Chocolate + Peanut Butter

Does anyone not like that combination?!

I pinned these Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling a LONG time ago.  Every time I was browsing my pins for desserts, I scrolled past these for some reason.  I finally decided to make them after my husband requested some new delicious cupcakes.

What You Need

Cupcakes:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 1/3 ounces unsalted butter (10 2/3 Tbs)
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk

Filling:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (don’t use natural — go with Skippy)
• 3 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Ganache:

• 3 Tbs. cocoa
• 2 Tbs. melted unsalted butter
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 3 Tbs. hot water

The Cupcakes

• Line your cupcake pans with liners lightly coated with cooking spray.  The original recipe said it would make about 24, but I was able to make 28-30 (I can't remember the exact number). 
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.  Slowly add the eggs one at a time (or if you're like me, slowly pour in your egg beaters).  
• On the lowest speed, add in your dry ingredients and alternate with milk.  Do NOT overbeat!
• Spoon batter into prepped cupcake pans, filling each mold about 2/3 full.
• Bake for 25 minutes or until tops spring back when gently pressed.  

The Filling

• In a small bowl, beat together all ingredients until combined.  
• Prep a pastry bag with a wide tip and fill with your peanut butter mixture.  
• Take an apple corer and firmly press it into the center of each cupcake.  It will leave a deep hole down the middle.  Place the tip of your pastry bag into the hole and squeeze to fill each cupcake.  It may overflow onto the top of the cupcake a little...that's ok!  
• Note: The only apple corer I own also cuts the apple for you.  Obviously this was not going to work for this recipe!  I didn't think of this until it was too late so I had to find something else in my kitchen.  I ended up using our knife sharpener thing.  It was probably a little too narrow, but it worked alright.  I added apple corer to my Christmas list. ;)

The Ganache

• Combine all ingredients in a small bowl with a spoon.  Drizzle over cupcakes.
• Note: When I made this ganache, it was VERY thin.  As in it just soaked right into the cupcakes or dripped off the side.  I added two heaping spoonfuls of Cool Whip (left over from my trifle recipe) and it thickened up just enough!

Here is the final product.  I had a lot of leftover filling (maybe because we used a knife sharpener instead of an apple corer) so Nick insisted we not let that go to waste.  We used it as an extra topping on some of the cupcakes!

I'm linking up with Katie & Stephanie again today!  

Here is the original pin:

Source: glasshalffull123.wordpress.com via Emily on Pinterest

Traditions

It's Wednesday which means I'm linking up with Allie and Kay!  This week's question: What is a holiday tradition that you and your husband do or plan to do each year? If you don't have any, what is an idea you could try out this year?!

I LOVE traditions!  I didn't have a ton growing up so I'd like to instill a ton with my own family now to make up for lost time. ;)  Now that Carson has joined our family, I'm even more excited about starting traditions.  Here are some traditions that we've started and also some that we want to start.  And when I say we, I mean I.  My husband just goes along with it all to make me happy.  Bless his heart!

Watch a Christmas movie when wrapping gifts.  When I was little, my mom always watched 'It's a Wonderful Life' when wrapping presents.  I love carrying on this tradition.  I watch any Christmas movie, though.  I know Carson will appreciate my flexibility once he's old enough.  I hated watching anything black and white when I was little.  (Now I love it!) 

Open one gift each on Christmas Eve.  This is another tradition we had with my mom.  My sister and I would get SO excited and (usually) we were allowed to choose the gift!  Nick and I have done this every year and I love it!  I'm going to continue this tradition with Carson, but I'm going to give him the same thing every year: Christmas PJ's!  That way he can wear them when Santa comes!  I'd like to add to this tradition and also give Carson a movie or book that we can enjoy together on Christmas Eve.  Carson has been sporting his Christmas jammies since after Halloween this year!  (Only because I was worried he would grow out of them!)  Don't worry, I have a brand new pair wrapped up for Christmas Eve.  

Elf on the Shelf.  We won't be starting this tradition for a few years, but I'm already so excited!  This year I have seen so many fun and creative ideas on Pinterest and Instagram!  I can't wait until Carson is old enough to understand and name his special elf!

Visiting Santa Claus. This may seem obvious, but I know people who said they don't bother going!  This is another tradition I'm carrying on from when I was little.  (Maybe we had more traditions than I thought?!)  I remember going to the shopping mall downtown to visit Santa.  Every year I got to wear my fancy Christmas dress.  I was so excited to see the talking tree and go to the Secret Santa Shop to buy gifts for my parents!  Unfortunately that mall closed, but I still plan on taking Carson to a mall every year to see Santa!

Baking Christmas Cookies.  Ok, I lied.  I had tons of traditions when I was young!  (Thanks, Mom!)  This is yet another one that I remember and love.  Every year we would bake special cookies for Christmas.  Not cookies that you bake in March or July, special Christmas cookies!  My mom always made her peanut butter blossoms and used my Grandma's cookie press to make those little flower cookies with red and green sprinkles.  I try to make the peanut butter blossoms every year and I'm also loving finding new recipes to try!

