Glorious Soft Pretzels

This post was a lot more difficult for me to get up than I thought it would be. I had planned to update on Monday, saying I won't be around much for a week or two (to post or comment on other people's blogs) because we're moving this weekend! But now it's Wednesday night and I really want to sleep and I'm still not done packing and cleaning. I can't wait to be settled into our new place and to have a baking extravaganza in our new kitchen. Anyway onto the pretty pretzels.

I've wanted to make soft pretzels for a really long time but as with many other food things I want to make, I never got around to it. Well I caught part of an episode of Alton Brown's Good Eats when he was making pretzels, and I was inspired again! So I made them and they were glorious. Glorious is probably not a word you will often hear with pretzels but they really were. They were so incredibly easy to make - the dough came together beautifully, and after sitting for an hour it rose into this wonderfully soft lovely dough.

And then there's the 30 second boiling in water and baking soda! That was an exciting experience. I thought the pretzels would come apart in the water, but they stayed in tact. The only downside to this was that for me the baking soda water bath caused the baked pretzels to have a weird feeling in my mouth (I'm guessing because baking soda is much more basic than most foods we eat). Other people that tried it didn't have this weird feeling in their mouth as I did, so it might just be me but I don't think so. I think Alton said the reason you boil them is to denature the proteins so that you can get a hard skin (while still maintaining a soft interior). And yes this did happen, though I expected the skin to be harder. I found another recipe (Sherry Yard) that uses sugar, baking soda, beer and water for the boiling liquid so I'll definitely be trying that - hopefully with better results.

There are some weird slashes throughout my pretzels because I didn't punch down the dough before I divided it up, and then I pushed the air out of the dough after I started rolling it (which caused the dough to be flat, and then folded, etc you get the picture). And apparently I don't know how to twist a pretzel! There's supposed to be an extra twist - next time! And now when I'm looking at the pretzel pictures, it looks like the pretzels are hugging themselves with their two little arms. Yes you can tell that I'm tired. But seriously - when you look at food pictures too long you do start to see things like this! Anyway I will definitely be making pretzels again, and I am dying to try the homemade mustard that Alton made in the same episode. I would've made it this time but I didn't have any mustard seeds.

Soft Pretzels
Adapted from Alton Brown

Makes 8 pretzels

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Prepare 2 baking pans with parchment paper or Silpat mats. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in a large pot.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Spaghetti and Beanballs with Onion & Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce

Let's start this off by saying that I don't like red sauce or meatballs (when I used to eat meat). So what compelled me to choose this recipe that combines spaghetti with red sauce AND beanballs (a vegetarian version of meatballs)? Well I was curious. Maybe I'd like the beanballs and find a yummy new protein source to add to dishes. Maybe I'd finally find a red sauce that I could eat and love (without adding cream or lots of cheese). Well I found neither. But I do want to share these recipes with you because I think there are many of you out there that would love to try out these beanballs (which had lots of flavour - maybe bordering on too much even) and my boyfriend was in love with the sauce, so maybe you'd like it too.

The sauce is a simple red sauce, which I added 2 roasted garlic bulbs to (one garlic bulb ended up with much softer cloves I could mash up and mix more easily into the sauce while the other bulb was a bit more firm so you got a mix of roasted garlic flavour in the sauce combined with bites of yummy roasted garlic), and sauteed onions (which I wanted to be caramelized but I'm always reluctant to add too much butter or oil so they weren't as deliciously caramelized as they could have been). The sauce was a bit thick, and probably would've benefited from the addition of a good amount of red wine, and a sprinkling of fresh cut herbs (basil and oregano, my favourite) once served.

