Sasha's Kitchen: Vegan Coconut Curried Noodle Salad

I'm not vegan, or even vegetarian, but I appreciate vegan and vegetarian cooking, and am always enjoy cooking with fresh fruits and vegetables as center stage.  Plus, it is such a healthy way to eat, so it is totally smart for any carnivore like myself to mix some vegan and/or vegetarian meals into the weekly meal rotation.  My friend Shannon was visiting from Toronto recently, and gave me the book La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer as a present to try some new vegan experimentation in the kitchen (although she's not vegan either, she vouched for the excellent cookbook).  When she was still visiting last weekend, we tried the cold coconut curried sesame noodles, and discovered they taste good either hot or cold. The recipe was not too difficult and delicious, either as a side dish, appetizer or a main course. I love the coconut flavor with the noodles, and it was boatloads better than traditional sesame noodles.

Coconut Curried Noodles Salad (from La Dolce Vegan)
dry broad rice noodles (full package or box, enough for four servings)
1/2 cup shallots, diced (I substituted onions)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T sesame oil
2 T curry paste
2T tamari (you can use soy sauce)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 13.5 oz can light coconut milk
1/2 cup fresh basil (I used parsley instead)
1 large tomato, chopped (we added two instead when I made it with Shannon because one was lonely)

Boil the rice noodles in salted water. While the noodles cook, dice the tomatoes and onions/shallots. Cook the shallots in canola oil until translucent, about three minutes.  Add the curry paste, soy sauce, turmeric, salt and coconut milk and simmer on hight for six to eight minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the basil (I used parsley) and tomatoes. Drain the noodles and mix with the sauce. This dish tastes great either hot or cold.

Sasha's Kitchen: Vegan Coconut Curried Noodle Salad

Sasha's Kitchen: Zucchini Corn Fritters

Farm fresh zucchini and corn are so good this time of year, that I couldn't resist a fun, healthy variation on traditional zucchini fritters. I only fry with canola oil - never with vegetable oil, so they're about as healthy as they can be. I used local corn and zucchini for the recipe and it was absolutely delicious, sweetened by the delicious sweet corn that I shucked. They key to this recipe is squeezing all of the water out of the zucchini, so that it doesn't make an overly watery batter.  This is a great weekday meal, and I plan on making another batch this coming weekend as a dinner party appetizer. A recipe like this really just reminds me of summer!

Sasha's Zucchini Corn Fritters
Two large zucchini (about 4 1/2 cups shredded zucchini)
3 ears of corn, shucked
4 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1 small onion, diced
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup curly parsley, minced
pepper to taste
canola oil for frying
serve with lowfat yogurt

Shred the zucchini using a cheese grater and allow to drain as much as possible over a colander or strainer.  Scramble the eggs and mix with the shucked corn, onion, spices, parsley, flour and pepper.  Squeeze the shredded zucchini in handfuls to get rid of as much of the water as possible and then combine with the other ingredients.  Heat about a quarter inch of canola oil in a frying pan. Drop heaps of the zucchini-corn mixture and form circular shaped fritters. Cook until golden on both sides, about 2-3 minutes. Remove and allow to drain on parchment paper. Serve with yogurt.

Sasha's Kitchen: Zucchini Corn Fritters

Charlene's Kitchen in Philadelphia: Herb-and-Olive Frittata

Mark Bittman is one of my food heroes. I love his low-pressure approach to cooking and his simple recipes. His old Minimalist videos are inspiring and often humorous. I’ve also been enjoying his more recent columns focusing on food policy and related health, environmental, and social issues. His blog, On Food, is located here: http://bittman.blogs.nytimes.com.

In one of his more recent “Eat” pieces in The New York Times Magazine, Bittman gives special treatment to herbs! As a fellow herb-lover and an herb gardener, these recipes really whet my appetite. Here’s the recipe for one that I made this week. It includes no less than three cups (!) of herbs and it will leave a bright, refreshing taste in your mouth. If you don’t already have an herb garden, let this be inspiration for starting one next year...



