Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

This recipe is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, and they are amazing.

Chocolate Cupcakes
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.
Into a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with sour cream and beginning and ending with flour.

Pour batter into cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out with only a few crumbs, about 20 minutes. (Don't overbake.)

Cool in pan 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then pipe with Buttercream Icing. Decorate with chocolate shavings, if desired.

Buttercream Icing

1 cup butter, softened
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons cream
2 tsp vanilla

In a mixing bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add vanilla.
Gradually add confectioners’ sugar; beat until smooth. If too thick to spread, beat in 1 to 2 tablespoons cream.


Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add the cocoa mixture and mix well.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake cups.

Spoon batter into the cupcake cups, about 3/4 full. (This made 16 cupcakes for me, but you could fill them fuller and make 12).

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then on a wire rack until completely cool.

 Izzy loves to keep me company while I cook.



Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

Sprinkle with chocolate shavings.

Share with friends, if desired. (optional)

Icy Chocolate Cups

This is a Nestle recipe that I have had for many years. The chocolate mixture in the original recipe is poured into 12 foil muffin cups, but I found these cute miniature trifle bowls at Walmart that I wanted to try. They turned out nicely, but these trifle bowls make for a fairly large serving.


Icy Chocolate Cups

18 chocolate wafers, crushed (I used Oreos)
3 tbsp melted butter
2 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate morsels
1/2 cup half and half
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1/2 cup chopped cashews

In a small bowl, combine chocolate crumbs and butter. Set aside. Spoon 1 tbsp mixture into 12 foil-lined muffin cups; press firmly. (If you use a larger serving container like I did, use about 2 tbsp of the cookie crumb mixture). Set aside remaining cookie crumbs.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine 1 - 2/3 cups marshmallows, chocolate morsels, and half and half. Stir until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and cool completely. Fold in whipped cream, remaining 1/3 cup marshmallows, and cashews. Pour into prepared muffin cups or serving containers. Sprinkle with cashews and remaining cookie crumbs. Freeze until firm.

Melt the chocolate morsels and 1- 2/3 cups of the marshmallows with the half and half over low heat:

Beat the heavy cream until whipped:

I used a mallet to crush my chocolate cookies to keep it clean and simple, but for really fine crumbs, I recommend a food processor.

Fold whipped cream, additional marshmallows, and cashews into the chocolate mixture. (I personally did not like the additional marshmallows because they were distracting to the smoothness of the texture, but definitely add them if you are a marshmallow fan).

This recipe filled four of these trifle bowls plus three small ramekins.

Place cookie crumbs in the bottom. Fill with chocolate mixture, top with cookie crumbs and cashews, and freeze.

I got these Pepperidge Farm wafers to serve with them:

They taste like a frozen chocolate mousse. I recommend serving them after a light meal because they are more enjoyable if you're not too full.

Julia Child Brownies, Squared

My favorite brownie recipe is by Julia Child from her cookbook, Baking with Julia. They are moist, chewy, and full of intense chocolate flavor. I posted the recipe a while back and it is here. The reason I posted it again is because I tried them in a new pan. The pan on the left is one I found at Target. It is the equivalent to a regular muffin tin. I have used it for cornbread, brownies, muffins (peach), and individual meatloaves. The square shape just makes it more fun.

The pan on the right is a new one. I found it at Michaels in the Wilton section. It would be the equivalent to a mini-muffin tin and it is made of silicone.

Silicone pans are easy to use, help prevent overbaking, and can even fold for storage.


If you haven't tried a silicone pan yet, one thing you need to know is that you have to place it on top of a cookie sheet to stabilize it.

These are the brownies after I baked them. It's good to let them cool a few minutes before you try to pop them out.

Then let them finish cooling on a rack.

A sprinkle of confectioners is essential.

These are so good, and perfect for any occasion that calls for chocolate, which is every occasion.

Pretzel Candy

This is a very quick and easy candy recipe that Amby told me about. Different versions of it can be found all over Pinterest. You will need pretzels, Rolos, and M&M's.

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment. Lay out the pretzels and place a Rolo on top of each one.

Bake at 350 for 1-2 minutes. This is just to get the Rolos slightly melted. Lightly press an M&M into each one. I used peanut M&M's but you can use your favorite.

Chill until hardened. These are very tasty and really cute for a party.