As for the beanballs, the texture was not what falafel-like as I'd expected (mmm falafel) but more soft like a mix between a falafel and a dough ball. You could double the batch and freeze up whatever you don't eat for a quick and healthy snack, or to add to whatever else you're making.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Lemon Ricotta Gnocchi
Soba Noodles with Zucchini Ribbons
Hummus
Santa Fe Pasta Salad

Spaghetti and Beanballs with Onion & Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Veganomicon

The first thing you want to do is start roasting the garlic bulbs, as this takes at least 45 minutes. Then I'd sautee the onions, start the sauce. Add the onions and garlic to the sauce when they're done. Meanwhile, start on the beanballs (while the sauce and onions are cooking away). Once the beanballs are in the oven, put on a large pot of water to boil for the spaghetti.

Serves 3-4

1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti

For the beanballs
20 oz can (about 3 cups) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp steak sauce
1 tsbp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp grated lemon zest (optional, because I couldn't taste it)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme

For the roasted garlic & onion tomato sauce
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic bulbs, roasted*
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp oil

Preheat the oven to 375F for the beanballs.

Make the onion & roasted garlic tomato sauce
Make sure you've roasted your garlic! Now you have to squeeze out all the cloves. It's your choice to add the cloves whole to the sauce, or mash them up and stir them in (or do a bit of both as I did).

Take out a frying pan (for sauteeing the onions) and a saucepan (for the sauce) and put both on medium-low heat. Put the oil in the frying pan for the onions, and add the onions. Then start on the sauce. Add crushed tomatoes, thyme, oregano, salt, pepper and garlic bulbs. Cover, and raise the heat a bit to bring to a simmer. Simmer for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the onions are soft and/or caramelized, add them to the sauce. Don't worry about the sauce sitting for longer than 15 minutes.

Make the beanballs
Mash the kidney beans in a mixing bowl until no whole beans are left. You don't want them to be completely smooth, you should still be able to recognize that they are kidney beans. Add the soy sauce, steak sauce, olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, bread crumbs, wheat gluten, and herbs, and use a fork to mix everything together. Use your hands to knead the mixture for about a minute, until everything is really well combined and firm.

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, a silpat, or oil. Roll the bean mixture into walnut-size balls. (My note: The book says you should get 12 to 15, I got at least 20 and even then I thought they might be a bit big.) Place the balls on the baking sheet as you go.

Put a large pot of water on the stove and start boiling the water for the spaghetti. Cook the spaghetti, so it should be done by about the time the beanballs come out of the oven.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned on the bottom, then flip them and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. (My note: If you want you can fry them, but for the sake of being healthy, baking is a much better option.)

Put everything together
Once the spaghetti is drained, toss it with the tomato sauce. Either add the beanballs now and mix it all together, or you can dish out the spaghetti and then place some beanballs on top.

*To roast garlic bulbs, slice off the top of the garlic bulb to expose most of the cloves. Cover in tinfoil and cook in a 375F oven for 45-55 minutes, or until soft.

Any Way You Want It Biscotti

I didn't used to like biscotti. Dry, hard, relatively flavourless cookies - who wants that? Then one day a few years ago I tried my step dad's mom's biscotti. The way she made it was plain, with no added flavours or extras except for vanilla, and the taste was so deliciously addictive.

I got the recipe from her (and wrote out the instructions in a weird way but thankfully I understand them and hopefully you will understand what I've written - if not please let me know!). I've made this biscotti recipe in several different ways over the years. Pumpkin spice, white chocolate & pistachio, Smarties (Smarties are better than M&M's by the way), almonds, and chopped up Crispy Crunch bar. The two biscotti pictured here are almond and Crispy Crunch. I did try another recipe for cinnamon sugar biscotti, and that was good, but this is the recipe that I go back to over and over again.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Banana Nut Shortbread
Caramel Almond Tiger Cookies
Snickerdoodles
Chocolate Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

Any Way You Want It Biscotti

2 to 2 1/2 cups flour (I usually add 2 1/2 cups but if it seems like too much add 2)
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
optional add ins: chopped up nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, etc), chocolate chunks or chips, dried fruit, spices (cinnamon, pumpkin spice, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, etc), chopped up chocolate bar, cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a baking sheet (parchment paper, silpat). Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices if adding them). Mix together wet ingredients separately (eggs, vanilla, vegetable oil). If adding anything else, add that now.