Ornaments.  This is a new tradition I would like to start with Carson.  Each year, we'll buy him a new ornament.  I would like to try to get one with the year on it so he can look back and see which ornament is from which year.  I used to hate the idea of a mismatched tree with all of those random ornaments.  Ever since Nick & I lived together I would put up my coordinating teal and silver bulbs and I loved the cohesiveness.  Now I really regret not buying each other ornaments each year.  Especially since this is our 10th Christmas together!  I can't wait to fill the tree with Carson's annual ornaments!  Maybe I'm loosening up on these OCD tendencies since becoming a Mom?  Here's one of Carson's first ornaments.  Check out my post explaining how to make one of your own!

What is your favorite holiday tradition?  

 

My Holiday Decor

I'm linking up with Becky today for Show & Tell Monday!  This week we're sharing our holiday decor.  Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of decor.  Sounds like a crime, right?  Well I have an explanation.  We're going out of town.  I hate to put all of those decorations up just to leave!

Most of my decorations are in our family room since that's where we spend most of our time!  I also have a few randoms here and there to spread the cheer!

Here is what our outside decor looks like this year.  Lame, I know.  It's better than nothing though, right?!

Wonderful weather we're having here in Ohio!  I can't wait to get to the sunshine state!

Every year I think about making a wreath but I love this one my MIL bought for us at a craft show...it matches our house perfectly!

Garland on the banister in our entryway.

Snowman on our key rack.  Those are all my keys.  I'm still working on teaching Nick how this thing works. Any tips?

I like snowmen but I'm scared to tell anyone because I don't want to get snowmen as Christmas gifts for life!

This is our mini tree.  It's fiber optic and I had it in my bedroom at my Dad's house when I was younger!  I put it in the front window and hope that people might notice.  It's sitting on my grandmother's hope chest!

Christmas countdown!  I have a little Santa bear 'Welcome' sign that replaces this after Christmas!

Here's our powder room.  A mini tree, some snowflake clings, towels, and festive soap.  Also a delicious smelling Christmas candle!  I need to change out the regular decor in here, but I don't know what I want to do yet.  Those Asian plaques have been in there since we moved in 7.5 years ago - how embarrassing!

Kitchen table.  You can see my Pinterest fail evergreen candle along with a free Christmas printable from Pinterest.  I got the placemats and table runner on clearance from Kohls a few years ago for less than $10 total!  In the background you can see my card "garland".  I just hang twine from my curtain rode and use mini clothespins to hang our cards up!

More banister garland!  This is looking up from our family room to the loft.

The mantle!  I got this prelit garland for 1/2 off at Michaels.  Sadly, it doesn't work very well...it turns off randomly!  Another free Christmas printable from Pinterest, too!  I really wanted to get our stockings embroidered, but waited too long.  I think I might do it after Christmas and hopefully it will be cheaper!

Here's our tree.  It's a hand-me-down artificial from my MIL, but I like it.  Some day we'll probably buy a pre-lit.  I know every raves about real trees BUT I hate the maintenance...watering them, vacuuming up those pine needles, getting sap on your hands, etc.  My fake tree + a Fresh Balsam Bath & Body Works candle is perfect for me!

This is on our TV stand.  Nick bought me the penguin on the left when we were dating.  Since then, we've found a few more so we started a little penguin family.  A friend from my mom's group got us the ornament without knowing about our other penguins - so perfect!

This is on the other side of our TV stand.

Here are a few of my pics from last year.  Last year was the first year I did our card "garland":

Our mantle last year.  I think it's much improved this year!

 Our tree last year.  This didn't change much except we got a new tree topper and added a few 'Baby's 1st Christmas' ornaments! :)

Click the button below to check out others who have linked up and link up your own holiday decor!

Another Pinterest Fail

Who remembers my last Pinterest fail?  If not, you can read about that here.  Since then, I've had a lot of success stories from Pinterest so it's no surprise that I was due for another fail!

Here is the original pin I found.  Pretty cute, right?  Easy enough especially since we have a ton of pine trees in our backyard!

Source: bhg.com via Emily on Pinterest

I already had a hurricane vase with a candle that I used for our Thanksgiving.  It's a little embarrassing how sad it was looking.  I'm pretty sure I got my money's worth out of those cranberries, though.

I was pretty excited when I remembered my pin with the spruces of evergreen.  [Did I make that up?  Are they called spruces?]  I went outside with a pair of scissors and started playing Edward Scissorhands with one of our pine trees (don't tell my husband).  Let me just tell you - those suckers are SHARP!  I felt like I was being attacked by a porcupine.  I came in with a handful of spruces (?) and tried to arrange them.  It wasn't happening.  I think I have the wrong type of pine tree...?

It definitely looks a little better with the candle lit, right?  Maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic.  I blew the candle out anyway because it seemed like a fire hazard.  Pinterest fail!

Please do me a favor and Google image search "Pinterest Fail".  You can thank me later!

I'm linking up with Stephanie & Katie again today!

