Soda Fountain Fave: Chocolate Root Beer Hi-Hats

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My boyfriend just turned 30 a week ago. This past weekend was a big giant party to celebrate his not-really-over-the-hill-but-big-enough-to-make-a-fuss-over birthday. This, of course, gives me a reason to bake something fun and exciting. YESSSS! George, aka Mr. Boyfriend, loves peaches. Like... L-O-V-E LOVES them beyond all imagination. I'm a strawberry fan myself so this love is not shared, but since I love him (Go ahead, I'll give you a second to "awwww"................ and we're done) I made mini peach cheesecake cupcakes in his honor.

But that's not what's pictured here. What's pictured here is the second cupcake option. I struggled a little bit with what cupcakes to make. I knew I'd make the peach cheesecakes, but the second option was still up in the air. What do I do? Do I even do a second option? What should it be? So as of Tuesday, I was still debating until it hit me!!! HI-HATS. Glorious, poofy, yet-to-be explored HI-HATS.

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Have you heard of hi-hats? They're apparently an old school New York favorite. That, of course, makes them cool in my book. It's basically chocolate cake, a fluffy marshmallow/7-minute frosting "filling" that's really more of a mountain on top of the cake, then you dip that in chocolate. I know, right? HOLY MOLY! I've always wanted to make them, but haven't had the chance to just do it for fun. This time, it's PERFECT! Only, do I just fill them with plain ol' marshmallow filling? Just sugar-flavored? That's so not like me! So first I was thinking maybe coffee-flavored. That'd make them unique and quite charming to the adult palette. But then DUH. I remembered the root beer concentrate I've had sitting in my refrigerator for a year and a half. HELLOOOO. ROOT BEER HI-HATS! Perfect! Brilliant!!!!!

George was game. Sometimes he's into my whacky ideas, and sometimes he gives me a weirdo look like I'm crazy and he's all "I dunnoooooooooo" and I just yell "TRUST ME. WHY DO YOU STILL NOT TRUST ME????" Luckily, this didn't take any convincing.

The baby hi-hats (low-hats??) were a HUGE hit at the party. Everyone loved them, and even a few non-root beer fans were digging them too. Seven-minute frosting has a serious sugar-flavor so if you flavor it, you really have to kick it up a notch. That sugar-strength actually helped the root beer concentrate so it wasn't too strong. I mean, don't get me wrong, I made sure there was some serious root beer flavor in there, but it wasn't over the top. It blended beautifully.

I'll give you more details (and of course, pics!) in the next post. Until then, friends...

Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Brownies: The Completion

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As promised, this is Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Brownies: Part 2. They were a HUGE hit at the family affair and bonus: they traveled quite well during the 7 hour drive there & 7 hour drive back (there were thankfully some leftovers for me to share with the folks back home). Sometimes you gotta worry about those pesky details like dessert durability!

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And the second thing I promised—the peanut butter filling recipe. As a bonus for you I've added a downloadable recipe card with the recipe to the post so scroll on down! This filling can be used to kick any recipe up a notch—brownies, cake, etc. It's actually pretty similar to making frosting. Here we go.

Peanut Butter Filling via Martha Stewart

• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

• 1/2 c confectioner's sugar

• 3/4 c smooth peanut butter

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Combine ingredients in bowl & blend well. Add to brownie batter by the spoonful and swirl with knife to create marbled-pattern.

::: Click here to download recipe card PDF :::

Mmm, deliciousness. The peanut butter filling really does add the perfect touch--it's a little hint of salt in a sweet, rich, chocolatey treat. I added one batch of peanut butter filling to the brownies, but personally, I would maybe even add 1.5 batches. But I'm 110% obsessed with peanut butter, so that could be why. :-)