My Elvis Cupcakes

My triad of Joy

(don't you love the way the wrapper ended up in a heart shape, it's a sign that I should eat more)

I love bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate. Who doesn't. I feel so very sad for people who are allergic to peanuts; not because of the peanuts but they can't have peanut butter. What a sad thing to not be allowed to have! My biggest treat is a grilled peanut butter banana sandwich. I have on a REAL occasion added chocolate but I have to be a super good girl for that one. I had some bananas that were too ugly to be eaten independently so this is what I came up with.

Elvis' Cupcake (if I had the chance to feed him, this would be it)

2 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

3 small ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla extract

13 Hershey's Kisses

Peanut Butter Frosting (WARNING: this is super sweet!)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 Tbsp milk

Mix sour cream, bananas, and vanilla until combined. Combine all dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients mixing until just combined.

Spoon 1 Tbsp of batter into lined muffin tins or about 1/2 full.

Add the Kisses upside down into each cupcake

Top the kiss with additional batter until just covered.

Bake at 350 for 20-22 min.

Cool 10 min in pan before removing.

For the frosting mix all ingredients until spreading consistency. Add more milk if you need it to be thinner.

Frost the cupcakes and add chocolate chips if you want to take it up a notch.

The last kiss is for the cook of course!

Per request for the Tyler Goddesses!

My favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Ok girls; here it is! I am not sure if it is the triple threat of 

Milk Chocolate

Semi-Sweet Chocolate

or White Chocolate

(The Triple Threat)

That makes me love these babies or the size. They are 1/4 cup just like Tyler's but I think they have more of a brown sugar flavor. 

Or it could be that when I have deprived myself of sugar for a long period of time these are the chocolate chip cookies I go to. I wished I had two of each recipe right here to compare (damn the luck!) but imagination and drool will have to do. Sorry I don't have any pics to go with these.. think I might make a batch tomorrow. The hubby is coming home and has eaten all of Tyler's cookies so maybe he needs mine to come home to. Ha Ha. Thanks for all the requests Girls!!

Jumbo 3 Chip Cookies

4 cups AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs, room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips ( I usually increase to 1 cup... yes thats 3 total cups of chips!)

1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I usually omit as I don't want anything semi healthy in my cookies!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs (one at a time) and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts ( ha ha please!) 

Drop dough by level 1/4 cup measuring cup 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. 

Bake 12 to 14 min or until nice golden brown. Cool on baking sheet 2 min and then to rack to cool completely. Mine don't usually get to the "cooled completely" phase. Enjoy!

Chips Ahoy Mattey!!!

Tyler's Big Fat ..... Chocolate Chip Cookies! 

My choice for Tyler this week was his Chocolate Chip Cookies. I know many of the girls have done this one with rave reviews. Chris had to take a class across country this past week and what better way to avoid getting tired than an old fashioned sugar high from these ginormous cookies. They were amazing... and YES I had SOME (not one, oh no.... SOME!!!) These cookies are my second favorite. I am sorry to disappoint... They are delicious. You truly should try these. I am a chewy cookie fan so I only baked them the minimum time but, if you go to the food network site they have a very good video on making these; with no other eye candy than Tyler himself. There was another person in the video but who paid attention to her! If you use a 1/4 cup to measure out the cookies you won't get many out of this recipe but they are big enough where you won't need many. Check out the thickness of the batter too; it was unbelievably thick. 

Happy Baking and don't miss out on these ones... They hit the spot. You can get the recipe here and you can watch the video here.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Tyler's Chocolate Banana Bread

I know this one has been posted several times for the Tyler's Friday Blog but who can resist Chocolate and Banana! I think next time some peanut butter mixed in would be awesome. The bread was chocolatey and moist, the bananas were not too overpowering. Although Chris described it as having too much chocolate I didn't think that those words could be used in a sentence together. Please try this one as it was great. 

Chocolate Banana Bread

2 cups All Purpose Flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 oz milk chocolate, melted

2 eggs

3 mashed bananas

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat to 350. Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. 

Beat butter to creamy then beat in chocolate, eggs, bananas, and vanilla on low. Stir in flour mixture just till combined. Pour into buttered loaf pan. Bake 50 min or until done. Cool in pan 15 min and then to rack to cool completely. 

Truffle Tarts with Raspberries and Whipped Cream

Tyler Florence Friday's ! 

This is my first official week with the TFF's; I'm excited about being a part of another group. The only thing is that my classes are getting busy and Lexi's has been sick so it seems like time is running from me but I am working on it. I am hoping to keep up well with Tyler's Fridays..you can check the blogroll here and I got the recipe from foodnetwork here. 

The Truffles were delicious but I will warn you as they are very rich! If you are a chocolate lover, you will be in heaven. Enjoy!

Chocolate Truffle Tarts with Raspberries and Whipped Cream

Dark Chocolate Truffles

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped ( I think semi sweet or milk chocolate would make it better next time)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup cocoa powder, for dusting ( I used the whipped cream instead)

In saucepan bring cream to a simmer over low heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate in a bowl and let stand 10 min to melt the chocolate. And vanilla and stir smooth. Set aside and allow to cool about an hour. Then beat chocolate on medium speed until thick and lightly colored. Spread over the bottom of a baking dish and smooth the top. Refigerate about 2 hours or until firm. 

Truffle Crust and Assembly

1 1/2 Cups Oreo cookie crumbs

6 Tbsp melted butter

Dark Chocolate Truffles (recipe above)

Raspberries and Whipped Cream

Mix Oreos and butter, spray 6 muffin tin with Pam and then line with parchment. Press the cookie mixture in to the cups about 1 1/2 inches up the sides. Place a raspberry in the center and then fill the tarts with the truffle mixture. Smooth the tops and refrigerate until set (about 2 hours, I froze mine)

TWD: Carmel Crunch Bars

Carmel Crunch Bars

This weeks Tuesday post is from Whitney of What's on the table. You can get the entire recipe on her site here. 

These Bars were easy. If you want simple quick bars these are it. First you make the shortbread layer, bake it, and then top with chocolate of your choice. The options were semi or milk chocolate and I choose milk chocolate because I think it complements the toffee well. Chris doesn't like toffee so I did half with toffee and the other half with mini M&M's. The M&M's are semi sweet so they weren't overpowering. 

First day Chris liked them a lot but after they rested overnight he could taste the espresso and he doesn't like coffee so they became give away bars. The kids still enjoyed them so don't be shy on day two if you don't like coffee ( he is tender about that flavor ). 

I will make these again, I think next time I will use semi sweet chocolate in the batter and white chocolate and almonds on top. Wow! getting hungry already.