I hope you and yours are safe, dry and warm. My thoughts are with those who weathered storm Sandy, lost a loved one/home/business/power and with those who are working diligently around the clock to restore some sort of normalcy. Just when I think I’m having a bad day, I’m reminded that there are plenty of people who have it far worse than me. I’m humbled.
HH is out of town. For, like, three weeks. Three weeks with three kids = survival mode. I’m doing what I can. Last night was trick-or-treat night in our neighborhood. Since HH is gone, our friends graciously offered to come visit me and the kids and to take the boys door-to-door. The weather was cold, wet and windy. There was no way I was taking Mabrey out. I’m so thankful to have such awesome friends! Which reminds me…I totally need to hit them up for a house tour. They recently renovated a ranch home just blocks away from us and have impeccable style.
Anyhow, my friend Kristina is gluten-free and I’m dairy-free {due to a certain seven-month-old. Can you believe it?! Seven months!} so I decided to whip up some treats just for us.
They’re chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cookie dough frosting. That’s a lot of my favorite things in one dessert: chocolate, cupcakes, peanut butter, cookie dough and frosting. Come on. And, sadly, while gluten-free and dairy-free, they are not sugar- or calorie-free. But, hey, it was Halloween. And I’m breastfeeding. And I’m husbandless. For three weeks. Did I mention HH is gone for three weeks?
I found the original recipe here then tweaked the ingredients on my own to make them gluten- and dairy-free. Here’s my version. This recipe makes ~14 cupcakes.
For the cupcakes:
Pamela’s chocolate cake mix {found at my local Kroger in the natural food section} + water + eggs + oil according to package directions for making cupcakes. FYI – I’ve found that I usually have to add on a few minutes to bake times for gluten-free recipes. Allow cupcakes to cool.
For the frosting:
3/4 c. of butter flavor Crisco, softened {make sure it’s butter flavor!}
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. almond milk
1/2 t. vanilla
1 & 1/4 c. gluten-free flour {I used King Arthur brand found at Kroger in the baking section.}
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate mini chips, chilled in the fridge {also found at Kroger in the natural food section}
Use a mixer {my hand mixer works just fine for this} to beat Crisco and sugars together for 2 minutes. Mix in peanut butter, almond milk and vanilla. Slowly incorporate flour and salt and mix on low speed. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
Once cupcakes are cool, pile on the frosting. Then indulge. YUM.
In other Halloween news, Layne and Everett dressed as a dragon knight and Iron Man, respectively.
They are both at this stage where it’s not cool for your mom to DIY your costume. I would have loved to brainstorm my own ideas for their costumes and make them myself but they weren’t going for it. So I dropped it. They were perfectly happy in their store bought costumes.
What treats are you whipping up today? What costumes will you/your kids/your pets be wearing?
Happy Halloween!
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
family life, food