sweet like candy to my soul...

this past sunday, i decided to do a little baking--one of my favorite pastimes. in my opinion, there is nothing better than making pastries from scratch and letting the delicious smell of baked goods waft through the house. it's comforting. and because sunday was a dreary, windy, gray day, for me it was especially so.

anyway, i have an obsession with cupcakes. have we talked about this? yes, i think we have. and i'd been saying i wanted to make ina garten's chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing for a couple of weeks, to the point where my friends began asking me when they were going to materialize. so on sunday, i went to the grocery store, picked up the ingredients and got baking--and the result was fabulous. the intense, not-too-sweet chocolate of the cupcake blends perfectly with the melt-in-your-mouth, peanut buttery goodness of the frosting. be aware: these cupcakes are not for the faint of heart. they are delicious, though, as all of ina's recipes seem to be. (if you're looking for something breakfasty, her banana and sour cream pancakes are delish.)

the picture above is of the finished product; below you'll find a link to the recipe. some notes: i ran out of vanilla, so the frosting didn't get any and still tasted fine. i forgot to add the kosher salt to the cupcake batter, and they were also fine. as far as cocoa powder goes, i swung by whole foods and picked up rapunzel organic's unsweetened variety and it was great. i've also been swearing by king arthur flour lately. if you decide to make this recipe, i really hope you enjoy it!

click here for ina garten's chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

{ image above by me. }