Almost five years ago now my fabulous momma went through a bit of an ordeal, and at the end of the day she became a diabetic. It was a bit to adjust for her because our family is known for their sweet tooth's courtesy of Nanny Midge. I've made many diabetic recipes from the Splenda website, but they are all kinda the same so I sometimes switch them up and just create my own thing, as I don't want mom to miss out. I think Mom likes this, however they are sometimes just a one time thing! This however I made notes of, as it was yummy and light, and even a non-diabetic would enjoy it. Enjoy

Vicci's Special Peanut Butter Tart

Ingredients
8 frozen tart shells
1/2 large container of cool whip (light), room temp
1/2 - 3/4 C Adams All Natural Peanut Butter
1 sugar free chocolate bar or eaqual parts unsweetened chocolate w/sugar free chocolate bar
2 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:

1. Cook tart shells per instuctrion on box, let cool.
2. Melt chocolate over double boiler, add cream, should be thickish.
3. Spread chocolate over bottom of cooled tart shells, to make thick layer.
4. In electric mixer, mix cool whip and peanut butter until fluffy. 
5. Place peanut butter mixture into piping bag, pipe into tart shells. 
6. place in fridge until ready to eat. 

One of my cousin-in-law's mothers raises chickens, and sells them as a whole roasting chicken. They are massive, I would say between 6-9lbs, and have delicious meat on them, and they are ten times better than any chicken you can buy in a store. Mom had one in her freezer so I stole it to make us a roasted chicken dinner last Sunday. Dinner included a chicken, roasted vegetables, bean casserole and home made Nanny Buns, which will be posted later in the week. To finish dinner off I made mom a bit of a creation that was diabetic friendly and tasted like a Purdy's peanut butter bar. With birds we cook in our family, turkeys, or chickens we usually start referring to it as "him" through out the cooking process... just another quirky, Midgley trait!

First thing in the morning I took the chicken and cleaned it and prepped it for dinner. The most repulsive thing I have ever done in my life is pull the liver and neck out of a chicken, yes this might make me a city girl, but I literally almost gagged. SO GROSS. Once I got passed the grossness and placed a call to mom to tell her about how repulsed I was, I moved on and started seasoning the bird. I put some season pepper, coarse salt, poultry seasoning, roasted dried garlic and sliced lemon on the bird, I even put some lemon IN the bird, and covered it and placed it in the fridge until it was time to stuff him and cook him. You cannot pre-stuff the bird as the chicken can sometimes ruin the stuffing if it sits in there for too long, you are way better off to stuff the chicken then shove him directly in the oven. I let the chicken sit in the fridge for a good 4-5 hours seasoning before I cooked it, and during that time, I made buns, went grocery shopping and made the tasty Peanut Butter Tarts.

For the stuffing I purchased one of those frozen sacks and then I added some toasted coarsely chopped pecans, 4 slices of bacon and some stove top, as well as a few dashes of poultry seasoning. I shoved it in a stuffing back, shoved it in the bird, put the leftovers in a casserole dish and called it stuffing! 

For the veggies, I used parsnips, carrots, new potatoes, shallots (as I couldn't get pearl onions) and some garlic. I cut these all up in hunks, toasted them in some coarse salt, pepper and oil and placed them all around the bird once he was stuffed and ready to roast. 

The chicken, since it was so big, took just over 2.5 hours to cook at 350, and the chicken/veggies were perfect.  

For the bean casserole, I used frozen french cut beans (bad I know... but it's what I had on hand), mixed with some low-sodium cream of mushroom soup, lea-n-parins, and on top some frenchies fried onions. I baked it for the last 25-30 minutes that the bird was roasting.  

Mom and I made some gravy, which we used the pan drippings from mixed with a packaged mix to make it a bit thicker, it worked super well and was so tasty, it required some very good straining! 

Dinner is served! 