Wedded Bliss Wednesday!

I'm linking up with Allie & Kayla again!  This week's question is: If money were not an option (say, you won the lottery) what would you buy your man?

I have such a hard time answering questions like this but I know I would most definitely buy Nick some sort of car!  He's always loved cars.  When we met, he had a 1993 Mazda RX-7.  His was 'Montego Blue', not red, but here is what it looked like:

Before this, he had an older RX-7, too.  He LOVED working on this car and "modding" it to make it faster. Sadly, the car was being worked on most of the time and not driven, oops!  The rotary motor that Maza used for the RX-7's wasn't the most reliable I guess!

We met in 2002 and in 2004 we decided to buy (build) a house together.  At this point, he sold his car so we would have more money to put down on the house.  That's when I knew he was a keeper (obviously I already knew that since we were building a house together)!  We moved into our house in 2005 and he bought his mom's old car off her.  It was supercharged so he was able to have some fun with it, but it wasn't a looker.....

Not his, but you get the idea....

Once the Buick started to fall apart and get high in mileage, he sold it and got an Infiniti.  What can I say?  He likes grandpa cars!  Fast forward to 2011 when we found out I was pregnant.  Nick still had his Infiniti and I had a 2-door Acura.  Obviously not the best Mommy Mobile!  I was working on Veteran's Day and Nick had the day off.  He took it upon himself to go around to different dealerships checking out new cars.  I was a little sad to get rid of my Acura because I loved it!  He surprised me at lunch and brought me Wendy's (we're fancy like that).  He told me about a few cars he had seen and I was excited, but sad to get rid of the Acura.  My wonderful husband decided to trade in HIS car so we could keep my (totally not convenient) 2-door Acura!  Now we have 2 Acuras and I love them both.  One is a perfect family car and the other is fun for the hubs (6 speed, 260hp)!

Now that I've written a novel, you understand why I would buy Nick a car.  He's super giving and kind and he deserves a sports car of his choice that he can take out and enjoy!  I'm not sure what I would get for him though.....depends on funds!  :)

What do you drive?  Do you like it?  What would you like to be driving?

A New Take on Pizza [Tasty Tuesday]

Anyone else love pizza as much as I do?  Seriously, the husband and I could probably have pizza 5x a week.  There are so many different ways to make pizza and so many different flavors!  When I saw this Bubble Up Pizza on Pinterest, I knew it would be good for us!  I halved the original recipe so the ingredients below will make an 8x8 dish instead of 9x13!

What You Need

• 1 can Pillsbury Golden Layer Buttermilk Biscuits
• 1/2 jar Pizza Sauce (I used leftover sauce from when we had pizza rolls!)
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided
• Toppings of your choice (I used mini pepperonis)

How To

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Separate your biscuits and cut each individual biscuit into fourths.  Put the biscuit chunks in a mixing bowl.  
3. Cover the biscuits with pizza sauce and toss or stir gently until biscuits are covered.
4. Add in about 1/2 of your cheese and any toppings of your choice.
5. Pour mixture into a lightly greased 8x8 baking dish.  Top with remaining cheese.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes.  It will puff up when done!

Here is my end result.  It was really tasty and got the husband's stamp of approval!  I'm envisioning making variations of this.  Can you imagine swapping the pizza sauce for BBQ sauce and adding some red onion, chicken, and cheddar cheese?  YUM!

Here is the original pin:

Source: kim-thislittlelifeofmine.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

Christmas Craft for the Kiddos

I'm linking up yet again with another Pinterest project!  I really think Pinterest makes me more productive...sometimes!

Last week I babysat for one of my best friends.  Her daughter is 2 weeks younger than Carson!  We had a ton of fun and the babes are starting to get really interested in each other!  If you follow my Instagram, you've already seen this. Here is me with 2 babies and my 2 fur babies!

While Miss Hallie was over for her play date, we did a little holiday craft!  The last time I did a craft with C, we did a handprint craft for Thanksgiving.  I learned my lesson to keep the handprint crafts until he's a little older.  Footprint crafts are much easier at this stage!  I found an idea on Pinterest and pretty much copied it. I like how different they turned out!  Hallie must have narrow feet! :)

What You Need:

• Brown craft paint
• Foam brush
• markers (red, black, brown)
• white paper (I used cardstock, but some people use canvas)

How To Make It

1. Sit your child in an elevated area (I use the high chair).  With the tray on and a suction cup toy, Carson is distracted just long enough!
2. Paint the bottom of your child's foot with your brown craft paint.  I recommend painting one foot at a time!  
3. Bring your paper (or canvas) to your child's foot and gently press their toes onto the paper.  
4. Repeat with the other foot.
5. Let the footprints dry.
6. Once dry, you can add the details: nose, eyes, antlers.

I'm still trying to decide how I want to display this craft.  I framed the last two I did so I'll probably do that again, but I'm not sure!  Any ideas for me?  :)

Here is the original pin.  Like I said, I basically didn't change it at all!

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Emily on Pinterest