Chocolate Leaves with Peanut Butter Filling

I was in the mood for chocolate the other night, which is actually nothing unusual. I have leaf-shaped Wilton silicone molds that I hadn't used in a while, so I decided to try a version of the Reese Cup shaped like a leaf. I used crunchy peanut butter because I really prefer it, but creamy would be fine.

Chocolate Leaves with Peanut Butter Filling

1-12 oz bag semisweet chocolate morsels (I recommend Ghirardelli for both)
1-12 oz bag milk chocolate morsels
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1. Melt chocolate morsels in the microwave. Check and stir at 30 second intervals until completely melted.
2. In a separate bowl, combine peanut butter, butter, confectioners sugar, and vanilla.
3. Slowly spoon or pipe a small amount of chocolate into each mold. You really only need just enough to cover the bottoms.
4. Place a small amount of peanut butter onto the chocolate. I did this with my fingers and shaped the peanut butter to spread it out inside the leaf. (To hopefully get a bite of peanut butter with each bite of chocolate!)
5. Spoon just enough chocolate over the peanut butter to cover it.
6. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Remove from molds.
Yield: about 18

Here are my molds. I got them at Walmart a couple of years ago.

Have your peanut butter mixture and melted chocolate ready:

Place a small amount of chocolate in the mold, then peanut butter, then cover with chocolate. Spread out with a spoon.


Chill until hardened, at least an hour:

Remove from molds. These molds make that part really easy.

They turned out to be oh, so yummy. I kept them in the refrigerator because I like the contrast of the crunchy chocolate with the peanut butter.

Autumn Leaf Fudge

This is a festive twist you can take on your favorite fudge recipe with the use of cookie cutters. My all time favorite is Fantasy Fudge. It is smooth, creamy, and full of chocolate goodness. It is a classic recipe and is on the back of the Kraft Marshmallow Cream jar if you should ever need it. I did a similar recipe to this for Christmas last year, which is great to do if you want to include the cookie cutter as a gift with the fudge.

Cutout Fantasy Fudge

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk
1 pkg. (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate pieces (I recommend Ghirardelli)
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, margarine and milk in heavy 2 to 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat or until candy thermometer reaches 234° F., stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.

Stir in chocolate pieces until melted. Add marshmallow creme, nuts and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour into a greased 13-by-9-inch pan. Cool at room temperature. Remove the fudge from the pan, foil included. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters.

Line a baking pan with foil and then spray it with Pam. I used a 13 x 9 pan.

Make fudge according to the recipe. Bring to a rolling boil.

Make sure your candy thermometer reads 234°.

Add remaining ingredients:

Pour out onto foil and cool. Remove fudge and foil from the pan and cut with cookie cutters.

Chill until ready to serve.

Wish there were some left. I would have a piece right now.

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies

I have loved M & M's since I was a very little girl. One night, when I was 5 years old, my parents left my brother and me with a sweet older lady named Mrs. Otts as our babysitter. She was a kind and gentle lady, but a little clueless. After we ate supper, I wanted some M & M's and I asked her for some. She said that we didn't have any. So, unbeknownst to her, I went to the phone and called the pharmacy down the street (for some reason I had the number memorized). I asked for the pharmacist, Ira West, who was a personal friend of my parents. When he answered, I told him who I was and that I would like a pack of M & M's. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and it startled poor Mrs. Otts. I explained to her that it was just my M & M's. I opened the door, and there was a delivery man from the drug store with a white bag. Inside was a pack of M & M's. On the outside was a charge slip for 5¢. The pharmacist had a great sense of humor, and, fortunately for me, so did my mom and dad. They laughed so much about it when they got home that they couldn't get mad at me.

I also have always loved M & M cookies. I decided to make them even better with a double chocolate cookie dough base. They turned out to be amazingly good.

Double Chocolate M & M Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels, melted
1 cup plain M & M's
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 375°.
Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and melted chocolate.
Beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Mix well and add dry ingredients.
Stir in M&M’S and pecans. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Press several additional M & M’S into each cookie. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown

Beat sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla together:

Combine flour soda, salt, and cocoa and add to the butter mixture:

Add melted chocolate and stir in M & M's and pecans:

Drop by rounded teasponfulls onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet:

Bake for 9-11 minutes at 375°.

The cigar box post is featured here.

Don't you wish that 5¢ would still buy you a pack of M & M's ?