Herb-and-Olive Frittata
by Mark Bittman
from The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 14, 2011, page 43.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/magazine/recipe-herb-and-olive-frittata.html?ref=magazine

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped black olives, preferably oil-cured
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary or thyme
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt and black pepper.

1. Put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Add the olives and herbs and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and become dry, 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile, beat together the eggs, milk, flour and some salt and pepper.

3. Turn heat to low and pour the egg mixture into the skillet, using a spoon if necessary to evenly distribute the herbs and olives. Cook, undisturbed, until the eggs are just set, 5 to 10 minutes. (You can set the top further by putting the pan in an oven at 350 for a few minutes or by running it under the broiler for a minute or two.)

Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Note: It took closer to 10-14 minutes for my eggs to set on the stovetop, then I did stick the pan in the oven for an additional 4 minutes at 350 degrees. They did not seem overcooked to me.

Charlene's Kitchen in Philadelphia: Herb-and-Olive Frittata

Sasha's Kitchen: Harry Potter Butterbeer Flying Snitch Cupcakes

I've always been a huge Harry Potter fan - both of the earlier parts of the series, and the darker chapters as well.  I loved the Quidditch games that were played in the first few books, and decided to create a Harry Potter inspired cupcake.  I really want to take a trip to Wizarding World in Orlando and taste some butterbeer for myself, but so far I've only made my homemade butterbeer using this recipe.  At any rate, my newest cupcakes have a butterscotch frosting and are inspired to have a butterbeer flavor.  They are decorated in a Quidditch theme, with golden snitches that I made out of yellow chocolate melts and fondant., as Harry was the Gryffindor Quidditch team seeker. Thus, these cupcakes have the spirit of the early Potter books (and movies) - a flair for Quidditch and a taste of butterbeer, which I re-created with flavors of cream soda and butterscotch. Now, I just need one of those hopping chocolate frogs and I'm all set.

Sasha's Harry Potter Butterbeer Quidditch Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup Dr. Brown's Cream soda (or A&W)

Frosting
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 oz butterscotch chips
1 stick of butter
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups confectioner's sugar

Combine the dry ingredients for the cupcakes in a bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Beat the butter and sugars in the basin of your stand mixer until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Alternate beating in the milk and the dry ingredients, and finally, beat in the cream soda until smooth.

Bake the cupcakes at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting, prepare a butterscotch ganache with 5 oz of butterscotch chips and 1/2 cup of heavy cream.  Combine the two in the top of a double boiler and mix until smooth. Allow to chill for about a half an hour in the refrigerator.  Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth and add in the ganache. Frost the cupcakes using a frosting bag. If you wish to decorate, I made the snitches using fondant, a fondant pen and yellow chocolate melts for the golden center.

Sasha's Kitchen: Harry Potter Butterbeer Flying Snitch Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Falafel

Falafel always reminds me of my time spent in Israel, and of my Jewish heritage.  I've been meaning to post this recipe for awhile. I have tried various recipes for falafel with mixed results until trying Sarah Raven's recipe from Fresh From the Garden.  This time I didn't have the usual problems of the falafel balls not sticking together properly, and they fried up perfectly in canola oil for a healthier falafel. I served it with some cucumbers and tomatoes, as well Sabra hummus for that perfect Israeli meal.  This recipe makes 35 falafel balls and I didn't need nearly that many since it was just a week night dinner for the two of us, so I cut the recipe in half (full recipe is below).

Falafel
1 lb dired chickpeas
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, quartered
small bunch of flat leaf parsley, stalks removed
small bunch of fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest if 1/2 lemon, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp baking soda

Soak the chickpeas in cold water for about 12 hours. Drain and put them in a food processor with all of the other ingredients. Process and blend until combined but not fully pureed. You want them to have some texture.  Allow mixture to stand for 30 minutes before shaping into 35 balls.  Then allow to stand for another 35 minutes. Fill a saucepan or deep fryer with canola oil . I always fry with canola oil (regardless of what a recipe calls for) because it is much healthier. You would like a couple inches of oil. Heat to 375 and deep fry the balls - the falafel balls, that is :) Fry for about four minutes until golden brown, and drain on paper towels.

