Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Tomorrow is hump day so in celebration of pre-hump day (it’s my blog, I can do what I want!) I’ve made something utterly delicious. Though PB and choccies are utterly delicious on their own, together, they make the most heavenly combination. Think Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

And how do you create an incredible peanut butter and chocolate combo dish?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes, would be the answer you’re looking for.

I got this from another favourite cooking blog of mine, Joy the Baker. However, she got it from here: Organic and Chic. Don’t know who the credit really goes to. Don’t really care. These cupcakes are a little bundle of beauty and I am wholly satisfied. So both bloggers get credit!

As you can see, the original recipe and Joy the Baker’s version of the cupcakes are in fact organic. However, I don’t own organic ingredients and was too lazy to go out and buy some. In saying that, these cupcakes taste perfectly yummy with non-organic ingredients.

The original recipe makes 24, but I knew if I made that many they’d be gone by the end of the day. So, I halved everything and made 12. These 12 will still be in my tummy at the end of the day but 12 is still better than 24 in there! However, the measurements below are the originals, so they make 24. Hope that’s not too confusing for you.

I’ve also typed the ingredients below in their non-organic form, but you can do them however you fancy!

One more alteration – the original recipe chops peanut butter cups and puts it on top of the cupcakes and icing. However, I had none of those. So ordinary chocolate did the trick just fine!

Ingredients for cupcake

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)

2 cups of sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons white vinegar

2 cups cold water

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line two cupcakes pans with paper patties.

2. In a large bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, water, vanilla extract and vinegar.

4. Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients being careful not to overmix. The mixture will be quite wet, but that’s ok.

5. Pour the batter until the cups are two thirds full and place in the oven for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cup comes out clean.

6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then place on a wire rack until completely cool before frosting.

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup peanut butter

3 to 4 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)

1 tablespoon milk (or water)

Steps

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and peanut butter until creamy and virtually no butter lumps remain.

2. Add three cups of powdered sugar and beat on low for 1 minute.

3. Add milk and beat on medium high for 1 minute.

4. Add the remaining cup of powdered sugar if you’d like your frosting a bit thicker.

5. Slather frosting onto cooled cupcakes and top with coarsely chopped chocolate.

THE VERDICT

Does this recipe even really need a verdict? I don’t think so. But nonetheless, as you can imagine, these cupcakes are just a pocketful of sunshine.

The cupcakes are thick and moist and have plenty of chocolatey goodness in them. They’re not too big either, so you don’t have to feel too guilty. Only a little guilty.

The peanut butter frosting is tre magnifique (sounds better in French, right?). In all honesty, I could have just slathered peanut butter right out of the jar on to the cupcakes and be satisfied. However, mixed with butter and sugar it is a nicer, softer and creamier consistency and also has a sweet taste to it and is not as dense as just peanut butter.