Your Arteries Won't Snicker At These!

It's been a long time since I've done a cooking/cookie blog. I guess that's because it has been summer and I've had a lack of time combined with a hot house that doesn't have air conditioning. I guess that's one reason -- okay the ONLY reason -- I don't like summer. My house gets extremely hot when I turn on the oven, so I have to seriously curtail any baking that I would normally do.

Most people suggest that August is the hottest month of all summer months, but I beg to disagree. That's simply not true on Florin. As a matter of fact, now that it's August, I can leave my windows open all day and sometimes have to close them at night because the temps are quite chilly. I know I'm not the only person to notice that many of the leaves on our trees already have a tinge of yellow in them. August is certainly the beginning of autumn.... which breaks my heart. Because I LOVE SUMMER!!!

With the dip in outside temperatures I get to increase the internal household temperatures.... i.e. I get to turn my oven on!!! I celebrated this by making a sumptuous dessert.... no, it's not a cookie, it's a cupcake!! But it's oh-so-good that I have to share the recipe! My sisters found it on My Baking Addiction and sent it to me. Wees made these the same night I did... so we were twin baking in the Mid-west and west.

However, before you bake these, I need to encourage you to have your cardiologist's phone number programmed into your speed dial... the recipe has ONE CUP of vegetable oil, ONE CUP of sour cream and 4 EGGS mixed into a cake mix! Well, at least you will die happy, right?!?

Snickers Cupcakes

1 pkg devil's food cake mix

1 (5.9 oz) pkg instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs; lightly beaten

1/2 cup warm water

1 tsp vanilla

24-30 FROZEN Snickers Minis Candy Bars

Preheat oven to 350*.

Line (2) 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners

In large bowl, mix together the cake, pudding, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, vanilla and water.

Evenly divide the batter amongst the prepared pans.

(My Baking Addiction uses a 3 TBSP cookie scoop to fill the papers. I only have a 2 TBSP cookie scoop, so I adapted.)

Gently push a frozen Snickers mini into the center of the batter and smooth the surface making sure to cover the candy bar with batter.

Bake 18-22 mins, or until top is springy and a wooden toothpick comes out clean

Cool cupcakes on wire rack.

(You will find that this recipe acually fills all 24 cupcake liners! I think, you could fill even more than 24. When I make this again, I will put less batter in each liner and fill an extra 6. I found that the cups overflowed when baking.)

Caramel Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter; softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar (I figured that was 4 - 4 1/2 cups)
1/3 cup caramel topping; plus more for drizzling
1/4 tsp salt
(Wees used salted butter and omitted the salt from her recipe and it tasted wonderfully!)

Cream the butter and shortening. Add the vanilla, salt and caramel syrup and combine well.
Begin adding in the sugar, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

(I was surprised that I didn't need to add milk or water, but with that much butter, I guess it wasn't needed!)

After all the sugar has been added and mixed, taste it and decide if you want to add more caramel syrup.
Garnish with chopped Snickers bars and a drizzle of caramel syrup.

The recipe was on iRis the iPad, so I kept it nearby for reference!

The end result is DELICIOUS!! I initially didn't enjoy the caramel icing, but after eating it on the cupcake, I found it was the perfect companion to the chocolate cake.

If you'll excuse me, I have the EMT's waiting at my door with a crash cart.