Spread the dough on the prepared baking sheet into a good size rectangle (the dough doesn't rise that much so spread the dough approximately how high you want the biscotti to be). Wet the back of a spoon to spread the dough if necessary (it can get sticky). Bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

Take the biscotti out of the oven, and cut the rectangle "hot dog way" (sorry had to add that in there! it means the longer way). Then cut each new rectangle into strips, turn them on their sides, and bake for another 10 minutes (or 20 minutes if you want to make sure they're good and crunchy/hard). Whatever shape and size you cut them into now is what you'll end up with so if you want them smaller, cut them into more pieces. Remove the biscotti from the oven and transfer to cooling racks.

Apple Pie with Brown Sugar Streusel Topping

I was talking with my brother about what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday (which was a while ago now), and he came to the conclusion that he wanted pie. An apple pie. I've never made an apple pie before but of course I was up for the challenge, and a bit worried that my apple pie would not be awesome. Actually for the 2 days before I made the pie, I kept trying to lower his expectations of it so he would be happy with it no matter what. But as I smelled it baking, I broke and said okay that smells really amazing. And it was.

I didn't want to make a double crusted pie and thought that having a crumbley topping might be delicious. So I took a streusel recipe from The Essential Baker, and combined it with a crust and filling recipe from Bon Appétit. Everything was pretty easy to put together, and the pie was really good. I know I'll be using this recipe again and don't feel the need to search for a better one. I'm no expert on pie crusts, as I've only made a handful of them, but this one wasn't annoying to work with and was really tasty. The crust was kind of soft and very buttery but definitely solid enough to hold everything together.

If this sounds good, you might like:
Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake
Coconut Cream Pie
Raspberry & White Chocolate Pie
The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart

Apple Pie with Brown Sugar Streusel Topping
Adapted from Bon Appétit October 1998 & The Essential Baker

Edit March 22, 2011: I made this pie again recently and would recommend decreasing the sugar in the apples to 1/4 cup (from 1/2 cup). I've edited the recipe to reflect that.

For Crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 tablespoons (about) ice water

For Filling
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 3/4 pounds apples, peeled, quartered, cored, thinly sliced (5 Braeburn apples for me)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

For Streusel
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
5 tbsp (2.5 oz) unsalted butter, chilled

Make Crust:
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter; cut in using on/off turns until butter is cut into 1/4-inch pieces. Add 3 tablespoons water and blend until moist clumps form, adding more water by tablespoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball. Flatten piece into disk; wrap in plastic. Chill at least 30 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated. Let soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

When you're ready to start putting it all together, position rack in bottom third of the oven and preheat to 375F.

Make Streusel:
Combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the dry ingredients. Pulse until the butter is cut into very small pieces, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Make Filling:
Combine sugar, flour and allspice in large bowl. Mix in apples, then vanilla extract.

Put It All Together:
Roll out dough disk on floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Spoon in apple filling, trying to make it relatively level so the streusel doesn't fall all over the place. Evenly sprinkle streusel topping over apples.

Bake pie until apples are tender and topping is light golden, about 45-50 minutes. Transfer to rack. Serve pie warm or at room temperature.

Onion Chutney: The Most Delicious Condiment That You Didn't Know You Were Missing

Even though Rebar is one of my super favourite cookbooks and I've made many things from it, I'm still discovering new recipes. Recipes that I passed by before because they didn't interest me, had an ingredient I wasn't too fond of, or had esoteric ingredients. Well I'm really glad that this recipe caught my eye this time around because I am so in love with the onion chutney, which is really the star of the sandwich.

