Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream.

Things I have to tell you:

These are the first cupcakes I've baked since last July.

These are the first homemade vanilla cupcakes I've ever made. 

These are the first vanilla cupcakes I've ever loved.

This is exactly what I imagine my wedding cake will taste like (just let a girl dream!).

More things in life need peanut butter cup centers.

Peanut butter + vanilla = dreams. 

And these three words: PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM.

I've moved on from golden brown butter specks to black vanilla bean specks... because I've just decided: vanilla beans are the new brown butter.

Have you ever baked with vanilla beans before? It's such an easy way to infuse your baking with an extra rich vanilla flavor that you just can't get from teaspoons of vanilla extract... and since spontaneously ordering a handful of bourbon Madagascar vanilla beans from Beanilla last month (... because who wants to spend over $6 for one bean at the store?), I've become completely obsessed with all things vanilla. 

These vanilla cupcakes are perfectly soft, light, and spiked with vanilla beans... like fat, fluffy vanilla bean-infused wedding cake cupcakes.

They almost taste like they're baked from a box mix. Except, you know... better.

Because I stuffed peanut butter cups inside!

They baked up into soft, molten chocolate-y peanut butter centers. 

They were nearly baked into my favorite chocolate cupcakes... because the only thing better than peanut butter and chocolate is peanut butter, chocolate, and more chocolate, right? Who knew that white vanilla cake and peanut butter were just as much a match made in heaven as chocolate and peanut butter?

 It's simple and subtle and just as rich... if not more: the vanilla cake makes the peanut butter and chocolate flavors really pop. 

Do we have to bake peanut butter cups inside? Always, of course, but I baked a few without the extra shot of chocolate and peanut butter... because sometimes a simple, classy cupcake is just the way to go.

You could even put an Oreo in there... or a scoop of chocolate ganache. 

Could we just bake these vanilla bean cupcakes, slice them in half, and turn them into a strawberry shortcake situation? I think you just figured out summer living.

And then, because let me just live life, I topped them with thick, rich soft serve-looking swirls of peanut butter buttercream. If you've never had peanut butter frosting, I'm 100% sure you've never lived. I'd never even imagined it until four days ago, when I stood in my tiny apartment kitchen shame-eating it off a spoon. 

This frosting is almost exactly the same as my go-to vanilla buttercream recipe... except, you know, for the 1/2 cup scoop of creamy peanut butter.

Would it be wrong to be put peanut butter buttercream on top a red velvet cupcake? Because it's all I can think about today.

This is one perfect cupcake and I can't even deal.

This summer, let's get into vanilla beans, turn cupcakes into shortcakes, and fall in love with peanut butter + vanilla. Let's also eat four of these for dinner with a glass of wine... because yeah, been there/done that/just a normal day.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream 

Printable Recipe

Cupcakes

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 egg whites
1/4 cup sour cream (or vanilla yogurt)
3/4 cup milk
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Seeds scraped from 1/2 a split vanilla bean
12-15 peanut butter cups

Peanut Butter Frosting

3/4 cups butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 - 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (or milk)
4-5 cups powdered sugar

Prep. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Melt. Melt the butter in the microwave in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar until combined. Stir in the egg whites, sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. 

So... what do I do with this vanilla bean? Using a sharp knife, cut one vanilla bean in half length-wise, from top to bottom. Set aside one half for later (store in an airtight container). Use a knife or spoon to gently scrape all the black seeds from the other half into your butter mixture (it'll look like wet black sand). Be sure to break up any clumps with your spoon or spatula.  

What if I don't have vanilla beans? No big deal. You can substitute the vanilla bean with 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 3/4 teaspoon ground vanilla beans or 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract. 

Make your cupcake batter. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until smooth and no lumps remain. 

Scoop. Fill cupcake liners halfway with batter (tip: use a cookie scoop!). Place a peanut butter cup in the center of each, then place another scoop of cupcake batter over the top to cover the peanut butter cup completely.

Bake. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake tests clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting. 

Frost. To make the frosting, combine softened butter, shortening, peanut butter, and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth. Add in four cups of powdered sugar. Add 1/4 cup of the whipping cream, mix until combined well, then beat on high speed until fluffy. Continue adding the remaining powdered sugar and whipping cream until the frosting is the consistency you want... then frost your cupcakes!

Makes 12-15 cupcakes. 

