from sticking later on and awaited the ding of the timer.

A little too thick, eh?

I gave the cake a few minutes to cool, and then flipped it onto the dishtowel for its initial roll (mistake #2). Laws of physics came in, and the major gust of wind I produced with my flip sent powdered sugar flying all over my countertops. Not only did my counters then see the best scrub they’ve seen since we moved in (silver lining?), my dishtowel had the chance to become deeply attached to its new cake friend - so attached that half the cake stuck to the towel when I tried to unroll.

Lessons learned for next time:
-When someone tells you that a big pan is OK, trust their experience over your “ideas”.
-Powdered sugar stuck in a coffee maker is not the worst thing that can ever happen.
-Even if it’s ugly as sin, pumpkin roll is one of the tastiest desserts ever created.

Round two went more smoothly, and Mother Lisa’s birthday went off without a hitch. As far as fiancé and I, one week and two pumpkin rolls later, we’re going to start focusing the household baking on any non-pumpkin options!

Guida’s Famous Pumpkin Roll 
Ingredients:

Cake

3 eggs

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup pumpkin

3/4 cup flour

1tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

4 tsp butter, room temperature

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix all batter ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Spray a full-size cookie sheet well, and pour the pumpkin batter onto the sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, lay a dishtowel flat on a counter and sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Once the cake is out of the oven, geeennnnnnntly, flip the cake onto the dishtowel (beware of flying sugar). Slowly roll the cake in the dishtowel until you have formed a towel-cake log. Set it aside to cool.

Beat all of the icing ingredients together in a stand mixer. Once the cake has cooled, unroll it and spread the frosting across the cake surface. Carefully begin rolling the iced cake back up, taking care to avoid crack in the cake. You may want a second pair of hands to help you with this.

Refrigerate the cake, and once cool, cut off the excess cake on the ends to reveal your beautiful spiral. Serve with a dark cup of coffee, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

You could say that this week has been a spiral for me. It all started when I was out running at the beach last weekend (belated "Happy 3-0 Birthday" to sister!), and I spotted this sign:

Well, that planted the pumpkin seed in my head, and it left me with two choices: water that seed with pumpkin love or deny it food and let it die. Guess which one I picked?

After that, it's been all downhill. Now there are a few of these in the fridge (and perhaps one on the coffee table next to me):

Even worse, the pumpkin baking has begun. First official recipe of pumpkin season (which coincides with soup season but is shorter in length, for those concerned minds out there): pumpkin snickerdoodles. Intense pumpkin flavor with sugary-spice coatings. Do I really need to say anything else?

Don't worry, I already have the next pumpkin baking project picked out.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Recipe from A Bitchin' Kitchen

Cookie Ingredients:

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Coating Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of allspice

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk together to blend. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars on medium speed until well combined. Next, still on medium speed, beat in pumpkin. Then, add the egg and vanilla extract. Lastly, add in the dry ingredients. Beat until combined, but do not over mix. Cover the dough, and refrigerate for one hour, until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and spices for the sugar coating. Scoop dough (approximately 2 1/2 tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Roll the dough ball in the sugar mixture, and place on the lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Take a drinking glass with a flat bottom and moisten with water. Dip the glass in the sugar mixture, and use it to flatten the dough balls. Re-sugar the glass as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Remove when the centers of the cookies have set. Let cool on the baking pan for approximately 5 minutes, and then transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely.

Easy Turkey Chili

 This time of year always has me uneasy. As a warm weather girl, the idea of shorter days and fewer rays of sunshine make my heart ache. But at the same time, there’s just something about crisp, fall air that makes me excited to go to town warming up with homemade soups and broken-in sweatshirts.

Last weekend, there was less moisture in the air (and frizz in the hair), and it truly felt like fall was nearing. Other folks might be rejoicing about football season, but in my kitchen, we’re rejoicing for soup season! It’s finally here, and we wasted no time in ushering in the good times.