The main recipe is for a different take on a grilled cheese sandwich - with aged white cheddar, green apple, Dijon (yum), watercress (though I just used the greens I had) and onion chutney. We ate it with roasted red potatoes tossed with fresh herbs, as you can see. The grilled cheese was good, but the onion chutney was better. It's so easy to make and so so so full of flavour. It's the perfect condiment. Add it to anything! An omelette, a tofu scramble, a sandwich, a quesadilla, a spoon. Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of the onion chutney, but take my word for it - it is deliciously amazing. The flavour reminds me of this extremely unhealthy extremely tasty pan fried onion dip, but is obviously much better for you. And a side note, I honestly wonder how more people do not have the Rebar cookbook.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Pasta with Portobello Mushrooms in Mustard Wine Sauce
Pan Fried Onion Dip
Walnut and Mushroom Nut Roast
Sweet Potato Black Bean Salsa

Cheddar Chutney Grilled Cheese with Green Apple
Adapted from Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook

whole wheat bread
butter or margarine
aged white cheddar cheese
Dijon mustard
Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced
lots and lots of onion chutney

Butter one side of each bread slice. On the unbuttered side of half of the slices, spread Dijon mustard and layer with chutney, apple slices, cheddar and greens. Top with remaining bread slices, butter side up. (It seems really ridiculous that I'm basically writing out a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich... but since I'm at it, in order to keep the sandwich together and things from sliding out, try to disperse the cheese throughout the layers in the sandwich instead of just putting them between the apple and greens.)

Heat a pan over medium-low and cook sandwiches on both sides until the cheese is melted and the bread is crispy and golden.

Onion Chutney

2 tbsp butter
2 yellow onions, diced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red chile flakes
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp brown sugar
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Heat butter in a pan over medium heat and add onions. Saute until translucent. Add salt, chile flakes and coriander and continue to cook for 15 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook until the onions are very soft and creamy.

Applesauce-Oat Bran Muffins

I was really excited to see that my library had Veganomicon as I've seen many people posting recipes from it and have been curious. I've since bought the cookbook but have only tried out a few recipes from it so far. These delicious applesauce oat bran muffins are one of the recipes I've tried. I've made them many times, with modifications to make them healthier.

Which brings me to the Healthy Cooking event hosted by Fun and Food that I'm taking part in. The point behind this event is to gather vegetarian recipes (including baked goods) that are healthy, and I know I could definitely use some new healthy recipes! And a bonus is that a winner will be chosen and will receive a free healthy cookbook. What I did to make these muffins healthier is what I usually do with muffins - swap applesauce for oil (which works especially well in this recipe since it's an applesauce muffin!), omit the sugar, use whole grain flours, and add healthy nuts and dried fruit.

I changed the spices a bit (added more cinnamon and added some cloves) to simplify it rather than measuring out a tiny bit of a few different spices. So add whatever spice mixture you like to this (cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice)! I've also tried making these muffins with combinations of flours with success, like a mix of whole wheat flour and amaranth flour. And of course switch out the raisins and pecans/walnuts for other favourite fruit and/or nut combinations. I haven't tried any yet because I'm really stuck on this version, but I bet chopped dried apples would be perfect. This is probably one of my favourite healthy muffin discoveries/creations!

Other muffins/loaves I've made:
Mini Pear Loaves
Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread
Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins
Snickerdoodle Muffins

Applesauce-Oat Bran Muffins
Adapted from Veganomicon

Makes 12 muffins

3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup + 3 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp sugar (optional)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (or a combination of whole wheat flour and other flours, such as 1/2 cup amaranth flour and 1 cup whole wheat)
3/4 cup oat bran
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, whisk together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar; allow it to rest for 1 minute to curdle. Add the applesauce, and sugar (if using), and whisk to completely incorporate them.

In a separate smaller bowl, sift together the flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet; stir only to moisten and don't overmix. Fold in the raisins and pecans. Use an ice cream scoop or measuring cup to scoop the batter into muffin cups.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to complete cooling.

Soba Noodles with Zucchini Ribbons

I extremely love edamame. There was a time where I viewed them cautiously in all you can eat Japanese restaurants, but now I can sit and easily eat a bowl full, popping the beans out of their pods. And I love buying frozen shelled edamame to add to anything, including edamame hummus (which I've yet to make).

