With spring break over and my husband busy with his new position, I have been swamped by silence in our home….what was once a space filled with the patter of tiny feet, the echo’s of “Pretend I am…” and the tap tap of my husband’s key board, is now the stifling silence of our beloved pooch looking at me with that longing look of someone keen to strike up a conversation. After polite conversation with the dog, and laughing at my own witty thoughts, I finally settled down to the modern day approach to battling silence–I turned my iPad on and started steaming the Cooking Channel on my Cox TV Connect application. With my secret stash of Pretzel M&Ms and mini Reese’s Cups hidden in my candy jar (well, short of a neon sign flashing ‘candy’ it is not really a secret stash, but I think it adds mystery to my desk) I began my courtship with back ground noise by placing my iPad on the corner of my desk, allowing the Cooking Channel to whisper to me while I worked the day away. What seemed like a great idea at the time, only resulted in an urgent craving for cupcakes, hence the topic of this post, rather than the fabulous history of brunch I was working on.
As the year progresses, so too does my baking confidence, but alas I am still wet behind the ears with so much to learn and in need of as much help as possible….so I took the flavors I love the most and asked Xam Xam, my trusty baking assistant, to help me turn a craving into a reality. Using my much loved, but seldom used Cupcakes by Susannah Blake, I modified her recipe for chocolate cupcakes and 2 hours later (yes, I know 2 hours….I would fail miserably at Cucpcake Wars) we finally sat down to Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Cupcakes, which are now affectionately called Cox Cupcakes in the house because the latter is too much for any one person to utter when all they want is a cupcake.
Ingredients
- Chocolate Cupcakes: 3 1/2 Ounces of bitter sweet chocolate
- 1 stick of room temperature unsalted butter
- 3/4 Cup of white granulated sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder
- 3/4 Cup of self-rising flour
- 1 Tablespoon of milk
- Peanut Butter Cream Frosting: 1 Cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 Cup creamy peanut butter (or chunky if you want it to have bite)
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter
- 1/4 Teaspoon table salt
- 3/4 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 Cup heavy whipping cream (a splash more if you want a softer frosting)
- Handful of extra large pretzel rods.
Instructions
- Basic Chocolate Cupcakes: Preheat your oven to 350F, then line your cupcake pan with paper liners.
- Double boil your chocolate until it is smooth and creamy, then set aside to cool at room temperature.
- In a dry mixing bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder and sugar together until fully blended.
- Blend the dry mix with the eggs, butter, melted chocolate and milk until smooth and creamy.
- Spoon the mixture into your cake liners and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when you test them.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack.
- Frost generously with your peanut butter frosting, and then top each cupcake with crumbled pretzel rods before serving.
Notes
The chocolate cupcake recipe was modified by a fabulous Choca-Mocha Recipe by Susannah Blake. And the ever fabulous Ina Garten created the Peanut Butter Frosting. | Housewifebliss.com | 2012
You too can crave cupcakes while you work, or any time for that matter. The Cox TV Connect application allows you to stream live TV to your iPad allowing you to watch it in any room in your home. Over the last 3 months the app has made our slumber parties more fun, given Margeaux her own private cooking class and alas….helped me on my way to become a baking rockstar. This post has been compensated for, and made possible by Cox Communications and the Everywhere Society. All opinions, views, content and images are my own.
Recommended Reading
Cooking with Cox | housewifebliss.com
Slumber Parties with Cox | housewifebliss.com
Connect with Cox on Twitter and Facebook
Read HousewifeBliss on FlipBoard