You have to wait for tomorrow for the diabetic dessert, sorry Joan, there just isn't enough room on this post! 

Sorry for the delay in getting my weekend blog posts up, but yesterday was a very special day in our house, it was our first anniversary and my very fabulous husband made the ultimate date day for us. On Friday night it was the best mom in the whole wide worlds birthday, so we had a bit of a busy weekend.

Today's post is more about food, not cooking or baking that I've done.

On Friday night we tried somewhere we hadn't been before but had heard amazing things about, and my fellow blogger Lyndsay Molcan along with my girl friend Lisa, told us we HAD to try Bin 4. It was amazing, it is a gourmet burger joint on the corner of Yates and Vancouver downtown Victoria. The wait was 45 minutes to get in, and worth every second. We started out with a delicious goat cheese bruschetta that came with mad toppings on 4 pieces of perfectly toasted baguette with a deep fried ball of goat cheese. For my main I had the wild mushroom burger that was to die for. It's a hearty piece of Angus beef, with wild mushrooms, garlic, cream, truffle oil, parmigiano, and baby arugula (tomato too, but I took mine off), with hand cut fries and the best panko crusted onion rings in the world. I also had a grapefruit mojito (clearly the diet was out the window) that was delicious and a nice twist on the standard mojito. The rest of the family had different burgers but everyone enjoyed it just as much as I did and we will definitely go there again. Since they knew it was mom's birthday they gave her a piece of flourless chocolate cake, which she couldn't eat, but Chris and Dad helped her out and loved it, as it was served with delicious praline almonds all ground up and caramel sauce on the plate. We all left happy and uncomfortably full!

Yesterday for our anniversary, my man took me out for the ultimate date day which included doing our favorite pass time, eating of course. We started out the day at Dish in Sidney, near Sleggs, which serves delicious diner style breakfast that would make Guy Fieri proud. We then headed into town and took the dogs for a walk (we had Baxter too) at beacon hill park, where we enjoyed the delicious ice cream from the drive in. We came home and had a little rest and got ready to go for a late appie style lunch to my favorite place, Brentwood Bay lodge, where we shared Tuna Tataki, Sushi and some edamame beans, then we were off to see The Artist, which is an incredible movie, honestly I was feeling a bit skeptical about it, but seriously you don't even notice there are is no dialogue. After the movie we came home and got gussied up and went to Haro's in Sidney, my fabulous hubby had reserved a seat overlooking the ocean and we had an amazing meal, I highly recommend this place if you are looking for something a little fancier then say the Keg, but not as fancy as say the Deep Cove Chalet. All in all it was the perfect day, because i got to spend it with my husband, and it's true what they say, each year you fall more in love (awww....). Thanks hunny for the best day ever.

Some pictures to reminisce on our wedding day!

The Palm Springs Gang!

All you need is L O V E

Right after the ceremony, Mr. & Mrs. Root

The delicious cake, YUM 

My favorite picture from our photog.

Tomorrow a new blog post will be up including a diabetic dessert that I made for mom last weekend, that went along with a delicious roasted turkey dinner.

Have a great Sunday evening, we are having chicken and salad as pretty sure i ate my weight yesterday, but I enjoyed it!

These are a few of my favorite pictures from our wedding last year.

It was my girlfriend Lisa's birthday on March 13th and for her gift I made her some Red Velvet Cupcakes. Now, the only time I've ever had Red Velvet cake was in December 2010, when Chris and I went cake tasting for our wedding to the Pastry Swan in Palm Desert, so that was a tiny taste, but I remember liking them. I never knew what the fuss was about them, but now I do! My god they are light with just a hint of chocolate and then the cream cheese icing, WOWZA is all I have to say. When I set out to make them, I have to admit I was shocked that there was vinegar in them, and I honestly don't know what that does, but they were so fluffy that I think that has something to do with it. These could easily be one of my new favorite types of cake.