First up was a natural choice: chili, the trustiest soup a homecook can make. It’s homey, spicy, and warms both body and soul. I can make it a thousand times and still crave more. To make this even more user-friendly, I threw this in the slow cooker. Not only is it great to walk in the house to the smell of spicy goodness, but it also gives the flavors extra time to meld together and develop complexity. If you’d rather use the stovetop, just let the chili simmer as long as you can before you serve. 

Easy Turkey Chili
Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
16 oz lean ground turkey
2 yellow squash, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, minced (adjust to your spice liking)
14 oz. can of golden corn, drained and rinsed
14 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
28 oz. can of diced tomatoes with juice
¼ cup tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
1-2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Dash of cumin

Directions:
1. Saute the onion in a large skillet until translucent. Add in garlic and continue sautéing until fragrant. Add in first round of spices.
2. Brown the ground turkey in the skillet.
3. Add the turkey-onion mixture and all remaining ingredients into a slow-cooker. Mix thoroughly. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Serve with a slice of fresh avocado, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, and a dollop of sour cream!

P.S. I thought you would enjoy this photo—my morning commute was interrupted unexpectedly on Wednesday morning when the track, and the metro train I was on, lost power in a tunnel between stations. We were stuck for about an hour, but it was long enough to make friends and begin planning a return to home to work in pajamas for the remainder of the day. Sadly, power came back on, and ultimately, I was off to work. A little spice for the middle of the week!

Homemade Oreos

One of the most welcome parts about living on the east coast again is being able to join in for all of the family gatherings that occur throughout the year. Rather than getting my yearly fix of family at the holidays, I get to celebrate promotions, birthdays, holidays, Fridays, and any other “days” that merit a meal with the people who share your DNA. 

While the idea would be that these festivities are distributed throughout the year, the Berlin clan ups the ante. Of our immediate family, three out of four have birthdays within 4 weeks of each other. Now I’m not saying which member has a totally unique, special, and original birthday outside of those four weeks, but I will give you the hint that I happen to be in charge of multiple baking projects in September/October! 

Figure it out? I knew you were smart. 

Birthday #1: the papa’s. This is a man who raised me with the mantra, “Oreos are a food group.” Naturally, a homemade version was in order. 

In good faith, I can’t tell you that these tasted EXACTLY like the real thing. The wafers are a different texture, and the filling is a little heavy on the vanilla. However, that does not take away from the fact that I would eat these cookies every day and twice on Sunday. 

Next up: celebrating the end of sister’s years in her 20s. Baking ideas? 

Homemade Oreos

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients for the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

Ingredients for the filling:
1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, spread or pipe frosting onto the center of one cookie. Lightly press onto another cookie, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Makes about 20 sandwiches. 

Note: These do not lend themselves to birthday candles. We had to do a last-minute quick fix: birthday cantaloupe with a side of homemade oreos :)

Roasted Mustard Potato Salad

Every once in a while, a recipe just lands in your lap with such perfect timing that you’d be a fool not to give it a try.

Picture this: it’s the day after a long weekend filled with celebrations and indulgence. You go to the grocery store to pick up a few odds and ends, but inspiration is really lacking for how to make these items into a cohesive meal. You proceed to the checkout repeating your mantra, “I’ll just throw a few of these things together and figure something out.”

No sooner do you walk into your apartment, grocery bags in tow, when your phone gives its friendly “ding” alerting you of a new email. Procrastinating unpacking, and even more, delaying the moment where you actually have to make good on your promise to figure something out, you give in to the phone’s alert and check your email.

Lo and behold, it’s a recipe that someone thought you might enjoy. Even better, it’s a recipe for which you just bought the main ingredient at the grocery store.

Serendipitous, isn’t it?

To call this a potato salad might be misleading. I’d consider it more of a fancied-up version of your mom’s potatoes. It’s warm, spiced, and keeps you coming back for more. Thanks for the tip, Barb!

Roasted Mustard Potato Salad

Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:
6 Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup canola oil (or less)
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook potatoes 10 to 15 minutes, until tender but firm. Drain, and transfer to a medium bowl.
3. In a small bowl, mix canola oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, celery salt, and pepper. Toss 1/2 the mixture with the potatoes.
4. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a sheet of foil, and place flat on a roasting pan. Turning occasionally, roast 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from heat, and cool. Toss with remaining oil mixture to serve.