Source: Cupcake recipe adapted from The Cupcake Project. Peanut butter frosting from Love From the Oven. 

Brown Butter & Everything Ever.

It's no secret that I am absolutely in love with/cannot stop talking about/am totally obsessed with brown butter. What's so special about those golden specks of butter and why bother taking the time to "brown" it? 

I'll totally make you a list... because I'm in Lake Tahoe! And you just can't bake anything when you're staring at snow-covered mountains, cabins in the woods, and fruity rum drinks all day. 

❤  It adds a rich, nutty hazelnut flavor (and beautiful golden specks) to your baking that'll make you instantly fall in love. I mean, in French, brown butter is known as beurre noisette... it literally means "hazelnut butter"! 

❤  It's that extra something special that turns those cookies or cinnamon rolls into the best thing you've ever baked.  

❤  It complements and adds depth of flavor... which is a fancy way of saying it pairs perfectly with all those flavors you love: cinnamon, oatmeal, brown sugar, caramel, chocolate, pumpkin, bananas. In my experience, brown butter is some kind of baking magic that makes those flavors pop. 

❤  It's versatile. Put it everything ever! Cupcakes, cookies, frostings, cakes. Can we put it in banana bread? Yes. Drizzle it on our popcorn? Do it. Our coffee creamer? It's already a thing. 

❤  The best part: it's easy. It's one extra step... that only takes about eight minutes.

I browned butter for the first time last summer... and since then I've posted fourteen recipes full of those golden specks. Brown butter for days!

I'm ready to jump into some new and exciting things this summer (summer just seems like a good time for that!)... but in the meantime, here's every brown butter recipe ever. 

How to Brown Butter // ... this just seems like a good place to start. A how-to situation just for you. P.S. it's easier than you think.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies // my favorite go-to chocolate chip cookie... and the perfect base for M&M cookies.  

Pumpkin Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Brown Butter Icing // Three things: this is my first (and favorite) bundt cake I ever made, it's never too early for pumpkin cake, & brown butter icing is unlike any icing ever. It also belongs in your life.

Brown butter toffee & macadamia nut chocolate chip cookies // These cookies were inspired by dreams of Hawaii and eating nothing but chocolate-and-toffee-covered macadamia nuts. Cookies inspired by real life living? It doesn't get any better than that!

Brown butter snickerdoodles // For a girl who hasn't fallen head-over-heels in love with snickerdoodles yet, let me just tell you: these are the best cookies I have ever made. They taste like hazelnuts and cinnamon rolls and rich, sugary snickerdoodles, all with crispy edges and buttery soft centers. It's true love.

Brown butter berry cheesecake muffins // Cakey brown butter vanilla muffins + fresh raspberries and blueberries + a scoop of cheesecake + brown sugar-cinnamon streusel = all things that belong in your life. 

Brown butter white chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies // The most irresistable oatmeal cookies I have ever tasted. Sprinkled with sugar and sea salt, bursting with that dark brown sugar and brown butter flavor, and studded with huge chunks of rich white chocolate... no chocolate chips or raisins here! 

Brown butter oatmeal M&M cookies // It's summertime. Let's bake colorful cookies with ice cream scoops.

Brown butter-peanut butter truffle chocolate chip cookies // These were one of the first brown butter cookies I ever made... and to be honest, brown butter doesn't really add anything extra or rich to the flavor of peanut butter. It's a nutty flavor on nutty butter situation. But the swirls of peanut butter truffle in these cookies? I can't even deal/I would put it in everything if I could.

Pretzel-crusted brown butter bourbon blondies // Boozy blondies full of chocolate, white chocolate, bourbon, and brown butter... all baked onto a sugary pretzel crust. Just look at that cookie math!

Brown butter, brown sugar chocolate chip shortcakes // Fat cakey shortcakes studded with mini chocolate chips, sprinkled with brown sugar, and baked with brown butter. Strawberries + whipped cream totally optional.

Buttermilk banana bundt cake with brown butter icing // The best thing about bundt cakes? You can totally pass them off as a breakfast thing. The best about this bundt cake? The brown butter icing. It pairs perfectly with the soft buttermilk banana cake. You have to try it.

Brown butter oatmeal s'mores cookie cups with graham cracker frosting // The only thing better than brown butter and oatmeal is brown butter and oatmeal with s'mores sprinkled on top.  

