Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes

I'm a bit behind in posting this one, but for Easter I made a modified version of the Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes from the cookbook, Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor. I love cake mix recipes and this cookbook provides some of my favorites. And to tie this into a book I reviewed, let's go for Emily and Einstein by Linda Francis Lee. In that book, Emily bakes tons of cupcakes and brings them into work (which is exactly what I did with these) as part of her grieving process regarding the loss of her husband. Emily's boss doesn't appreciate the baked goods, but fortunately for me, my coworkers love the cupcakes.

Here's how I modified the recipe for Easter: I used Dove Dark Chocolate eggs instead of Hershey's Kisses and Easter-colored M&M's instead of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I also used a dark chocolate buttercream for the frosting. The end result was delicious. Check out another modification (with plenty of pictures) at Sweet & Saucy.

Shortbread

The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry includes a number of recipes that Ginny makes throughout the novel. I decided to try her grandmother’s shortbread recipe. It’s very simple with just 2 cups of flour, 2 sticks of butter, and ½ cup of sugar mixed together and then baked at 350 degrees. My first batch was tragically burnt (I checked halfway and they looked ok, but the final minutes did them in), so I reduced the baking time to 16 minutes for the second batch and was quite pleased. Shortbread is a little plain, but still delicious.

Raspberry Angel Food Cake

When she isn't romancing a former flame, Tara from The Sweetest Thing is baking up a storm (she's going to be taking care of food for the inn she owns with her sisters). The ARC of the second book in the Lucky Harbor by Jill Shalvis includes a casserole recipe, but I don't like casseroles so I'm not about to make one. Instead, I'll share this incredibly simple and oh so yummy Raspberry Angel Food Cake.

The original recipe came from one of my mom's magazines, but I made one small change: raspberry extract. All you need to make this is a box of angel food mix (and anything the mix calls for), a small box of raspberry Jello, and vanilla and raspberry extracts. Just mix up the angel food according to the box, then add a teaspoon a piece of the extracts. Pour about half the batter into the angel food pan; add Jello powder to the remaining batter, then swirl it into the pan. Bake according to the box. Even if you've never baked before, you can make this.