Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Hi loves!

Guess what I made?! Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream! My little cousins have been BEGGING me to make these cupcakes for about a year now! I don't know why, but I just never got around to making them! Well, a few weeks ago, my little cousin got some very good news, so I promised her and her sister that I would finally make their beloved cupcakes for them to celebrate! 

While these are a little time consuming, they aren't very difficult! And the time spent is well worth it, because they're always a huge hit! 

Here is what you'll need for the cupcakes:

1 Cup of Stout (I used Rogue Chocolate Stout)

1 Cup of Unsalted Butter (2 Sticks)

3/4 Cup of Cocoa Powder

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour

2 Cups of Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of Baking Soda

3/4 teaspoon of Salt

2 Large Eggs

2/3 Cup of Sour Cream

Here is what you'll need for the Frosting:

1/2 Cup of Solid Vegetable Shortening

1/2 Cup of Butter (softened)

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

4 Cups of Confectioners Sugar

2 Tablespoons of Milk

1/3 Cup of Caramel + extra for drizzling

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cupcake pans with 24 liners

2. In a large saucepan on the stove, bring stout and butter to a simmer over medium heat.

3. Add cocoa powder to saucepan and whisk thoroughly to combine with butter and stout mixture until smooth.

4. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool down a bit.

5. In a large bowl, combine, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt until combined. Set aside.

6. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and sour cream (in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer) just slightly until combined.

7. Add stout, butter, and cocoa mixture to egg and sour cream mixture and beat just until combined.

8. Slowly add flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt mixture and beat slowly until combined.

9. Fill cupcake liners with batter about 2/3 of the way full.

10. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

11. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool on a baking rack completely.

12. While cupcakes are cooling, beat shortening, butter, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixture until combined and creamy.

13. Slowly add confectioners sugar and beat until well combined. 

14. Add milk as needed to reach desired consistency.

15. Add caramel to buttercream mixture and beat until well combined.

16. Frost cooled cupcakes.

17. Drizzle with remaining caramel (optional)

Just as I thought, everyone loved the cupcakes at our family get together and my little cousins were excited to finally have their wish fulfilled! These are perfect for a special get together with friends or family, and go over big with both kids and adults! Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Thanks for reading!

♥Nichole

*The cupcake recipe was adapted from Pixelated Crumb and the Buttercream recipe was adapted from Wilton.

Glorious Nutter Butter Pie

Hi everyone! Happy Friday!

Hope you have all had a good week so far! 

This weekend my baby cousin leaves for Towson University! I can't believe how quickly time goes! Seems like she was just a little girl and I was doing her makeup and giving her her first highlights! As usual, our big Italian- Irish family put together a pasta dinner (complete with Grammy's Gravy recipe) to send her off! Dinners like this one used to be a weekly event for our family, and they are some of my favorite memories from when I was growing up! We don't get to do them as often anymore, but I love that we still make an effort to get together and celebrate milestones and new chapters in each others lives.

So, I decided to whip up a couple of desserts for the occasion, because... well, that's what Grammy always did! A few days ago, I was browsing one of my favorite blogs, Cookies & Cups, and saw a recipe for what looked like the most delicious pie I have evahhh seen! Like evahhh!!! Now, I'm not usually a pie person, but there was something about this Nutter Butter Pie that looked and sounded delectable! And I knew my family would enjoy it! The funniest part is the fact that I had never had a Nutter Butter cookie until a few months ago... I had no clue I was missing out on such a yummy snack cookie! So I felt like this Pie needed to be made, especially to make up for the fact that I was late to the Nutter Butter party in life!

Here is what you'll need:

For the crust:

About 24 Nutter Butter cookies, crushed

6 Tbsp melted butter

For the filling:

8oz Cream Cheese, softened 

1 Cup Marshmallow Fluff

1/3 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1 Cup Heavy Cream, whipped

About 12 Nutter Butter cookies, crushed

For the topping:

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

1 Tbsp Powdered Sugar

1/4 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter, for drizzling on top

2-4 Nutter Butter cookies, crushed

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Crush 24 Nutter Butter cookies (you can do this in a ziplock bag, I used a food processor

3. In a large bowl, mix butter with crushed Nutter Butter cookies until well combined

4. Evenly press crust mixture into the bottom of a 9'' pie pan and up the sides (I used the back of a large spoon to press and shape the mixture), make sure mixture is packed well so the crust holds and keeps it's shape.

5. Place crust into the oven for 12-15 minutes, until set.

6. While crust is cooling, crush 12 more Nutter Butter cookies (I used the ziplock method for these ones), and begin working on filling mixture by beating cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, and peanut butter together. 

7. In a separate bowl whip heavy cream until soft peaks form.

8. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese, fluff, and peanut butter mixture until completely combined. Add crushed Nutter Butters to filling mixture.

9. Evenly spread filling mixture into cooled pie crust.

10. Whip heavy cream and powdered sugar until soft peaks form, then evenly spread whipped cream on top of pie filling. 

11. Warm peanut butter in the microwave for 20-40 seconds. Drizzle over top of whipped topping. (optional)

12. Crush 2-4 Nutter Butter cookies and sprinkle on top (also optional).

This pie was such a huge hit with everyone (even Rosie) and it was the perfect addition to a lovely meal with family! And it was super easy!

I would like to wish my baby cousin the best of luck this weekend as she makes the move to Towson! I am very proud of you and know you will do great! We love you! ♥

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you find this Nutter Butter Pie as delicious as me and my family did!

Have a great weekend!

♥ Nichole

Ps. Side story: The other night I also made Butter Chicken from Cookies and Cups blog for my boyfriend and I. It was amazing! So amazing that I took a picture and posted it to Instagram and tagged her in it! Well, she liked and commented on the picture with little heart eyed emojis and I was totally geeking out! Lol! My boyfriend thought I was crazy because I was so starstruck and excited! But seriously, I worship the bloggers and beauty gurus that I mention on here! Please take the time to check out their blogs and videos as well! They are full of amazing stuff and never disappoint! :)

Recipe adapted from Cookies & Cups