Vanilla Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Chip and Vanilla Peanut Butter Cup!

This weekend's recipes are:

• Peanut Butter Chip
• Vanilla Peanut Butter Cup
• Very Vanilla Chocolate Chip 

 Some people have asked me how long it usually takes to bake my cupcakes on the weekend. It usually takes me about three hours. This includes:

1. preparation work (measuring and blending ingredients, etc.)
2. washing (rinse out the utensils and bowls after every use)
3. baking (sits in the oven for 20-25 mins.)
4. cooling (usually 10 mins to cool on the rack) and
5. decorating (making and piping the icing) 

Vanilla Chocolate Chip 

Although it may look and sound complicated, I've developed quite a groove for it now! While the first batch of cupcakes is in the oven, I usually go straight ahead to prep the next batch and so forth until the third batch. Once the third batch (last recipe) is in the oven, I would begin making the icing. That usually takes about 10-15 minutes. By the time I'm done making the icing, the first two batches are cooled and ready to be piped. At this point, there are still left over batter for the all the cupcakes, which I usually bake one or two more trays after the third batch. For these last batches, I sometimes put icing on it if I have left over icing, otherwise they are icing-free. I do this because I find some people simply don't like the sweetness of the icing and would just scrape it off anyways. So I leave the last one or two batches icing-free for those people (namely my parents).

 Peanut ButterChip 

 Vanilla Peanut ButterCups 

This weekend I decided to try a different icing recipe - hoping for something less sweet. I found this recipe online: Not-So-Sweet Frosting. I had to cook the flour and milk together until it's thick. It basically turns into some kind of paste which I found to be a little rubbery. Maybe my pot isn't that great but the bottom was burnt so I can't use all of the paste. Can't say I'm a big fan of this.When I blended the sugar and the butter together, I found it to be quite grainy; it didn't have the smooth consistency as using icing sugar (maybe I should do that next time). True to its word, it's isn't too sweet. But it did lack something in my opinion. I will be trying out different frosting recipe until I find one that has the right consistency, texture and taste!