Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake

It's 9:34 PM. You're in the middle of the latest episode of Revenge when boom. It hits. That middle-of-the-night-dear-Lord-give-me-something-sweet craving.

There are little to no sweets to be found in our household. Not because Seamus and I don't love sweets. But because we do love them. So much that I'm sure if we had our fill of calorie filled goodies on a daily basis, we would both have bellies that would give Santa Claus a run for his money. To kick those late night cravings, we do however keep a box of Trader Joe's mini peanut butter cups in the freezer. Pop two or three in your mouth and the craving is kept at bay. This satisfies me plenty, however for the growing boy of the household, not so much. This brings me to this week's Pin Win.

Cake in a mug. I repeat. Cake. In. A. Mug.

After searching the web for something quick, delicious, and easy to make, I came across this deliciously delectable recipe for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake. This guilty pleasure is brought to you by Yammie's Noshery.

First, assemble your ingredients.

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons chocolate chips

Next, melt the butter and mix with peanut butter. Stir it up!

Then, in your mug mix together the vanilla, egg, and sugar until well combined. Pour the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a bowl. Mix. Then add to your mug. You'll end up with a nice, dark mix like this:

Remember the buttery, nuttery mix you melted and stirred up before? Add that to your batter mix and stir well. 

Drooling yet? Because I was. Now, the recipe calls for chocolate chips, but I bumped it up a knotch and added in those yummy mini peanut butter cups I told you about earlier.

Now you can take this delicious mixture and pop it in the microwave. The recipe suggested 1 - 2 minutes (depending on your microwave) so I went for 1:30 to be on the safe side. This turned out to be just right for me!

It doesn't look like much, but believe me...this dark, delicious dessert was scrumptious!

The recipe went on to create a peanut butter mousse for a topping. Even though I was ready to dive into my chocolate mug cake, I figured what could make it better than more peanut butter. I decided to give it a shot! Enter mousse ingredients.

1 tablespoon softened cream cheese
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons whipped cream or cool whip
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Mix together cream cheese, peanut butter and vanilla. Fold in your whipped cream. Sift in the powdered sugar and fold that in as well. Try not to over stir.

Now, I have to be honest, my mixture didn't look anything like the picture. It didn't seem as smooth. So I gave it a taste and added a little more whipped cream, but it didn't seem to do the trick. However, I died and went to heaven when I tasted it, so I said enough. I'm ready to indulge.

So I grabbed a glass of milk and dug in. Ladies and gents, this truly hits the spot for a sweet late night treat. It's easy, quick and the ingredients are simple. I had nearly each ingredient in my house already, which made Seamus even happier when I could whip this recipe up in a jiffy!

Pin Win for sure! Enjoy late night snackers.

Pinspiration: Bar fun!

It's safe to say that my husband, Seamus, and I are beer snobs. We both cringe at the sight of Bud Light. It's nothing personal, we just really appreciate artfully crafted brews.

When we moved to Wilmington, North Carolina a few years ago, we decided that we wanted to start a a collection of bottle caps from all of the great beers we were tasting. Wilmington was home to a few good bars and a great beer store where it went well beyond just Budweiser and Miller Light on tap.

It's been just a little over three years, and our collection of bottle caps has grown well into the hundreds, I'm sure, and we're still going. But what to do with them? We both wanted to find a way to show off our favorite caps.

Then I spotted this:

This clever idea gave me the inspiration (and extra boost) to start crackin' on my bar cart area and create these darling letters to hang above our bar.

The whole process was very easy! I didn't have directions to go by so I just went with my gut and tried to figure out exactly what would be most successful and of course, what would look the best!

Step One: Buy yourself some cute letters. Be sure they are on the large side and have enough space for you to work with. Bottle caps aren't that small, believe it or not! 

Step Two: Lay out the bottle caps and pick your favorites! This took some time considering we had lots of bottle caps and lots of repeats. 

Step Three: Place your bottle caps in their positions. This was the hardest part! Trying to make sure they fit perfectly was one heck of a task.

Step Four: Paint your letters. I chose black to make sure the letters really 'popped' and kept their defined shape.

Step Five: Commence hot gluing. It takes a steady hand and tons of patience! Don't rush, and don't burn those fingers!

Let the glue dry and hang your craft letters when finished. Bar letters complete!

Side note, if you're wondering where that chalkboard came from, that was a DIY project as well!

Spotted: this awesome chalkboard for a bar area...

Unfortunately, Monterey's weather wasn't forgiving the day I decided to use spray paint, so pictures just weren't happening. Trying to use spray paint, an iPhone and block the wind I'm afraid wasn't something this girl could handle. However, this process is incredibly easy and no step-by-step images necessary. If you're looking for a quick and easy way to make an adorable chalkboard, buy a picture frame, and spray the glass with Chalkboard Paint and poof! Chalkboard. I found my picture frame from Beverly's here in Monterey, and I love it. Just the look I was going for!

Stay crafty, my friends.

What's Your Design Personality?

We feel as though we've just found the pot of gold at the end of of every savvy shopper's colorful, design inspired rainbow! 

Two simple words - HomeGoods Stylescope. 


This handy dandy tool is the perfect guide for those looking to discover, hone in on, and/or add a little finesse to your home's design style and aesthetic. 

IT'S SO EASY!

1. Visit www.homegoods.com/stylescope
2. Select the 5 images that speak to you
3. Click "Get Results"

Then, the magic happens! Stylescope will tell you which of the following are your primary and secondary design styles:

Then she'll take you on a whirlwind of a design adventure! All of the tips, fresh ideas, and inspiration you could ask for. Including the Pinterest board of your dreams.

Our favorite part...you'll be introduced to a few blogs that match so well with your interior design personality!

What are our design personalities you ask? 

Marisa: 

Alex:

What is your design personality on Stylescope? Was it spot on or way off?

xo,