Oh So Heavenly Cupcakes

I haven't been baking much lately because we've been traveling! We just spent a lovely week in Florida and tasted lots of wonderful food including these cupcakes. Heavenly Cupcakes in Sarasota/Siesta Key immediately caught my eye when we went past and I knew I had to check it out. The first evening we tried these two cupcakes and went back for more the next day because they were so heavenly. The cake had a great flavor, texture and was nice and moist. And the butter cream frosting was to die for! The cupcakes were not just referred to as chocolate and vanilla, but they had fun names. We had a Moma's Most Delicious and Peanut Butter in Paradise (Sean's favorite). Since they were out of the ones I really wanted to try, we had to return to test those too.

Here is a photo of Audrey and I at the cupcake shop on Siesta Key. Wickedly good cupcakes - so true!

Audrey looked so happy in that photo as she had just devoured her yummy chocolate cupcake! That's the one that is missing from the cupcake box we brought back to our room. I got the Cuckoo for Coconut cupcake to try later and it was so that I got a t-shirt that confessed my love for this cupcake.

Peanut Butter Cookies, Take Two

I had a few occassions this past week that called for bringing along a hostess gift and had a few extra jars of peanut butter in the pantry, so I decided to try my peanut butter cookie recipe this time around. I used real butter (the only way to go) and the consistency of the dough was much better. I also had used crunchy peanut butter the first go around and much prefer using creamy peanut butter for a smooth texture to the cookie.


I love using a small ice cream scoop to drop the cookies, then I rolled them all out before doing the criss-cross pattern with the fork. I tried some rolled in sugar and some without and we voted for going without in the future. The sugar makes them glisten and adds a bit of a crunch, but without they are nice and simple and seem to stay a bit chewier on the inside.

Using the small ice cream scoop or cookie scoop is not only easier, but helps you to get nice uniform sized cookies. They don't always need to be perfect, but it helps for packaging them. We tested just a few and the rest were packaged to take to my friends that I was visiting for playdates. I love using different boxes like this and place individual sheets of parchment between the cookies. If I don't have these boxes, I stack the cookies in a cellophane bag and secure it with a tie or pretty ribbon.

Cookie of the Month - Peanut Butter

Starting this month, I'm going to make at least one cookie to feature each month. Some of them I may have made previously (but can't resist making again) or I will try a different variation or some completely new cookie recipe that I've never attempted previously. This past weekend I made peanut butter cookies because we had a craving for something sweet at my mum's and happened to have all the ingredients to make these, including just enough peanut butter. Peanut butter cookies with the classic criss-cross pattern with the fork is something I always remember my mum making growing up. The cookies my mum would typically make from time to time were chocolate chip, peanut butter, no-bake and oatmeal with raisins, chocolate chips and coconut. So, while we visited after dinner, I made the peanut butter cookie dough, rolled balls of dough in sugar and flattened them with the criss-cross pattern to bake. The pattern didn't hold well with this recipe and that may be due to the fact that we used margarine instead of butter as it was all we had on hand. However, they were the perfect consistency and sure satisfied our sweet tooth with a cold glass of milk.

Chocolate No-bake Cookies

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I grew up with cookies we commonly called "no-bakes" that are fudgy chocolate cookies with oats. Some people made them with just cocoa and some would also include peanut butter for a richer flavor. You don't bake them in the oven, but simply melt all the ingredients together in a stove top pot and drop them on parchment to dry and solidify. However, the appropriate moistness and texture of the cookies requires the right temperature and timing when you're making them. I've found a recipe that I love and they turn out great each time. It uses chunky peanut butter so they also have a little crunch to them. It's a simple cookie, but has such a great texture and flavor. I thought everybody knew about these, but have come across a few people that were unfamiliar. Did you grow up with your mom making "no-bakes"?