Salted chocolate peanut butter cups!

Woah. Peanut butter and chocolate is quite possibly my favorite duo. It's as if when you combine the two a new flavor is created. It's not quite chocolate, but it's not quite peanut butter...

Brilliant, I know. But seriously. Winning combo. And as Friend Lanie will tell you, I love my sprinkle of salt. It's like a little kick that brings out the flavors even more. WOOHOOOO

Makes ~18 cups

For the peanut butter cups:

1 cup salted peanut butter
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
sea salt, for dusting
cupcake liners

In a small bowl, combine the confectioner's sugar and peanut butter until smooth. Using teaspoon-sized measurements, roll the peanut butter mixture into balls, then push down to form small coin-like circles. Set aside.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, mixing in between each blast (this will prevent the chocolate from overheating and burning). While the chocolate is heating, set up the cupcake liners on a cutting board or other flat surface. Once melted, spoon teaspoon-sized dollops of chocolate into the cupcake liners. Next, set in the peanut butter coins from earlier. Spoon another dollop of melted chocolate over the peanut butter, creating swirls with a spoon to smooth out the chocolate. Finally, sprinkle the tops of each cup with a pinch of sea salt. Transfer the cups to a fridge or freezer, allowing to cool thoroughly before eating. Nom nom nom.

Brownies with espresso cream cheese frosting, crushed oreos, and sea salt

I die. Who's the culprit? 

exhibit A: the sea salt top. Could it be the ones so carefully sprinkled over the brownie? The saline biting my palate with saltiness? Or could it be.....

exhibit B: the crumbly oreos. They're definitely suspect. Come on, now. Cookies on top of a brownie? That's awfully dangerous. But perhaps it was.....

exhibit C: the cream cheese espresso frosting. And with the espresso powder perfectly accentuating the chocolate flavors above and below its creamy layer? It's killer. Or is it.....

exhibit D: the ooey brownie goodness. Now I turn to our last, and possibly most dangerous, of our suspects. You all know I'm a huge fan of brownies. This is, like, a top 5 favorite food type-of-deal. This recipe comes from Alton Brown and I've got to say, they're pretty rad. Definitely not as ooey as my plumb good brownies, but still great in all their moist cakeyness.

Who knows what put me 6 feet under. With such plausible subjects, maybe it was a group homicide.

Morbid, I know, but these brownies kill me. They're that good.

Makes 18 brownies

For the brownies:

1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
11/4 cups cocoa, sifted
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs
8 ounces melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon iodized salt
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee powder

For everything else:

6 oreo cookies, crushed
Espresso powder, for dusting
Sea salt, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Grease a 9 1/2" x 11" pan.

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

While the brownies are cooking, prepare the frosting. In a medium bowl, use a spatula to combine all ingredients for the frosting together. Once roughly combined, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the frosting until smooth, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

Once the brownies are cool, remove them from their pan and place on a cutting board, face up. Cut the width into sixths and the length into thirds. Keep brownies together so it is easy to spread frosting. Spoon the frosting out onto the brownies and spread evenly, coating out to the edges.

Sprinkle crushed oreos over the frosting, again coating evenly. Then, dust more instant coffee powder over the top. Finally, sprinkle a good amount of sea salt over the entire thing. Carefully pull apart and enjoy!

Salted cayenne peanut brittle!

Sometimes I get really bored. And I make three (yeah.....) batches of peanut brittle. And I experiment. With cayenne pepper. Why? Well, I figure sweet and salty is a fabulous combination, adding another flavor layer can only make it more awesome. You don't taste the cayenne until after you chew for a bit, then it goes boom. It's like a flavor party in your mouth. Great stuff. The spicy is calmed by the sweetness of the sugar, so then you take another bite, and before you know it the peanut brittle that was supposed to be sent down to Georgia for best friend Rose is gone. Hence the need for multiple batches :)

Makes: a lot of peanut brittle

2 cups dry salted peanuts

2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup water
Candy thermometer

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly coat with cooking spray; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, water, corn syrup, honey, cayenne pepper, and salt. Bring to a rapid simmer over medium-high and cook until deep golden and the thermometer measures 305°F, right above the Hard Crack line (this should take 20 to 25 minutes, but judge solely on temperature and NOT time). Remove pan from heat. Stir in butter, baking soda, and peanuts (mixture will foam). Stir until mixture is no longer bubbling and caramel is smooth, 1 minute.

hot stuff

Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and spread with a lightly greased spatula. Let cool until firm, 15 minutes. Break into pieces. The brittle can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks. But let's be real it will only last 3 hours.

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.

Salted chocolate caramels

Ohmuhgah look the fudge looks like it has snowflakes on top of it. SoOo cute!

Great. Let's get down to buisiness. I'm a huge fan of fudge. And soft caramels. And things that are slightly salted (if you haven't ever done this, try putting sea salt on your fruit next time. Just a pinch. I promise you won't be disappointed). So. Salted caramel fudge is like my new favorite thing. And unlike plain fudge, this isn't so sickly sweet that you can only indulge in one bite. This is like a brownie-sized dessert (YUSS!). So get your candy thermometers out, turn up the burners, and start cookin'!


For the fudge:

10 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon regular, iodized salt
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Candy thermometer

Line a 8"x8" baking dish with parchment paper (make sure to line the sides!). Set aside.

In a large saucepan on high heat, bring the cream to a slight boil. Then add the chocolate, stirring until it melts. Turn heat to low and stir until mixture thickens. Turn off heat, set aside.

In another large saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt to a boil. Keep at a boil, swirling occasionally, until sugar turns dark brown, about 10 minutes.

Next, insert a candy thermometer into pan. Pour in the chocolate mixture. Continue to boil for about 15 minutes, until the thermometer registers 255°F. It must reach this heat before being taken out, or your candies will come out fudge-y and not caramel-y. Add the butter, stirring until melted. Immediately pour into the glass baking dish. Let the caramel cool for 10 minutes, then sprinkle on salt. Cool in refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Cut and serve. Nom nom nom.

Recipe from Epicurious!