Cupcake Ingredients
Yields 24 (I only made half a batch)

2 1/2 C cake flour (not self-rising)
2 tbsp unsweetened dutch-processed cocoa powder (I sifted mine)
Note: I had to Google this ingredient, and it turns out dutch cocoa is what it's called in the states, in Canada Fry's cocoa powder is what we have.
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C Sugar
1 1/2 C vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temp
1/2 tsp red gel food colouring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1C buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp distilled white vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^o F, and line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt, set aside.
3. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil, until well mixed. Add eggs one at a time until each is incorporated. Mix in food colouring and vanilla.
4. Reduce speed to low, add flour mix alternating with buttermilk, until all is well incorporated. 
5. In small bowl, sitr together, baking soda and vinegar (it will foam), add to batter and mix for 10 seconds on medium speed.
6. Divide batter evenly among tins, about 3/4 full.
7. Bake rotating pans half way through for a total of 20 minutes. 

NOTE: Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temp, or frozen up to 2 months

Cream Cheese Icing
Makes 4 Cups

1 C unsalted butter, room temp

12 oz cream cheese, room temp

4 C confectioner's sugar, sifted

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. with electric mixer on medium-high beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. 
2. Reduce speed to low, adding sugar 1/2 C at a time, then add vanilla until smooth and combined. 
3. Spread onto cupcakes, or pipe. 

Cupcake #3, Brown Sugar Pound Cakes

Cupcake #3 from Martha's cupcake book is the best yet, Brown Sugar Pound Cakes.

It is a delicious dense cake made with brown sugar and a soft glaze/icing made with brown butter, which is one of my new favorite techniques, but I'll tell you more about that later! These are the perfect cupcakes to serve at your next tea party. Yes I realize that I am young and having a tea party seems odd, but why not bring it back, old school style, even wearing the funny "English wedding hats." Actually scratch that, these would go great for any girls night, and wine... Girls you interested? I will be hosting a shower in June and these are for sure going to make it onto the cupcake stand, I'm just going to third the recipe.

Quickly to tell you about the brown butter, you simply stick it in a sauce pan over medium-high heat and wait for it to become golden and fragrant. We've used it over pasta with a lemon and garlic sauce, and now we've used it in icing, the possibilities are clearly endless with  this delicious way to turn ordinary butter into something spectacular. Would be amazing over asparagus come to think of it! YUM! 

Cupcakes
Yields 28

3C sifted all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1C unsalted, room temp, butter

2 1/4 C packed ligh-brown sugar

3/4 C buttermilk 

Directions: 

1. Preheat over to 325^o F, and prep muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
3. On medium-high speed of electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated
4. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk, until well incorporated. 
5. Divided butter evenly among lined tins, filling 3/4 full. 
6. Bake rotating tins half way through for about 25 minutes total. Cool 10 minutes and ice. 

NOTE: Can be stored 3 days at room temp or up to 3 months in the freezer. 

Brown Butter Icing

Makes 1 C

1/2 C unsalted butter

2 C sifted confectioner sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk, plus more if needed

Directions: 

1. Melt butter in small sauce pan over medium-high heat, swirling pan occasional, until nut-brown in colour, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into bowl, leave behind any burned sediment.
2. Add remaining ingredients to brown butter, stirring until smooth, if require more milk, eyeball it until is smooth. 
3. Use immediately, you can either dip the cupcakes into it, or spread, depending on consistency, I spread, to get more icing! 

Dinner for the week!

This week, we have a busy week so I've made a PIP (Plan in Place) for all of our meals and laid them out on our white board in the kitchen. I know that seems kind of Type A personality, but it works for us, plus it gives me the opportunity to write out my entire shopping list for the week, which in the end saves us money. We also go on Sunday's to Red Barn Market on West Saanich Road to pick up our veg as it is also a better way to purchase, and they have some more local options and things you can't necessarily find at Thrifty's or Safeway. Also we typically head to Glen Wood Meats to get our meat, but today Chris had to run up the cabin at Shawnigan to make sure that awful wind storm didn't do any damage last week, so he just popped in for us and grabbed what we needed. He sent me a text from the cabin and it looked gorgeous and made me really look forward to summer and BBQs on the deck and endless afternoons laying on the dock with a good book, and wine spritzer!

This is our week night meals for the week:

Monday: Weight Watchers Pork and Black Bean Chili (told ya it was going into rotation)
I picked this for Monday as it's super easy to take for lunch for the week too. 

Tuesday: Portebello Mushroom Flat Bread Pizza's w/Goat Cheese, Spinach and Pepper
I'm going to a GFs for a gab session, so this will be quick to throw together a bit later, and Chris can start  without me!

Wednesday: Turkey & Rice stuffed Peppers (inspired by my momma)
Chris has a WILROC meeting, so this will be something easy to make before the meeting.

Thursday: Flank Steak Salad with Zucchini Ribbon's and Corn (WW Point Plus 6)
 This will be a first time for this meal, so I'll be sure to take some pictures and give you the recipe

Friday: It's the momma's bday so we will probably go out or do a special meal, her choice!

We hope you all had a great weekend and a have a great Sunday night and week ahead!
If you want any of the recipes for these let me know and I'd be happy to pass them on, or request and I will ensure that they make it onto the Blog.

Something Different!

Chris and I are always looking for new things to add to our weeknight rotation, you know the foods you go to when you don't know what else to have for dinner. In our house our go to's are some kind of Mexican wrap, like a fajita or taco, spaghetti, flat bread pizza, turkey burgers, chicken souvlaki, etc... so last Sunday we thought we'd try to bring something we’d never had before into rotation. On Sunday morning we laid in bed watching Eat St. which is a fabulous show about food trucks throughout North America, which in my opinion is the best invention since The Magic Bullet (the food blender, DUH). One of the food trucks that they went and visited was Liba Falafel on the streets of San Francisco. This truck featured delicious looking vegetarian food with a bunch of sauce options to add to them. Neither of us had tried Falafel but just that week my girlfriend Laura had shared with me a recipe for these and a yummy dressing she had out last time we were at her house for dinner. So off the grocery store we went to buy the ingredients. In my opinion these were good, but not a new favorite, however it was a texture thing for me, and Chris really liked them. We ate them in pita pocket with lettuce, tomato, onion and feta cheese and made a quick salad to go with it. Next time I make them I am going to make the balls way smaller, coat them in Panko and fry them up to give them a crunch on the outside. If you are looking for something different to try and are wanting a good vegetarian option then these are for you! Thanks to Laura for sharing the recipe and letting me share it with my followers. The Lemon Tahini dressing is AMAZING, and goes good on any kind of salad.  

Happy eating! 

Falafel  - Yields about 22 balls

2 1/2 C cooked chickpeas (if you buy the can drain and rinse them)

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped 

1 egg 

1/4 C tahini 

3/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp ground cumin 

1/4 tsp tumeric powder 

2 tbsp parsley chopped 

2 tbsp green onions chopped 

Preheat oven to 375 F 

In food processor (or magic bullet) combine chickpeas, garlic, egg, tahini, salt, cumin and turmeric, and puree until smooth.

Transfer mix into bowl and add in parsley and green onion, mixing well.

Roll into 1 1/2" balls and place onto lightly oiled cookie sheet. 

Bake for about 10 minutes. 

Lemon Tahini Dressing

2/3 C 1% milk or unsweetened soy milk

5 tbsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Place everything in magic bullet and blend until smooth.

Random thought: If you do not have a magic bullet, I highly recommend purchasing one, they are awesome for making salad dressings, crushing nuts and for smoothies in the morning.

Do you ever get tired of turning your old bananas into boring old banana bread? Here is a great alternative from Martha Stewart, with some of the best, though labor intensive, icing I've ever had. The boys at Scott Plastic got these little gems for their Tuesday morning meeting, and apparently one person ate 5 of them! They are extremely moist and again the icing is phenomenal! 

Banana-Pecan Cupcakes 

3 C sifted cake flour (not self rising)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

4 very ripe, large bananas

3/4 C buttermilk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 C unsalted butter (room temp)

1 /12 C, packed light-brown sugar

3 large eggs (room temp)

1 C pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped 

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F, line standard muffin tin with paper liners. 
2. Whisk together, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. 
3. In separate bowl, whisk together bananas, buttermilk and vanilla.
4. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. 
5. Add eggs, on at a time beating until each is incorporated, reduce speed to low add flour mixture, alternating with banana mixture. 
6. Stir in pecans by hand. 
7. Divide batter into lined cups, filling 3/4 full. 
8. Bake 20 minutes, rotating tins at the half way mark. 

NOTES: 

• To toast pecans, at 350 degrees, lay out flat on cookie sheet, bake for approx. 15 minutes or until fragrant
• If you do not have cake flour you can use 1/4 C + 2 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 3/4 C of all purpose flour
• These cupcakes can be frozen for up to 3 months

Caramel Buttercream

1 C plus 2 tbsp sugar

1/4 C water

1/4 C heavy cream

1 1/2 C unsalted butter (room temp)

4 Large egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Making the caramel:
   Combine 1/2 C plus 2 tbsp sugar and water in a heavy sauce pan, heat over medium heat, stirring occasional, until sugar is dissolved and syrup is clear. Stop stirring and cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides with a wet pastry brush or spatula. Continue to boil, gently swirling pan occasionally to color evenly, until mix is a dark amber. Remove from head, add cream in a steady stream, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth and combined, let cool. 
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter until pale and fluffy. 
3. In a heat proof bowl of a standing electric mixer, combine remaining 1/2 C sugar and the egg whites, set bowl over a simmering pan of water, and whisk constantly until sugar has disolved and mix is warm to the touch. 
4. Attach bowl to stand mixer, fitted with whisk attachment, and starting on low speed, mix egg whites until soft peaks form, you will have to gradually up the speed. Continue mixing until egg mixture is glossy and completely cool, about 10 minutes. 
5. Reduce speed to medium-low and add beaten butter, 1/4 C at a time, mix in vanilla.
6. Switch to paddle attachment and slowly pour in caramel, beat 5 minutes.
7. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes. 

NOTES: 

• You an freeze left over icing for up to 3 months, if doing this, defrost until at room temp and give it a quick beat before using. 

Clearly I need to work on my icing skills!  

Mom gave me a hunk of pork the other night from her freezer, I would normally make slow cooker pulled pork, but I am trying to a good eater so went to my weight watchers cook book to look for something inspiring. Chris and I both love Chili and there was a pork and black bean chili recipe. It is amazing and per 1 cup of chili, with 1 tbsp of cheddar and 1tbsp of sour cream it was only 6 points plus! It was also SUPER filling, even if you aren't a weight watcher, this is way to enjoy a high fiber, veggie filled, dinner/lunch. If you are looking for a good way to buy the pork, Costco sells it in a rather large log, and you can usually get 3-4 meals out of it, and the best part, it's only about $20. Also while you're at Costco grab your cheese, it's the best deal around.

Weight Watchers, Pork and Black Bean Chili

1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 pound pork tenderloin (trimmed and cut into 1/2" chunks)
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 C of low-sodium chicken broth
1 can chopped mild green chilies
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
 NOTE: I used Mexican chili powder and I free pour until I achieve the taste I want, approx. 2 tbsp
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes
 NOTE: it did not call for tomatoes, but chili isn't chili without tomatoes! 
1/4C shredded reduced-fat cheddar
1/4C fat-free sour cream

1. Spray large nonstick saucepan with non-stick spray, and set over medium heat. 
2. Add onions, bell pepper, and garlic, cook stirring until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. 
3. Add pork and cook until lightly brown, about 3 minutes. 
4. Stir in, beans, broth, can of tomatoes, chilies, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to the pork mixture, bring to a boil. 
5. Reduce heat and simmer stirring occasionally, until pork is tender and flavors are well blended, about 10 minutes. 
6. Place chili into bowls for serving and top with cheddar and sour cream. 

If you have a man like mine, he may also like some Frito chips served on top for an added crunch. 

Two new dinner recipes were tried at the Root household this week, and they are both going to be added to the list of ideas for dinner! My Nanny (Anne) taught me how to make won ton soup last year but I couldn't find my recipe so I did it partly from memory and then used another recipe for guidelines, and this is what I came up with. I also am a Weight Watcher, and proud of it so this week we tried the Pork and Black Bean Chili (6 point plus) and it was delicious as well, actually it is my new favorite chili, so watch for that post later today or tomorrow, however I forgot to take a picture so you'll have to use your imagination on that one.

The won ton soup was amazing, and very simple to make, the only thing that took forever was putting the meat into the wrappers, but we did it in two stages, so that we could eat dinner at a reasonable hour. My sous chef, Chris, was an excellent wrapper, and while I cleaned up dinner he did the remaining wrapping. The ones that we didn't use that night, we have placed in freezer bags (flatly) and put in the freezer to have at a later date, and also some for my mom and dad, and someone pouts if they don't get to try our creations...*cough* mom*cough*!

Ingredients:

Won Tons
7 oz shrimp
14 oz ground pork
1 package frozen won ton wrappers
1/2 egg white
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tsp of sesame oil (note: I really like sesame oil, so used probably 1tbsp)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp  splenda
(note: I use splenda a lot as we need to have diabetic friendly recipes, but feel free to use sugar)
1 tsp white pepper

Broth
1 tetra pack of reduce-sodium chicken stock (or something similar) + equal amount of water
1 tsp of white pepper
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of salt
bok choy to taste
green onion to taste

Directions:

1. Finely chop shrimp and place in large bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix by hand.
2. Lay out wont ton wrappers.
3. Add approx. 1 tsp of meat filling to the centre of the won ton wrappers.
   NOTE: to fold wrappers, have a bowl of lukewarm water ready and fold wrappers in half then take the corners and fold into the top of the wrapper to make a ravioli looking fold.
4. Once you have your won tons ready, in a large pot on the stove bring to boil the chicken stock, water, white pepper, sesame oil and salt.
5. Once boiling add prepared won tons and cook until they float, just before they are all floating add in your bok choy and green onions. 
6. Now they are ready to eat... so enjoy

As previously mentioned my first attempt at these cupcakes were an epic fail, the second attempt went really well and the final product made it to the Keg for Bailee's birthday, all boxed up nicely, and I assuming several of them have made their way to her tummy. I used the world famous Magnolia Bakery's icing to top these delicious cupcakes as I thought the creaminess of the icing would compliment the dense cupcake, I would almost call it a Cupnie (Cupcake + Brownie). 

Tonight Chris and I made won ton soup for dinner with some stir-fry on the side. I will tell you how to make the Won Ton's tomorrow or something, because they were amaze-balls and surprisingly easy to make, Nanny taught me how to make them awhile ago, but I forgot how simple it is! 