Sasha's Kitchen: Falafel

Sasha's Kitchen: Stuffed Squash Blossoms

I recently ordered some squash blossoms with my Fresh Direct groceries, from a local New York farm. There's a very short season on squash blossoms and I had never prepared anything with them before, so I wasn't really sure what all the fuss was about. Well, I figured it out - they have a lovely, sweet delicate taste that is just perfect with goat cheese and some herbs, and fried up with a bit of panko. It's healthy too, as long as you fry in canola oil, like I always do. The herbed goat cheese that I used was the perfect accompaniment for these delicate little blossoms.

Sasha's Stuffed Squash Blossoms
8 squash blossoms
4 oz herbed goat cheese
2 eggs
panko bread crumbs
pepper to season

To prepare, stuff the blossoms packed with the herbed goat cheese. Beat the eggs and coat the blossoms before dredging and covering in panko bread crumbs.  season with a bit of pepper and fry in canola oil. Totally lovely for a summertime snack of appetizer - I'm so glad I tried this.

I haven't made cupcakes in awhile. I've been trying to cook a bit healthier, plus life has been really, really hectic in a Bill Murray "Groundhog Day" kind of way.  But I plan on making some Harry Potter "Butterbeer" inspired cupcakes this coming Friday, so they'll be posted shortly thereafter as the triumphant cupcake return.

Sasha's Kitchen: Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Sasha's Kitchen: Tilapia Fish Tacos with Peach-Mango Salsa

Peaches are one of my favorite foods of the summer. I incorporate them into just about everything - grilled peaches with barbecued meat, salads, pies, cobblers, you name it. They are also a key component of my fruity salsas in the summer months. Recently I made some delicious tilapia tacos with a savory peach salsa that was delicious and healthy - full of vitamin C.

Sasha's Peach-Mango Salsa
1 mango diced
2 large peaches, diced
1/3 cup red onion, diced
2 T lime juice
1/2 diced jalapeno pepper

Sasha's Tilapia Fish Tacos (serves two)
2 filets of tilapia, skinned
1/2 cup mirin or sake
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 T sesame oil
2 T fresh ginger
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Marinate the tilapia for about 12 hours (a whole day is usually good). Then grill or bake the fish. After the fish is cooked to your liking, break it up into small pieces with a fork. This should be very easy as it will just fall apart. Serve in corn tortillas with salsa and a bit of fat free sour cream and lowfat cheddar cheese.

Sasha's Kitchen: Tilapia Fish Tacos with Peach-Mango Salsa

Sasha's Kitchen: Stone Fruit Pie

Fruit pies are the best this time of year. I might have just tired of baking pies for the summer already, but before I did, I made this one a couple weeks ago, using the *best* fruits from my local Greenmarket farmer's market. I love stone fruits - from peaches to apricots to plums. This pie was made just before apricots sprang to the scene at the local market, so I used peaches, nectarines and yellow sugar plums. But, you could easily substitute another stone fruit. I know I say this every time, but this really was one of the best pies of the summer.

Sasha's Stone Fruit Pie

Crust
2 1/4 cup of flour
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
two sticks of butter cut into pieces, cold
1/4 cup of ice water (will then need to add an additional tablespoon or two)


Filling
2 1/3 cups of peaches, sliced in wedges
2 1/2 cups of nectarines, sliced in wedges
1 cup of sliced sugar plums
3 T cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon

To prepare the crust, follow my detailed instructions and techniques on crust making here.  I recommend using your hands and doing this the old -fashioned, rustic way, rather than using a mixer. Combine the flour and butter, salt and sugar with your hands. Add the ice water slowly and combine into two balls of dough until they just form. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for thirty minutes.  During this time, prepare the filling. Then roll out the bottom, fill the pie, and roll out the top and cut into a lattice. Using a pastry brush, glaze the top of the pie with an egg yolk. Bake at 400 (covered with foil) for 30 minutes. Then uncover and bake at 350 for another 25 - 40 minutes. Allow to cool somewhat before serving warm.  I think this would go amazingly with some Blue Marble ice cream from around the corner.