Brown butter bourbon chocolate chip cookies // Three things I love about these chocolate chip cookies: the brown butter, the bourbon, and the giants discs of baking chocolate. This is one unforgettable chocolate chip cookie.

Peanut Butter Rolo Blondies w/ White Chocolate Chevron.

Peanut butter blondies + pastel Easter Egg stripes. I mean... really. Could Friday get any better? 

It could. Because Rolos!

So far 2013 has been about combining my favorite flavors into something else entirely... and in totally unexpected ways. Brown butter and bourbon. Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and s'mores. Oreos and white chocolate raspberry. I literally get inspired (and make it through my work day) by thinking of two things I love and dreaming up ways to smash them together. 

Like peanut butter and caramel and white chocolate M&Ms. 

I knew about chocolate and peanut butter. Seriously... trust. And I knew about peanut butter and marshmallows (obsessed/in love). Peanut butter and spoons is also a true thing to appreciate. But peanut butter and caramel? Get into this immediately/where have I been living!

Like oatmeal and brown butter, bourbon and chocolate, these two rich, honey-sweet flavors complement each other in an even sweeter, richer, meant-to-be flavor.

The best part about these blondies? They're a buttery, sugary-sweet blank canvas for all kinds of cookie doughs, flavors, and add-ins. Chocolate chip cookie dough, sugar cookies, all-chocolate cookies, or fudgy brownie batter mixed with chocolate chips, nuts, candy bars, crushed cookies (Thin Mints! Oreos!) M&Ms,  or marshmallows. The oven's the limit.

For these, I went with a peanut butter blondie batter and Rolo candies (you could also use Hershey's caramel kisses). These peanut butter cookie bars start with a simple peanut butter cookie dough base that's pressed into a pan for quick baking. They bake up extra-thick, soft, and chewy, studded with bursting pops of bite-size chocolate caramel chunks and couldn't be any easier to throw together.

Also: let's discuss how those pops of bursting caramel could easily be miniature peanut butter cups.

Next: the chevron stripes. We're going to need some some Easter egg colors! 

I used pastel-colored white chocolate (Easter seasonal) M&Ms. For these stripes (and to make sure I had enough of each color), I needed three bags. 

You could also use regular M&Ms, dark chocolate M&Ms, or Reese's Pieces. Mix up the colors for the holidays! Red, white, and blue chevron stripes in July or orange, yellow, and white candy corn stripes in October are simple ways to make any cookie bar instantly impressive. Or look like an Easter egg.

First things first: get organized. Separate your colors. The Type-A in me loved this step a little too much. 

Then gently press the M&Ms (with the "m" facing down) into the cookie dough in a chevron stripe. You can use a knife to trace stripes into the cookie dough to guide you, but we're just making blondies here! It doesn't have to be perfect. 

It all starts with three triangles. Easy. We're doing this.

Keep adding triangles facing in alternate directions...

Take your time. Totally stop to eat some Rolos. It's a necessary thing.

And... done. Fifteen minutes later.

And that's it. They're ready to bake! 

These peanut butter cookie bars stuffed with chocolate, gooey caramel, bright pops of colors, and crispy white chocolate Easter egg stripes are all I'm thinking about this Friday... and how quickly I can bake these bars again (... and what new things I can smash into them) for Easter Sunday. Trust me... after making these chevron stripes you will feel like you can do anything. Look what you did with just M&Ms! You totally just made candy art. 

Happy Easter!

Peanut Butter Rolo Blondies w/ White Chocolate Chevron

Printable Recipe

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Rolo candies (whole or chopped)
White chocolate M&Ms (for these stripes, I needed 3 bags)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with baking spray and set aside.

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the creamy peanut butter until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool.

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

When the peanut butter is cool to the touch, stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until combined. Fold in the Rolo candies, either whole or halved (I used a combination of both... the whole Rolos had a bigger burst of caramel which I loved, but the smaller chunks made it easier to press the M&M candies on top of the dough.)

Transfer batter to prepared baking dish and spread evenly. To make the chevron design, separate your M&Ms into each color you want to use. Make sure you have enough!

Gently press M&Ms into the cookie dough ("m" side facing down) in chevron stripes (you could also trace lines in the cookie dough with the tip of a knife to help guide you). It doesn't have to be perfect! 

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden and the edges are slightly browned. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: Cookie bars from Two Peas & Their Pod.