Banana (Choco-Bourbon) Nut Bread

A week away from home is not a terribly lengthy time. But it's long enough to make you miss certain things. Like a bed that smells like fresh detergent or pillows that put your head in that perfect little cradle. Not to mention the familiar hum of your home's individual noises, or a closet that has all of the shoes/dresses/skirts/earrings/anything you could want all in one place. And it's not so bad to come home to your S.O., especially after a week of small talk and chatting up strangers.

For a work trip, the week was actually quite nice! I got to spend some quality time in Baltimore, catching up with old friends included. And then I hopped on over to Minnesota for the ever-exciting Minnesota State Fair, don't you know! Fried food on a stick and good midwestern hospitality made the trip a true pleasure. 

Beautiful view for a lunchtime run

By the time I got back, I was itching to get my hands dirty in the kitchen. I've also been accused by a nameless someone that I only bake for other people, rather than baking for fun to keep around the house. I'm pretty sure my waistline is the reason for that, but nonetheless, I can't be developing any kind of reputation as a stingy baker! With a handful of overripe bananas staring me in the face, banana bread was the clear frontrunner. I decided to make this bread really decadent and throw in the leftover chocolate chips that were sitting in the pantry, as well as a dash of bourbon to make the bread feel a little rebellious. One slice is already gone...now let's see how long the rest of the bread sticks around!

Banana (Choco-Bourbon) Nut Bread

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 to 1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice
Pinch of ground cloves

1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cup of flour

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Toast the walnuts and set aside. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour and mix. Lastly, add the nuts and chocolate chips. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Williamsburg Orange Cake & cake icing tip

One of my favorite things about summertime is the flurry of celebrations that spring up as people take advantage of the of the warm glow of long summer days. Put a glass of wine in my hand, stand me on a porch surrounded with fun company, and I feel like I've landed in heaven every single time. 

MM and I have had the fortune to spend not one, not two, but three weekends in a row partaking in these summer celebrations, and there's still a few more to come this month! Big congratulations are in order for Lindsey & Jason, Brendan & Jamie, and Mr. G for their two weddings and a birthday (sounds like a movie title, doesn't it?).

Unlike the catered weddings, the birthday party had openings for food contributions, and I was all too happy to jump in the kitchen and get to baking. Little did I know, I was going to be in charge of making the birthday boy's cherished favorite cake. No pressure, right? 

Fortunately, all went according to plan. And when the birthday boy tasted the cake, I received the coveted verdict: "Welcome to the family!"

In addition to the recipe below, here's a tip for icing the cake that my clever mother shared with me, and it only seems right to share with the baking world. Rather than worrying about moving the cake once it's iced or having to wipe down the plate without disturbing the cake, there's a simple way to keep your serving plate frosting-free as you ice the cake. Simply tear small pieces of tin foil or parchment paper and place them around the rim of the plate so that the edge of the plate is covered all around. Then, set the cake layer on top of the small pieces. Ice the cake as you would normally, and then all you have to do is remove the small pieces of foil at the base, and you're left with a clean serving plate and a fully iced cake.

Williamsburg Orange Cake Recipe from Betty Crocker's Cookbook (1969)

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 t. soda
3/4 t. salt
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
3 eggs
1-1/2 t. vanilla
1 cup golden raisins, cut up
1/2 cup finely chopped nuts
1 T. grated orange peel

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour 13" x 9" x 2" baking pan, or two 9-inch round layer pans, or three 8-inch round layer pans.
Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl. Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter into pans.
Bake 13" x 9" x 2" pan 45 - 50 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Bake layers 30 - 35 minutes. Cool. Frost with Williamsburg Butter Frosting.

Williamsburg Butter FrostingRecipe from Betty Crocker's Cookbook (1969)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soft butter or margarine
4-1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 - 5 T. orange-flavored liqueur or orange juice
1 T. grated orange peel

Blend butter and sugar. Stir in liqueur and orange peel. Beat until smooth.

Crook's Corner Shrimp and Grits

What a fun weekend! My Friday night consisted of a ride-along with a local cop who specializes in DUI enforcement for a work project - to say it was eye-opening is doing it a disservice! Drivers beware: this man is not messing around!

Saturday, it was off to Baltimore for an Oriole's game. You never realize how much you love a stadium and the person keeping you company until you're in the middle of a 3.5 hour rain delay on a warm August night. A few beers and a lot of people watching later, the game finally started! Despite the mark in the "L" column, it was an extremely fun night.

The Inner Harbor makes for a pretty view for the morning run!

So let's talk about this recipe. There's a restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC called Crook's Corner, known throughout the whole region for their famous shrimp and grits. I finally got my hands on the recipe a few months ago, but I've been putting off making the recipe out of the slight fear that it would be impossible for a homemade version to live up Crook's Corner's finest. Optimism in tow, fellow former Chapel Hillian and BFF Jennie came and joined me for our testing experiment. 

Wine + Shrimp = Happy Chef Jennie

Um. WOW. Only complaint, why didn't it make more? MM's reaction: "That isn't shrimp and grits, that's an experience."

Crook's Corner Shrimp and Grits
Recipe from My Recipes

Ingredients:
2 cups water
1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth
3/4 cup half-and-half
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup regular grits
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon white pepper (I used black and can't say that I noticed anything amiss)
3 bacon slices
1 pound medium-size shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
Lemon wedges

Directions:
1. Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually whisk in grits. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until thickened. Add Cheddar cheese and next 4 ingredients. Keep warm.
2. Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon, and set aside.
3. Sprinkle shrimp with pepper and salt; dredge in flour.
4. Sauté mushrooms in hot drippings in skillet 5 minutes or until tender. Add green onions, and sauté 2 minutes. Add shrimp and garlic, and sauté 2 minutes or until shrimp are lightly brown. Stir in chicken broth, lemon juice, and hot sauce, and cook 2 more minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet.
5. Serve shrimp mixture over hot cheese grits. Top with crumbled bacon; serve with lemon wedges.

Glazed Cinnamon Swirl Almond Cookies

Remember when I told you that you could repurpose the leftover tart dough from the summer berry tart recipe? Well here you go - a recipe that will take you 5 minutes to put together but will give the wow-factor of a way more labor-intensive project. I had originally envisioned these puffing up like cinnamon rolls, but it turns out that they prefer to be cookies, and I am not complaining. MM requested that these cookies become a regular part of the rotation!

Pre-Baking...we gobbled them up once they were cooked!

Glazed Cinnamon Swirl Almond Cookies

Cookies
Ingredients:
Leftover almond tart dough
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
Cinnamon to taste
2 tbsp sugar (adapt to your taste)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Roll out leftover dough until it's approximtely 1/4" thick.
3. Spread butter over flattened dough, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
4. Roll up the dough tightly, pinching the ends to keep the cinnamon and sugar inside the roll.
5. Slice the dough in 1/4"-1/2" slices, and lay flat on a foil-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until cookies are golden and no longer soft.

Glaze
Whisk together 1.5 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tbsp of milk. Drizzle over cookies while cookies are still warm.

Summer Berry Tart

It’s been a difficult week here at the casa. What started out with a lot of excitement ended in a stark reality check. MM and I had been on the search for a great dog, and we found one who melted our hearts. A meet-and-greet and a homevisit later, Archie came to stay.

Sadly, Archie isn’t quite cut out for apartment living, and we quickly came to the realization that our trio wasn’t the right fit. So today, we are saying goodbye to Archie. I hope you get a life full of ear scratches, big fields, and people to lovingly keep you company, little buddy. We’ll miss you.

On a lighter note, let’s get back to cooking. This tart is delicious. Did I say delicious? I think I meant to say “fight over the last piece you're the last man standing” scrumptious. You can use any type of seasonal berries, but make sure you note how long the dough must chill in the refrigerator before cooking. I forgot to do that, and had to delay my baking for a bit as a result.