Have you checked out my recent post on Philly Style Cheesesteak on the ShopRite food blog, Potluck? Yum!

Sasha's Kitchen: Stone Fruit Pie

Sasha's Kitchen: Cream of Asparagus Soup

Asparagus is one of my husband's favorite vegetables. I'd been looking to make an asparagus soup for awhile, before coming across this one in one of my favorite soup book that we bought a couple years ago on a lovely trip to Ireland. This is isn't a traditional Irish soup by any stretch of the imagination, but the Irish sure do know how to make a good pot of soup. This cream of asparagus soup is nice and healthy, and a good, easy to make soup for spring or summer. I've been under quite a bit of stress lately (more of the crap that I seem luck enough to get in extra-large doses), so this was a nice and easy weekday soup that didn't further complicate my day. It's a perfect, quick and east weekday meal.

Cream of Asparagus Soup (adapted from Irish Soups & Breads)
16 spears of asparagus
1 cup potato, peeled and chopped
2 medium leeks
4 T butter or olive oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
5 cups low sodium chicken stock
4 T non-fat sour cream (recipe calls for creme fraiche)
salt and pepper to taste

Cut off the tips of the asparagus and set aside for garnish. Chop off the lower portion of the stalks and discard.  Cut up the remainder of the asparagus, and peel and cube the potato. Wash and finely chop the leeks. Blanch the tips of the asparagus in lightly salted water for five minutes and set aside.

Saute the asparagus (main portion), potatoes and leeks in canola oil or butter and cook for about five minutes. Then add the chicken stock and simmer for about 25-30 minutes. Puree in a food processor and add in the creme fraiche or sour cream. Serve and top with the asparagus tips, and some croutons, and season as desired.

Sasha's Kitchen: Cream of Asparagus Soup

Sasha's Kitchen: Stuffed Teriyaki Rice Balls (Yaki Onigiri)

Today's recipe / blog post is my attempt at some Japanese street food. It all started when I had some delicious stuffed Mimi & Coco teriyaki balls at Smogasburg in Williamsburg a couple weeks ago.  They were so good that I educated myself a bit about this Japanese street food before trying to make my own. They're based on Yaki Onigiri, or fried Japanese rice balls that are the quintessential Japanese street food. Here's a sample of a traditional Onigiri recipe that I found on another blog.  I can't way this was a success in full but it was a good first step, as they still pale in comparison to the stuffed Onigiri at Mimi & Coco that I tasted.

Sasha's Stuffed Yaki Onigiri

cooked sushi rice (I started with 1.5 cups uncooked rice)

1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

teriyaki sauce

1 lb ground grass fed beef

Top prepare this, first I cooked the beef for the inside of the teriyaki balls. I added about a quarter cup of teriyaki sauce and cooked until the beef was done and had a nice teriyaki flavor. Then, the beef cooled to room temperature while I prepared the rice. Once the sushi rice was done, I seasoned it with a bit of the rice wine vinegar, the same was as making sushi rice. 

When working with the rice for this recipe, make sure your hands are wet, as the rice is very sticky. Using your hands, shape some rice around a teaspoon or so of the ground beef which you should place in the center. Add some more rice and form a nice sized ball. Because of the stuffing, these will be a bit larger than traditional Japanese rice balls.  Continue to make a whole bunch of rice balls with the teriyaki beef filling. 

After you have formed the onigiri, it's time to grill them up. This is the tricky part - a couple of mine did fall apart but the rest did stay in tact. I think I can improve on this next time. Using a cast iron skillet, add a small amount of oil and grill on each side until it forms a crisp skin and are lightly browned - over medium heat. When all sides are grilled, brush on a layer of teriyaki sauce using a pastry brush.  Then grill all sides again. Serve hot!

