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Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

Okay. Every once in a while I am going to post recipes on here for you to pin onto pinterest. Unlike my other posts, this is not something I found on pinterest that I've tested, but it is a recipe that I can promise you tastes incredible. So, feel free to pin it if you'd like, or make it first and decide from there!

The Best Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mini chocolate chips (I actually opted not to use these, and it still tasted amazing)

*For Colby's birthday cake I used this recipe + another half of the recipe…that way I ended up with 3 round cakes to stack 3 tiers high. 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease pans. In a very large bowl or kitchen aid, mix together everything except chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into greased cake pans of choice (I prefer using 9-inch round cake pans). For cooking time, I used the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and added 10 minutes to whatever it said. Then I did the toothpick check and checked on it every 5 mins after that until it was done. It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch cake pans.

After my cakes were out of the oven, I immediately dumped them upside down on individual pieces of aluminum foil so they wouldn't sink. I then wrapped them up in the foil and stuck them in the freezer. A couple hours later I took them out, unwrapped them, and stacked them with a layer of frosting between each tier. The cake is much easier to frost if it's frozen. 

After it was stacked I frosted the whole cake in a thin layer of frosting, and then I did a second coat to cover up any chocolatey crumbles that got stuck in the first layer.

Crumble up some reeses and sprinkle them on top, and surround the base with mini reeses cups. Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting (this is the buttercream frosting from my previous post with one spoonful of peanut butter added)

Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter

1 T vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar (or icing sugar)

4-5 T coffee cream (18% and up)

1 small spoonful of peanut butter

Directions:

Whip the butter with a paddle beater. Add in the powdered sugar (using a fresh bag makes all the difference–powdered sugar goes stale and you can taste the difference!)

Add in the cream and peanut butter and mix.

Add in the Vanilla and mix until fluffy and thoroughly combined.

Rating:

Difficulty:

The Best Buttercream Icing

Once again...there's that "best" word that taunts me so. I'm pretty gullible, so if you say your recipe is the best—and you have a nice picture to prove it—I'll probably believe you.

Usually I just throw in my own measurements of powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract and milk when I make frosting. Unfortunately, this often leads to frosting that's either too runny or too sweet, and I get stuck adding in more ingredients to balance it out. As a result, I always make way too much frosting.

So, I figured it wouldn't hurt to find a great recipe with exact ingredients to help me out. I have actually pinned a few different frosting recipes on pinterest, but this one looked and sounded the best by far. It has a secret ingredient, that I think really does make all the difference. Coffee Cream. Yes, more unhealthy—but frosting isn't healthy anyway, so what are a couple extra calories?

I've now used this frosting on sugar cookies and cake, and it was wonderful on both. Just add a tiny bit more cream if you're using it on cookies. Here's a link to the original recipe if you like step-by-step pictures.

Buttercream Icing
Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter
1 T vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar (or icing sugar)
4-5 T coffee cream (18% and up)

Directions:

Whip the butter with a paddle beater. Add in the powdered sugar (using a fresh bag makes all the difference—powdered sugar goes stale and you can taste the difference!)

Add in the cream and mix.

Add in the vanilla and mix until fluffy and thoroughly combined.

Rating: 

Difficulty: 

Oreo Truffles

Yes, these look and sound amazing, but they taste even better...if you like oreos of course. They are also quite easy to make, and only take 3 ingredients.

The first time I made these it was a piece of cake and they turned out great. However, I attempted them a few months later when I was in a hurry and it was not a pretty sight. So, take my advice before attempting these on your own.

**Be sure to crush your oreos first, BEFORE mixing in the cream cheese.** I tried speeding up the process by throwing the oreos and cream cheese in a bowl together before the oreos were crushed. Bad idea. I could not get the mixture to be smooth for the life of me...I tried everything, from a little hand blender to smashing them with a spoon. Unfortunately, it was too late and little tiny pieces of oreo crunched in every bite.

So, crumble your oreos by themselves first, and then mix in your cream cheese. You'll be much happier with your results. The time I made these right, I threw my oreos in a blender first, and then transferred them into a bowl with the cream cheese. The blender crushes them up quite nicely.