Bonus: the tart dough recipe makes enough for three crusts. You can certainly cut the recipe in half to minimize leftovers. Orrrr you can do yourself a favor and make that extra dough. I’ll be posting a recipe this weekend for an easy way to use the leftovers for breakfast and become the most popular person in your household.

Summer Berry Tart

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Tart Dough (makes enough for three 9-inch tart crusts)

Ingredients:

2 ½ unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Lightly packed ½ cup ground blanched almonds

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1.      Place the butter in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar and process to blend well. Add the ground almonds, salt, and vanilla and continue to process until smooth, scraping the bowl as necessary. Lightly stir the eggs together with a fork and, with the machine running, add them to the work bowl; process for a few seconds to blend. Finally, add the flour and pulse until the mixture just starts to come together. When the dough forms moist curds and clubs and then starts to form a ball, stop! — you don’t want to overwork it. The dough will be very soft, and that’s just as it should be.

2.      Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into 3 pieces. Gently press each piece into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or for up to 2 days, before rolling and baking. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to a month.)

3.      To roll and bake tart crusts: For each tart, butter the right-sized tart pan and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. If you are making more than one tart, work with one piece of dough at a time.

4.      Depending on how thin you’d like your dough, you can either roll out your dough or press it using your fingers. The easiest way to roll out your dough is to place the disk between two pieces of parchment paper, and then use a rolling pin to flatten the dough. If you use your fingers, gently begin pressing the center of the dough outwards towards the edge of the pan. As this warms the dough a bit, put the dough back in the refrigerator for a few minutes before baking.

5.      When you are ready to bake the crust(s), preheat the oven to 350°F. To avoid bubbles in the crust, line each crust with a circle of parchment paper or foil and fill with dried beans or rice.

6.      Bake the crust (or crusts) for 20 to 25 minutes, or just until very lightly colored. If the crust needs to be fully baked, remove the parchment and beans and bake the crust for another 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Pastry Cream

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions:

1.      Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cover the pan, turn off the heat, and set aside for 10 minutes.

2.      Working in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, whisk the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together until thick and pale. Whisking all the while, very slowly drizzle a quarter of the hot milk onto the yolks. Then, still whisking, pour the rest of the liquid in a steady stream over the tempered yolks.

3.      Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously and without stop, bring the mixture to the boil. Keep the mixture at the boil, whisking energetically, for 1 to 2 minutes until cream has formed, then remove the pan from the heat and scrape the pastry cream into a clean bowl. Allow the pastry cream to cool on the counter for about 3 minutes.

4.      Cut the butter into chunks and stir the chunks into the hot pastry cream along with the vanilla extract, continuing to stir until the butter is melted and incorporated. At this point, the cream needs to be thoroughly chilled. You can either set the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and, to ensure even cooling, stir the cream from time to time, or refrigerate the cream, in which case you should press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal.

Finishing the tart

Shortly before you are ready to serve the tart, spread the pastry cream in the bottom of the baked tart shell and arrange the berries over the top. I used strawberries and blueberries, but feel free to experiment with any berry that’s in season!

Double Chocolate Cookie and Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches

In the irony that is our universe, I happen to have committed to a lifelong partnership with the one person in the entire world who does not consider his birthday to be the most exciting day of the year. As someone whose childhood family nickname was “birthday-on-the-brain,” I just can’t quite wrap my head around this. 

The way I see it, birthdays are the only day of the entire year where you have a built-in excuse to spend time with your favorite people in the world while they compliment you and celebrate your existence, all without you doing a single thing! If that isn’t a definition of “perfect storm,” I’m not sure what is. 

Clearly, I have a task ahead of me…convincing MM of the glory that is a birthday. This year, we started small. A weekend away to play tourist in a city we grew up with and love dearly—Baltimore, MD. 

While many of the weekends’ plans were stymied by the nagging rain that conveniently refused to let up until our departure on Sunday, it was still a great weekend. If you ever have a chance to eat at the Black Olive in Fells Point, I highly recommend it. You feel like you’re in your Greek grandmother’s house as they grill an entire fish and filet it in front of you right at your tableside! 

