We recently made some of the most delicious chocolate/peanut butter cupcakes with three variations. All three were good, but I’m only going to share the full “recipe” for the best. (See past the back story for the recipe).
Back Story
Anyone who knows my husband knows he’s not much of a sweets person so I was a little surprised when he picked up Fun Da Middles from Betty Crocker. I had been wanting to try the cupcake with a fun, creamy inside for a while but didn’t want to eat a whole batch to myself so didn’t suggest it. He even picked the best flavor option, which was the creamy chocolate icing in the vanilla cake.
We both loved them and John even ate way more than I did during the week. We love to experiment with finding new ways to make foods we enjoy and John was fascinated with the idea of a chocolate/peanut butter version. We researched it online and most suggestions were to take already sugary peanut butter and add more sugar to it. Yuck!
So we decided that I would decide between peanut butter or peanut butter cups (thinks Reeses but we got store brand) when I got to the store. I couldn’t decide so I um, just got both.
I decided to experiment to see which was better, the cups or actual crunchy peanut butter. I made half with crunchy peanut butter and half with the peanut butter cups. The problem was, the peanut butter cups sank in the batter and kind of created a mess at the bottom, thus not filling the whole cupcake center with its yummy goodness. The regular peanut butter stayed put but it spread out the other way. The cupcakes were also too dry. All these were edible, but not quite “right.”
Perfect Marriage
John had a great idea that since the peanut butter was spreading one way and the cups were dropping, that both needed to be anchored somehow. He also thought there needed to be a stronger peanut butter flavor (he really likes peanut butter). So with the other half of the batter, he came up with the recipe I’m finally getting to below:
Chocolate/PB Perfection
What you need:
- One box of your favorite chocolate cake (would suggest chocolate fudge or devil’s food-milk chocolate isn’t rich enough)
- All the ingredients required to make the cupcakes on the box (usually eggs, water and oil)
- Peanut butter (crunchy is our preference, creamy is probably fine too. We like the added texture).
- Peanut butter cups-one for each cupcake (Think Reese’s but you can use a cheaper store brand)
- Muffin tin
- Muffin wrappers (you’ll want these, trust me. There’s possible peanut butter oozing)
Process:
- Make the cupcake batter according to instructions (including preheating the oven-I almost forgot)
- Fill the cupcake tin with wrappers
- Take a spoon and put a 1-2 spoon-fulls of the batter in each muffin paper (enough to cover the bottom but not more than 1/3 full)
- Place a dollop of peanut butter in the center of each cupcake creation (more than a teaspoon, less than a tablespoon. Just eyeball it)
- Place a single peanut butter cup squarely on the peanut butter
- Fill the cupcake holders with the remaining better, being careful to not overfill.
- Bake for the lowest amount of time allowed on the cake box. Like if it says 18-23 minutes, go with 18. Cooking too long will make it dry out and taste funny.
- Let the cupcakes cool longer than normal because the innerds will be hot.
Enjoy!