I love how this dish looks - the dark soba noodles contrasting with the green zucchini, edamame and green onion. (Soba noodles are usually made of buckwheat and can be found in Asian grocery stores.) As for the taste, it's something a bit different (in a good way) but the flavour could be punched up a bit. Make sure you have everything prepared before you start!

I'm sending this to Gay for Presto Pasta Nights.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Portabello Fettuccine with Spinach Pesto, Roasted Peppers & Romano Cheese
Balkan Roasted Vegetable Salad
Santa Fe Pasta Salad

Soba Noodles with Zucchini Ribbons
Modified from Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook

Makes 2 relatively small servings.

4 oz soba noodles
1 large zucchini
3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce, or to taste
3 tbsp mirin, or to taste
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup shelled edamame
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 green onion stalks, thinly sliced for garnish

Heat a pot of water over medium heat and when it is boiling, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain.*

Use a vegetable peeler, and carefully slice the zucchini into long, thin strips. Set aside. Combine the soy sauce, mirin and cornstarch in a bowl, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Stir-fry the garlic for 30 seconds, and add the edamame, mushrooms, zucchini and soy mixture, and stir-fry for about 30 seconds more, or until the vegetables are heated through**. Remove from the heat.

To serve, put equal portions of the noodles in individual bowls or on plates, and spoon the vegetables and sauce over top. Garnish with scallions and serve.

*My package of soba noodles says to cook it for 6 minutes, but they're completely cooked after about 2.
**I used frozen edamame so I stir-fried for a few minutes until the edamame were hot.

Elvis Fluffernutter Cake

As soon as I saw this cake on Lynn's blog, I saved the recipe thinking I would make it for my stepdad at some point, as he is a big Elvis fan. Plus the cake sounded like something fun and a bit different (banana cake with chocolate chips sprinkled on top, peanut butter marshmallow filling, and peanut butter icing - all sprinkled with chopped peanut butter cups). Well when my stepdad's birthday came around, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said cheesecake with some kind of sauce. Yea I could've made that for him but what about the fluffernutter cake?? I told him about it but he said no I want the cheesecake. But then I sent him the link to Lynn's post and he changed his mind.

I didn't really like this cake, which is odd for me because usually I can find something I like about most things I bake. Everyone else on the other hand, loved it. Really loved it. Some people said it's their favourite cake I've made - even my mom who is against chocolate chips in banana bread and never eats peanut butter cups.

You can see in this picture my typical "stick all the frosting on top!" tactic. I really don't intend to do this but somehow it always happens. Must work on that.

I've started to put the cakes together a day or so before we eat them but the resulting cakes are drier. I know for some cakes (or maybe all cakes?) people say that if you let it sit for a day it will taste better because the flavours meld, but I'm not really convinced.

Other cakes I've made:
Caramel Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Carrot Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese White Chocolate Icing
Perfect Party Cake (Lemon, Raspberry, Coconut)

Elvis Fluffernutter Cake
From All Recipes then adapted by Foodaphilia and adapted again by Cookie Baker Lynn and by me

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 mashed bananas, about 1 cup
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Chopped up peanut butter cups for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans. Fit the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Grease and flour the whole pan.

2. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating just to combine. Stir in vanilla and mashed bananas.

4. Pour batter evenly between the two cake pans. Sprinkle the mini chips over the top of the batter. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

5. Let pans cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Carefully invert layers onto a plate, peel off the parchment paper, then carefully put back on the rack to finish cooling.

Frosting

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
1 cup of smooth peanut butter
4 cups of powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup marshmallow fluff

With an electric mixer cream together the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time.

Place 1/3 of the frosting into a separate bowl and fold in the marshmallow fluff until completely incorporated.

Frost the top of the first layer with the marshmallow frosting. Top with the second layer. Frost with the rest of the frosting and sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups over the top, pressing them into the frosting slightly.