Now for my second tip. Once you've formed your oreo + cream cheese mixture into balls, stick them in the freezer. There's no reason why you need to dip them in the icing right away...and they will be much prettier and less crumbly if they are frozen when you dip them.

Last tip. Work fast once you melt your white confection. They settle to room temp quite quickly, and you'll find that they can be a bit messy. The nice thing is, the white confection hardens very quickly once your oreo balls have been dipped, so you don't have to wait all day to eat them. I like to trim off the extra chocolate from the bottom that dripped off the balls onto the pan. It makes them look nicer.  However, mine will never look as pretty as they do in the picture above. Oh well, at least they taste amazing!! 

Oh, if you want to add sprinkles like we did below, add them right after they've been dipped. Like I said, the confection cools very quickly and your sprinkles won't have anything to stick to if you wait a minute.

Anyway, here is the recipe with my special instructions added to it. Enjoy!

Oreo Truffles
Ingredients:
1 8 ounce package oreo cookies, finely crushed 
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 pound white baking chocolate, melted (also called white confection). Don't use white chocolate..it doesn't taste the same, and it takes much longer to harden.

Directions:
Crush your oreos in a blender. In a large bowl, combine crushed cookies and cream cheese. Beat with mixer on low speed until well blended. (I used my hands to mix them). Form 1-inch balls by hand. Harden balls in freezer. Dip balls in white chocolate and place on baking sheet covered with waxed paper. To store, cover and refrigerate. Makes 50 truffles.

*They taste better cold...My husband and I like to freeze ours.
Rating:

Difficulty:

(if you follow my tips, it will be easy for you! If not though, this could qualify as medium-difficulty)

Fortune Stars

I saw these cute stars on pinterest a few months ago and pinned them onto my never-ending list of do-it-yourself crafts...My first thought was that they would be cute in a bowl on my coffee table, but I was worried that mine wouldn't turn out as perfect and quaint. Those are small stars! And origami has never been my forte. Despite my doubts, I shared the link with my little sister who decided to start making them by the dozen. With my wedding coming up, we provided her with cute paper in my colors and I somehow was lucky enough to end up with hundreds of adorable paper stars to sprinkle on the tables at my wedding reception.

Though I haven't actually attempted these on my own yet, my sister and I share an equal level of artistic genes, and after a few trial stars she was a pro. She assures me that anyone with a tiny bit of patience can make them, and that you won't be disappointed. I'm pretty sure she made hers even smaller than the ones from pinterest...which means they would be even easier if you used bigger paper! To be honest, I think hers turned out cuter than the originals...


Click Here for the instructions!

Here's the catch though—we didn't include any fortunes in our stars, and I can imagine they would be slightly harder to fold up if there was an additional piece of paper floating around inside. Once again though, if you use bigger pieces of origami paper, this problem won't be an issue.

Here's a picture of a few my sister made for my wedding!

Rating: 

Difficulty: 

"Best-Ever" Chocolate Chip Cookies

"Best-Ever" is a pretty bold statement, but these cookies showed up multiple times on my pinterest homepage so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. No one I follow had actually tried the recipe yet, and I wanted to know if the rumors were true!

So, here's the lowdown. If you like soft, chewy cookies, you will love these. They really are slightly fluffy and perfectly gooey—just the way I like them. AND, the flavor is delicious! 

I have included the recipe below, but there is one thing I altered. I am an almond-extract fan and this recipe doesn't call for any...so, I put in slightly less vanilla than it calls for, and added that much extra almond extract. You'll still only be adding a tiny bit of almond so it's not overwhelming, but you'll find that your cookies have the perfect "kick." Everyone who has tried them so far concurs that the almond is an essential addition.

However, if you aren't an almond fan, don't despair! Just use 2 T of Vanilla and leave out the almond! You won't be disappointed.

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients: 

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 c. brown sugar 

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

1 egg 

1 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract 

1/4 tsp. almond extract 

2 c. all purpose flour 

2 tsp. cornstarch 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

3/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.

4.  Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.  (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)

5.  Let cool, on the sheet, on a wire rack for five minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely.

Rating:

Difficulty: