One thing I love doing when travelling in foreign countries to my own is venturing through supermarkets to see the types of foods that are common to the locals. It’s always interesting to see what they’re loving in place of our Vegemite, Tim Tams, Lamingtons and even our beloved Arnotts Tiny Teddy’s biscuits.
One of the best things about being in the States was the discovery of the delicious Reese peanut butter cups, which actually wouldn’t have happened without the help of two uber awesome Canadians I met in Chicago.
They’re so super duper they even sent me a package filled with typical Canadian / American treats after I’d returned to Oz – did I mention they were awesome? 😀
I’ll be featuring some more of the goodies they sent me in a later post (plus the hilarious post card that came with it – looking at you Z :P) but for now, we really must focus on the star of their delicious package and basically my entire chocolate stash, Sir Reese. And yes, he totally warrants a Sir.
Peanut butter cups, where have you been all my life?!
Thankfully they actually sell them in some supermarkets here – I managed to score a whole carton full of mini peanut butter cups at our Costco. That day was a really beautiful day.
Anyway, I decided to finally feature them in some baked goods and made these chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, topping them with Sir Reeses. The cupcake was fluffy and moist, and because I’d used Hershey’s non-sweetened cocoa powder, they were not overly sweet so when paired with the peanut butter frosting, it worked perfectly.
Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe taken from A cup of Mascarpone
The recipe below is for approx. 30 cupcakes, however I halved the recipe and got about 12 cupcakes
– Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla
– Beat on medium speed of hand mixer for 2 minutes
– Stir in hot coffee (batter will be thin)
– Bake 22 – 25 minutes or until the centre springs back when touched.
– Place on wire racks and remove from the pans as soon as they’re able to be touched without burning yourself.
– Cool completely on wire racks before frosting
1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter
1 tspn of vanilla
1 1/2 tblspn of milk (as required)
1 1/2 cups of icing sugar, sifted
– Add in the vanilla and mix to combine
– Sift in the icing sugar gradually and beat to combine
– Add in the milk until the desired consistency is reached
– Frost your chocolate cupcake babies up!
I also thought I’d include a sneak preview into one of the other super awesome (I really need to find more adjectives for that word) deliciousness they included in the package. I really, really, really cannot wait to use this in a recipe – I just need to find the perfect one. Oh, and I also need to work up the courage to actually take it out of the cute packaging… or not. No, I really need to. Not doing so is just cruel to… myself.
My new found Canadian pals, you guys are awesome (there’s that word again)! Chicago was so much fun with you two – a lot of silly conversations filled with too much laughing; from the Cats in a Blender, to the photo shoot in the sky, to the 2am ramen, those fun times will be cherished forever 😀
The Bubbly Baker 