Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Filling

My Mom's birthday was this last week and instead of making a birthday cake or cupcakes, I wanted to do something different. Since her favorite two flavors are chocolate and peanut butter, I had no doubt that these chocolate whoopie pies with peanut butter filling would be a perfectly acceptable birthday treat. I decided to kick it up a notch by rolling the whoopies in Mom's favorite candy, roughly chopped Reese's cups.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Filling

Whoopie Pies from pieceofcakeblog.blogspot.com

Peanut Butter Filling from bakedbree.com

For the whoopie pies:

2 C. all-purpose flour

1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 C. light brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder

1 egg, large

1 C. buttermilk, well-shaken

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl or a bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and espresso powder until well blended and fluffy, around 2 minutes. Add egg and continue beating. Decrease the speed of the mixer to low and add buttermilk. (At this time, the mixture will look curdled and a bit gross, but it will look fine once the dry ingredients are incorporated.)

While the mixer is still on low, add the dry ingredients and then increase the speed and beat until the batter is combined and smooth.

Drop the batter onto the prepared baking sheets by an ice cream scoop or medium sized spoon, leaving 1 inch or so in between each drop. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let them cool on the pan for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

For the filling:

2 sticks butter, softened

1 C. creamy peanut butter

1 C. marshmallow cream

2 C. powdered sugar

2 T. milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and peanut butter, until light and fluffy. Add the marshmallow creme and then the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add the milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.

Mint Oreo Cupcakes

Mint Oreos pretty much rock. First of all, they are double stuffed, which is pretty awesome. Second, the minty cream filling is a really cool green color. After my first bite, I was pretty much addicted, so thank goodness I already had a plan for these delicious minty treats.

I made these for my friend who's crazy about all things mint & chocolate. Check out these cupcakes that I made for his birthday this past year. These Mint Oreo Cupcakes went over very well.

Just a few notes. First, I roughly chopped up some cookies and added them to the batter so there were nice chucks of Oreos inside the cupcakes. You can't see them because I got trigger happy with my camera and forgot to take pictures of the inside of a cupcake. But believe me, they are there, and they are wonderful. Also, I went with 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract in my buttercream, which I think was perfect, but you can always add more. However, start out with 1/4 teaspoon first. Remember, you can always add more, but you can't take it away.


Mint Oreo Cupcakes

1 Box Devil's Food Cake Mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 Box Mint Oreos

Line muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside. Mix cake mix according to directions on the back of the box. Roughly chop about 18-20 of the mint Oreos and set aside. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and then place 3-4 of the Oreo chunks into each cupcake. Bake according to directions on the back of the box.

For the buttercream:
2 sticks butter, unsalted & softened
5 C. powdered sugar
2-3 T. milk
1/2 tsp. mint extract
2-4 drops of green food coloring
3-4 T. finely crushed mint Oreos


Beat butter until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar and milk. Beat until combined. Add extract and combine. Add desired about of food coloring and then mix until well incorporated. Stir in the finely crushed Oreos. Frost cooled cupcakes. Garnish with mini Oreos if desired.

Mojito Watermelon

Here's something a little bit different than your average watermelon.

At the beginning of every summer I go crazy with watermelon. I buy several and eat and eat and eat. I love it. So when I had an overload of watermelon in my fridge, I thought I should find some different ways to serve it.

While this mojito version is good with its sticky sweetness and abundance of lime flavor, I personally, will stick to the simple version of just an ice cold wedge from the fridge.

Mojito Watermelon

from Heat Oven to 350

1/4 C sugar

1/4 C warm water
A pinch of salt
1/4 C lime juice
2 tsp. freshly grated lime zest
1 medium large watermelon (8-10 lbs), cut into bite-sized chunks
2 T finely chopped, fresh mint

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the sugar and water and stir until sugar is dissolved. (Make sure your water is warm so the sugar can dissolve quicker). Stir in the lime juice and the lime zest. You will want the mixture cool before you pour it over the watermelon, so just place it in the fridge for about an hour or so. Once cooled, stir in the chopped mint.

Take cold watermelon chunks and place in large bowl. Pour sugar mixture over watermelon and stir gently. Serve chilled.

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Lemon Buttercream

If you love lemon, you will love these cupcakes. Lemon cake filled with lemon curd and then topped with lemon buttercream. Wow.

My good friend Leah and I got together and decided to collaborate on this wonderful lemon treat for our friend/co-worker's birthday. We immediately decided on cupcakes, of course. Leah made the lemon curd and I made the cupcakes and the buttercream. The lemon curd was made the day before and when Leah handed me the jar of curd, I immediately sampled it. It was tart and very delicious. It complemented the sweetness of the buttercream so well. It all went together so beautifully that this may be the best collaboration we've done so far. And the lemon buttercream is definitely going to be my go-to lemon buttercream for now on.

** Thanks to Leah for letting me use the photos from her phone**

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream
from Cooking with Paula Deen 
July/August 2001 issue


1 C. butter, softened
2 C. sugar
4 eggs, large at room temperature
1 T. lemon zest
1/4 C. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 C. cake flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C. buttermilk at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350. 

In a medium sized bowl, mix together cake flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine and then set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter at medium-high speed until creamy. Add the sugar gradually and beat for around 5 minutes until it's all incorporated and nice and fluffy. One at a time, add the eggs and beat until the yellow disappears after each addition. Then, add the zest, juice and vanilla and beat until blended. 

Take the dry ingredients and gradually add to the butter mixture alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat on low speed until blended after each addition. 


Line muffin pan with cupcake liners and then scoop mixture into liners using large spoon or ice cream scoop. Fill liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 17-20 minutes. Once removed from oven, let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then take cupcakes out of pan and let them cool on wire rack. Make sure cupcakes are cooled completely before frosting with lemon buttercream. Of course, cupcakes are best the day they are made, but you can store them in the fridge for up to 3 days.

 For the Lemon Curd recipe, visit Leah at So How's It Taste?


Lemon Buttercream
1 C. butter, softened
2 T. lemon zest
1/4 C. fresh lemon juice
2 T. milk
5 C. powdered sugar
Yellow food coloring (optional)


In a medium sized bowl, beat the butter at medium-high speed until creamy. Add zest, juice and milk and continue beating until it's well blended. Add the powdered sugar slowly and beat until it's light and fluffy. Beat in the desired amount yellow food coloring if using.