Sasha's Kitchen: Stuffed Teriyaki Rice Balls (Yaki Onigiri)

Sasha's Kitchen: Homemade Three Cheese Ravioli with Marinara Sauce

I'll admit it, making your own ravioli is time consuming and tedious. It takes a long time and a bit of upper arm strength, and is a bit tricky at first. But once you get the hang of it, it is totally worth it. not only does your ravioli taste 1000 times better than anything I have ever bought, but it is much less costly than buying gourmet ravioli, and a typical recipe makes enough to freeze for several meals, so it's actually good at saving time in the long run. Here's my second foray at ravioli making which may have been even better than the first. The first time though, I was fortunate enough to use ramps, but now that it's summer, ramps are out of season, so I used scallions instead. The dough recipe is from my pasta class that I took at the Brooklyn Kitchen, but uses less salt. 

Sasha's Three Cheese Ravioli
1 15oz containers of skim milk ricotta cheese
8 oz goat cheese, crumbled1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese
1/2 to 1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 eggbunch of scallions, diced
zest of one lemon4 cups flour
4 large eggs
4 T extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp Kosher salt

about 3 T of water

First, prepare the dough by mixing the four eggs, salt and olive oil in your mixer. Add the flour all at once and mix until it has a sandy texture. Add about 2-4 T of water to bring into a dough in the mixer (and with your hands to help bring it together, as it may not fully come together until you squeeze it together with your hands). Divide into four balls, wrap with plastic wrap and chill for an hour before using. 

Roll out to the dough to the Number 7 setting on your pasta machine and press into the ravioli molds. Mix the cheeses, egg, scallions, red pepper flake and lemon zest and fill for the filling. Dry the ravioli on a drying rack so they dry uniformly and do not become sticky (note - this was a mistake I made the first time). Prepare by placing in boiling water for about five minutes, freezing the extra. This recipe makes about six dozen ravioli.


For the pasta sauce
1 can san marzano tomatoes, squeezed and crushed by hand
1 onion diced
4 cloves of diced garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 T balsamic vinegar

Saute the onions and garlic until lightly browned. Then add to the tomatoes and mix in the spices. Bring to a boil and then simmer. Add more oregano and thyme as needed, and season with some pepper. Just before serving, stir in the balsamic vinegar.

Sasha's Kitchen: Homemade Three Cheese Ravioli with Marinara Sauce

Sasha's Kitchen: Cherry Chocolate Chip Blondies

My husband has a professed hatred for cherries. He won't eat anything with them, as long as he knows they are there. In other words, cherry pie, or the cherry galette I've been wanting to make are both off the table. But, I managed to use some delicious local sweet cherries in these blondies without him realizing that they were cherries that added the lovely tangy sweetness the blondies. In other words, he was fooled and loved this new dessert. Blondies are so fun - like brownies but you can mix them up with almost any flavor. These were a huge success, using delicious seasonal cherries, and I can't wait to try out a new blondie flavor soon. Chopping up these sweet red cherries may make it look like there was a vampire attack in your kitchen, but never fear, it just looks like blood!

Sasha's Cherry Chocolate Chip Blondies
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cups canola oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chopped (pitted) red cherries
1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

To prepare the blondies, beat together the eggs,and brown sugar. Beat in the dry ingredients and the canola oil until smooth and mix in the chopped cherries and chocolate chips. Pour in a brownie pan lined with parchment paper and bake in an oven preheated to 350 for thirty minutes. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before lifting from the parchment paper and slicing.

Sasha's Kitchen: Cherry Chocolate Chip Blondies

Sasha's Kitchen: Blueberry Peach Cobbler

As a member of ShopRite's Potluck Blog Panel, I received a gift card earlier in the month to head down to my local ShopRite here in Brooklyn to purchase some fresh local New Jersey fruits. Now, I am a big fan of using fruit in baking during the summer months (read: pie, cobbler, crisp, more pie, repeat) so I couldn't resist picking up some fresh New Jersey blueberries and peaches for use in my next baking experiment. I came up with this terrific recipe for a blueberry-peach cobbler which is just loaded with fresh summer fruits. The recipe doesn't overload on sugar, so it really showcases how good the fruit you use is - in my case, the very best peaches I've had yet this summer!