Anyways without further ado, here are the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupnie's!
Good Night xo

Martha's Peanut Butter - Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

with Magnolia Bakery Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Yield 12

Chocolate Cupcake

3/4 C AP Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 C unsalted butter cut into small pieces

4 oz semisweet chocolate coarsely chopped

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

3/4 C granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Filing

4 tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

1/2 C confectioners sugar, sifted <-- I didn't sift it

3/4 C smooth peanut butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat Oven to 325 degrees F, line a standard muffin tin with paper liners. 
2. Whisk together AP flour, baking power and salt, set aside.
3. Over double boiler, add butter and chocolate, stir until melted, remove from heat and let cool slightly.
4. Whisk granulated sugar into cooled chocolate mix, adding eggs and vanilla, whisking until mixture is smooth. 
5. Add to flower mixture, string until well incorporated. 
6. Spoon 2"ish" tbsp (remember, I swear our muffin tins are smaller in Canada) into prepped muffin tins. Keep a small amount of batter set aside to put on top of the peanut butter filing. In each tin with chocolate batter, make a small well, for the Peanut Butter filing to go. 
7. Mix all of the Peanut Butter Filing ingredients together, until smooth. 
8. Place 1"ish" tsp of Peanut Butter filing into each chocolate batter well. 
9. Place a tiny bit of chocolate batter onto Peanut Butter, and with a tooth pick, swirl in to Peanut Butter, tins should be about 3/4s full, or else they will overfill and make a mess.
10. Bake for 40 minutes, rotating tin half way through. Done when toothpick comes out clean.
11. Cool

Magnolia Bakery Chocolate Buttercream Icing

1 1/2 C unsalted butter, softened

2 tbsp milk

9 oz semisweet chocolate (melted & cooled to lukewarm)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 C confectioners' sugar

1. On medium speed on an electric mixer, beat butter until cream (3 minutes). 
2. Add the milk and beat until smooth.
3. Add melted chocolate (note: melt chocolate using double boiler), beat approx. 2 minutes.
4. Add vanilla and beat approx. 3 minutes.
5. Slowly add sugar until creamy and the desired consistency. 
6. Pipe/Spread/Dip cooled cupcakes into icing and now for the best part... ENJOY

For an extra little thing for Bailee I place a mini Peanut Butter cup on each cupcake, but I forgot to take a picture of that... Oops, this whole blogging thing will get easier when I remember to take the pictures! 

Happy 29th Birthday Bailee Ann! 

The start...


I decided for my cousin Bailee's birthday I would make her cupcakes as a gift rather than getting her the standard bouquet of flowers that I usually end up taking to the Keg for our yearly dinner. I thought about her love for chocolate and how at her wedding she had a peanut butter chocolate cake, granted I don't remember much other than devouring it, in a drunken state, but decided that this would be a good starting point as to what I would make. Problem was, the only baking related cook book I have is Magnolia Bakery's and they didn't have a Peanut Butter Cupcake recipe, so Chris and I (along with Graham, his little cousin) set off to Tanners, where I purchased my first Martha Stewart cook book "Cupcakes." The front page of this cook book is a beautiful chocolate cupcake with thick chocolate icing so I knew I had met my match. After purchasing the cookbook along with one on Greek cooking, we set off to Chris' aunt's house where we sat and looked through the cookbook, page by page. Rather cheekily, Chris' Uncle Ken said "You should blog, Julie and Julie style as you make your way through the recipes," an odd comment at the time, but here I am, posting my first blog post after making my first Martha cupcakes for Bailee's birthday.

The first attempt at the cupcakes would be, as you say, an EPIC fail. I made them last night and the peanut butter melted out of the cupcakes and all over the bottom of my oven. I am convinced that cupcake tins in the states are bigger than our's here in Canada, as the Yield 12 made way more batter than could fill up my tins, which caused the mess, but in true Danielle fashion I crammed all the batter in the tins (live and learn right...). This morning I tried again and the cupcakes are delicious and so pretty. I will give you the recipe and photos of them at some point this week. I just really wanted to get my first blog post up before the weekend came to an end. So with that, I present to you my very randomly started blog about Chris and I's creations in the kitchen, all started by a random comment about starting a blog... and don't worry it will weekly feature a Martha cupcake creation, sadly for me they don't fit the Weight Watcher lifestyle, so the boys in the Scott Plastic's tool room, get ready for treats! 

Good night xo