In case you’re curious as to what the title refers to, click here.
No, I don’t really get it either, but it sure is happy!

Peanut butter jelly! Peanut butter jelly!

But first, a note about new years resolutions.
Its a new year, and here at the muffin household, things, they are a changing.

For one, we’ve made it a goal of ours to eat healthier. I know, everyone is making resolutions to eat better, lose weight, exercise more.. whatever.. Health issues in both of our families have really pounded it home that getting into better shape and being healthy is very important if we want to live long, enjoyable lives.

That having been said, don’t worry, it won’t affect what you see here. I still plan on making one or two tasty little treats a week, not for me or my family, but so that my husband can take them to work for his co-workers. They seem to appreciate them, so why not keep them happy. Who knows, it might make my husband’s work day more enjoyable, and if I can help with that, I will.

However, if you are one of those whose new years resolutions (or just your own personal goals) include weight loss, healthy eating and exercise, keep an eye out on the sidebar over there- (points at the side of the page to the right) for an announcement for a new healthy food blog that I’ll be launching later this month, once I’ve built up the archives a bit. I’ll be updating it probably more often than this one, since I’ll be using it as a sort of motivational blog as well, for myself and those who want to eat healthy food that just happens to taste awesome and look pretty.

ANYWAYS. All of that behind us now, ONTO THE DELICIOUSNESS!

I made peanut butter and jelly chocolate cupcakes today.

Strange combination? nope. Not at all. Delicious? Definately.

The salty peanut flavour, the creamy chocolate taste, and the sweetness of red ripe strawberries combined. Its like the a triple threat of tastiness.

I made them mini sized and tried a few different decorating styles.
Some of them just had plain peanut butter icing on them, some with a drizzle of chocolate. Some had peanut butter icing and were dipped in chocolate before being sprinkled with lightly salted peanuts and some had the same treatment, plus a slice of strawberry. All four were pretty and simple, and easy to do.

I took a photo of the outside of the cake so that you could get an idea of the texture.

I wasn’t able to get a good photo of a dissected cupcake, because they were filled with strawberry preserves, which just looks shiny against the dark brown of the chocolate cake.

Also, they were very moist, and while they didn’t crumble, they sort of smushed down a little when I sliced into it.
Pretty to look at, tasty to eat, but not very attractive after the first bite. hehe..

Anyways, here are the recipes that I used-

Chocolate Chiffon Cupcakes

2 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
7 eggs, separated and at room temperature
3/4 cup cold water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Heat oven to 350°F (180° C).

Combine 1-3/4 cups sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Add oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla; beat until smooth.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in extra-large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Gradually pour chocolate batter over beaten egg whites, folding with rubber spatula just until blended. Spoon into prepared cupcake cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly. Allow to cool completely before removing from muffin tin (or you could do like me, and use freestanding cupcake cups). Fill, frost and enjoy

Makes around 18 standard cupcakes or 36 mini cupcakes.

I filled my cupcakes with some homemade strawberry jam that I recieved for Christmas. You can use any flavour of jam you think would go well with chocolate and peanut butter. I imagine grape would be DELICIOUS, but then again, I love grape flavoured anything. hehe..

I know I said I’d take photos of how to fill a cupcake using the cone method, but really, I think the best way to do it would be linking to The Cupcake Blog, where I actually learned how to do it. She has so many tips and tricks, not to mention delicious recipes. If you want to learn more about cupcakes in general (plus cupcake porn, omg) I’d take a peek over there. (a little ways down on THIS page, she shows how to fill a cupcake through step by step photos.)

Then I got a recipe for peanut butter icing from Southern food (about.com) and I iced my cupcakes before dipping half of them in melted chocolate, drizzling a few with the chocolate and then decorating them how they are shown.

This year, I challenge every one of you to become more daring with the food you eat. That is one of my goals as well this year, and I hope to show more adventurous, less blah foods on both here and the new blog.
-A.

P.S. Come back soon for a very special post! (hint, my blog-aversary is coming up very soon!)

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 3:34 am and is filed under January 2008, The Cupcakes!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.