Sasha's Blueberry Peach Cobbler
Fruit filling
6 ripe peaches
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 T cornstarch

Cobbler Top
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
5 T butter (chopped into small pieces)
1 egg
1/4 cup heavy cream

Combine the ingredients for the fruit topping in a bowl and toss. Place into a 9x6 inch or similar casserole dish and spread evenly. To prepare the top of the cobbler, combine the dry ingredients and mix in the butter (after chopping into small piece) using our hands to combine. Mix in the egg and heavy cream to make a nice moist dough.

unbaked cobbler!

Spoon the dough on top of the fruit in lumps, or cobblestones, as I like to think of it. Bake for about 50 minutes until golden brown and until the cobblestones come out clean when a toothpick is inserted.

Sasha's Kitchen: Blueberry Peach Cobbler

Sasha's Kitchen: Lamb Chops with Mustard-Herb Crust and Purple Potatoes

I came across this great lamb recipe recently for simple, flavorful lamb chops. I served this with some creamed mashed potatoes that I made using mini purple potatoes, which resulted in - you guessed it - purple mashed potatoes - because everything is better in purple! I used lamb shoulder chops to make this dish, because they are less expensive than rib chops - but you can use either, depending on what you can afford and have in your freezer. The result was quite delicious and an enjoyable friday night dinner.

Lamb Chops with Mustard-Herb Crust (based on this recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food)

1/4 cup dijon mustard

1 T minced garlic

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

2 T grated parmesan

1 T minced fresh rosemary

1 tsp minced thyme

1 tsp minced oregano

8 lamb chops

Combine the mustard and garlic in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the panko, herbs and cheese. Pat the lamb chops dry and season with salt and pepper. Then cover with the mustard-garlic mixture, and follow by coating in the panko breadcrumb mixture. Heat a couple tablespoons of canola oil in a nonstick saucepan and cook the lamb chops over medium high heat until browned on both sides and cooked as desired internally (I prefer medium well). Let rest for five minutes before serving. I served the chops with a bit of parmesan, balsamic and parsley. 

Sasha's Kitchen: Lamb Chops with Mustard-Herb Crust and Purple Potatoes

Sasha's Kitchen: Garden Party Themed Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I had recently made a cake with all kinds of flowers in a garden party theme, and then decided to reverse it a couple weekends later into cupcakes, with pretty little flowers made using the Wilton flower tip. Flowers are just so pretty to decorate with, and this made a truly lovely batch of cupcakes. I used made a batch of chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, with my favorite peanut butter frosting. Really, there's no better flavor combination for a cake or cupcake than chocolate and peanut butter! These are perfect for a lovely summer party.

Sasha's Garden Party Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Cupcakes (adapted from Julie Hasson)
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup smooth lowfat peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup whole milk

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl - the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Beat the sugars and the butter in the  basin of a stand mixer until well combined. Then  beat in the peanut butter until smooth, followed by the egg and vanilla. Alternatively beat in the flour mixture and the milk and beat until smooth. Fill cupcake molds (lined) 3/4 of the way to the top and bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Peanut butter frosting
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter
pinch salt
1/2 cup creamy non-fat peanut butter
2 T milk

Vanilla buttercream (for decorating)
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T milk
gel based food coloring in pink, purple and yellow

Beat together the ingredients for the peanut butter frosting for about five minutes in your stand mixer until smooth. Frost the cupcakes using a frosting bag.

Make the regular vanilla butter cream the same way. Once you have beaten together the ingredients into a smooth frosting, divide into three bowls and color with a drop or two of the gel food coloring. Make the petals using the wilton flower tip, and use a traditional dot tip to make the dot in the center with the yellow buttercream.

Sasha's Kitchen: Garden Party Themed Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes