Ferrero Rocher and Nutella Buttercream Cupcakes

Happy Birthday! Wait, it's not your birthday? Are you sure? Don't you want an excuse to make these cupcakes? I needed one once I saw a version of them on Pinterest and my boyfriend's 21st birthday was the perfect occasion. He loves anything and everything chocolate, so I got busy baking these the weekend before he went back to Atlanta for the start of the semester.

These cupcakes are deliciously sinful (thankfully I have managed to eat just one!). I started with a chocolate fudge cupcake from my great grandmother's cookbook, scooped out a little of the top, filled that with Nutella buttercream, and unwrapped two dozen Ferrero Rocher candies for the best cupcake topper I can imagine.

Fudge Cupcakes

From my great grandmother's Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1/3 cup shortening [I used unsalted butter]
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda [Fun fact, the cookbook just says soda. I didn't think it meant Sprite.]
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. Combine 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup milk, and chocolate in saucepan; heat and stir over very low heat until chocolate melts; cool. Stir shortening/butter to soften. Gradually add 2/3 cup brown sugar; cream together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Sift flour with soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with 1/2 cup milk, a little at a time; beat after each addition. Add chocolate mixture.Place paper bake cups in muffin pans; fill 1/2 full. Bake in moderate oven [This phrase cracked me up] about 20 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen. I indeed ended up with only 23. I think I just fill my liners too full no matter what recipe I am making. Oh well.

After they cooled I cut a little recess at the top of them, to hold more frosting and so the Ferrero Rocher candy could have more of a little hole to stay in. Then I frosted them with a divine Nutella buttercream.

Nutella Buttercream

Recipe from Meet Me in the Kitchen

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 4 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup of Nutella (or more to taste)

In your stand mixer with flat beater, cream butter. Add 3 cups of the confectioners sugar, then milk and vanilla and beat until the mixture is smooth, about 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining confectioners sugar, beating about 1-2 minutes. In a microwave safe bowl, soften the Nutella until it has a spreadable consistency, about 15-20 seconds. Add the softened Nutella to your buttercream and fold into the frosting until well blended. I followed the recipe exactly and ended up with two very full decorating bags. Excellent.

I used a Wilton 1M tip (it changed my life. How did I decorate anything before I had real tips??) and squeeze out a big swirl on each cupcake. This was the first real buttercream I've ever made that was thick and actually crusted. Hallelujah I quickly added the Ferrero Rocher so it would be nice and stuck in the frosting before it completely hardened.

I served a dozen to my boyfriend and his family the night we celebrated his birthday. They were well received I think and quite delicious. I sent the other dozen back with him so he could share them with his roommates on his actual birthday but somehow they got left in a car. Sad. At least there are happy memories from the first dozen!

Puffy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

The very moment I opened my Google Reader and saw Jessica's Puffy Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips, I knew I had to make them. My favorite candy is Reeses Cups and I much prefer a fluffy, soft cookie to a hard, thin one. What a match made in heaven.

They worked out so well that I'm just going to post her recipe directly from her original post, with my annotations and comments in italics and brackets.

Puffy Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Recipe from How Sweet Eats

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 8 tablespoons of salted butter, melted and cooled [I only had unsalted, so I added in about 1/2 teaspoon salt to the dry ingredients. I have no idea if that's the right ratio of salt, to be honest.]
• 6 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips [I used about half milk chocolate chips and half bittersweet chunks]

Preheat oven to 325F. Add butter and peanut butter to a microwave safe bowl, and heat in 30 second increments until melted. Let cool completely. [This will take longer than you think. I'm sure when I finally mixed it all together the mixture was still a little warm. I've never been one to be patient.]

Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the cooled butter/peanut butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed.

 Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to bring it all together. [Me too.] If necessary, add 1-2 teaspoons of milk, but I did not need this. [I did. Just a little smidgen more of milk.] Fold in chocolate chips.

Shape the dough into a ball the size of a golfball. Place on a baking sheet two inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. The centers should be soft and puffy. Do not over bake. Let cool completely then dig in!

So, that's the flawless recipe. They stayed SO puffy that I kept getting concerned that they weren't getting cooked through - they looked the exact same as when they went in the oven! And they were perfect for a quick breakfast before work. Yum.