Other weekend celebrants include Guida for her birthday, Kristin for her (upcoming) birthday, and Lindsey for her bridal shower…that’s a lot of celebrating! 

Since we were away for the weekend, I had to reserve birthday baking for Sunday. Just as I was feeling without inspiration, Lakshmi put this gem up on facebook, and I was sold. Since we are only two people, I halved the original recipe. My version still made six very hearty sandwiches! 

Double Chocolate Cookie and Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches 
Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coffee grinds
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Mint chocolate chip ice cream, slightly softened

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Sift first 4 ingredients into bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in both sugars, then eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in extracts, then flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing mounds 2 to 3 inches apart. Using moist fingertips, flatten mounds to 3/4-inch thickness.

2. Bake cookies 5 minutes. Reverse sheets. Bake until cookies are puffed and dry-looking but soft to touch, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Freeze on sheets 15 minutes.

3. Spoon 1/3 cup gelato onto flat side of 1 cookie. Top with second cookie, flat side down; press together. Wrap and freeze. Repeat with remaining gelato and cookies. DO AHEAD: Keep frozen up to 2 days.

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Having grown up in its neighboring state, it’s embarrassing to admit that my main impressions of West Virginia came not from outings to its tree-filled mountains, but from off-color jokes and one “wild and wonderful” documentary. So you can imagine my reaction when I first heard that MM’s family has made an annual trip to this very state for over 60 years for a week of sun, outdoor air, and relaxation.

Huh?

Let me tell you, I was in for a pleasant surprise. Sure there are colorful personalities and people who live up to (and exceed) your expectations of the typical West Virginian, but all of the jokes in the world don’t prepare you for just how beautiful the state’s land and mountains are. How nice is it to see this view every rising and setting of the sun?

So what did we do? There was a lot of golfing (Barb and I drove the cart and drank wine—I’m pretty sure we got the better end of the deal):

Sun bathing (no photos…you’re welcome). Spa time (me and my paraffin-tipped toes were extremely content in this picture):

Playing with dogs who can drink from water bottles (this woman is incredible-she and her dogs walk 6-8 miles every day, and the dogs get treats from many of the cabins in the park. She remembers details about this family from over 10 years ago, since she's walked past their cabin every time they've been in the area over the years):

We even celebrated a 90^th birthday—birthday girl is on the right:

I'd like to point out that it was deathly hot outside in this photo. I have no idea how he was wearing  sweater!

After spending a week hitting the pool, relaxing at the spa, and soaking up the views in Oglebay Park (outside of Wheeling), I can see why the family loves this place. Your mind goes to a serene place when you’re surrounded by pretty views, happy people, and a constant supply of tasty treats (thanks, cooks!).

Katie, who at 34 weeks pregnant STILL is only showing in her stomach (you’d like to hate her, but you can’t because she’s too fun) decided to man dessert-making responsibilities. This was one of her many creations, and I almost died the first time I tried these cupcakes. Sadly, I can verify that the fifth or sixth cupcake was just as good as the first…oops, willpower can visit another week.

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from My Baking Addiction
YIELD: 24 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

CUPCAKES
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso granules dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
24 Reese’s Miniatures; frozen (this prevents them from disappearing into the batter)

PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
6-8 tablespoons heavy cream (if using milk, amount will be less)

Directions:
CUPCAKES
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, eggs, vanilla and espresso water mixture. Beat for about two minutes on medium speed until well combined.

3. Using a large cookie scoop, distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells; about 3 tablespoons of batter per well. Press one frozen Reese’s Miniature into the center of each cupcake.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly touched. There will be a small sink hole in the top of the cupcakes from the Reese’s Miniatures, that’s okay - you’ll cover that with frosting. Allow cupcakes to cool inside muffin tins for about 10 minutes.

5. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Once cupcakes are cool, prepare your frosting.

PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, cream butter and peanut butter on medium speed until fluffy. Turn your mixer down to low speed and slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.

2. Add vanilla and 4 tablespoons of heavy cream. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 4 tablespoons of heavy cream until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy

3. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and finish with chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.