Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

FILLING:

2 tablespoons heavy cream (whipping cream)
2 squares (2 oz.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter

An hour before baking prepare the Chocolate Peanut Butter Filling.

In a small saucepan, heat the cream to boiling. Add the chocolate and sugar, stirring until the chocolate melts.

Refrigerate the mixture until firm but not hard, about 40 minutes.

CUPCAKES:

6 squares (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate
6 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
confectioners' sugar (optional)

Line twelve 2-1/2 inch muffin-pan cups with paper baking cups. In the top of a double boiler, over simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin-pan cups. Using the palms of the hands, roll rounded teaspoonfuls of the chocolate-peanut butter filling into 12 balls. Push one ball into the center of the batter in each muffin-pan cup. (Make sure that the chocolate peanut butter ball is covered by the cupcake batter.)

Bake the cupcakes 15 to 20 minutes, or until the center springs back when touched lightly with fingertip. Cool the cupcakes completely in the pan on a wire rack.

These taste best after they have cooled completely.

Makes 1 dozen cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares

1 1/3 sticks butter
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
2 2/3 c. crushed graham crackers
2/3 c. coconut
1/2 c. walnuts
1/2 c. peanut butter
2/3 pkg. sm. marshmallows

Cook in double boiler the butter, sugar and eggs for 30 minutes. Let cool a little, then add remaining ingredients leaving the marshmallows until last. Flatten in 8x12 inch pan. Refrigerate until firm, then cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1 and a third cups of white flour
• half teaspoon of baking soda
• half teaspoon of salt
• half cup of butter (microwave melted) or 1 stick
• half cup of brown sugar
• half cup of white sugar
• one large egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• half cup of peanut butter
• half cup of dry roasted peanuts

1. Step 1

   First preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour the 1 and a 1/3 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and mix well. Add the 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar to the bowl and blend until the mixture looks uniform in color.

2. Step 2

   If you haven't already done so, soften the butter in the microwave for no more than 45 seconds. Poor the butter into the flour bowl and try to coat every grain of flour and sugar with melted butter. In other words, mix well! Now is a good time to throw in a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

3. Step 3

   Take the half cup of peanut butter and scoop it into the mixing bowl. Take the 1/2 cup of peanuts and chop them up into smaller pieces before scattering them into the batter. Mix very well.

4. Step 4

   Grease a cookie sheet and make walnut-sized dough balls. Place them at least two inches apart on the sheet. If you want to get all fancy you can make "cross road" designs in each cookie by taking a fork and pressing it lightly in the dough in perpendicular directions until there are small indentations that look like this: #

5. Step 5

   Slide the cookie sheet into the oven and let the cookies bake for about fifteen minutes or until they are golden brown and slightly flattened.