Day 259 - Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Quinn's birthday is tomorrow, so tonight I decided to bake him something fancy to help celebrate his big day. Since his favorite candy is Reece's peanut butter cups or pieces I decided to bake the chocolate & peanut butter cupcakes from my Martha Stewart cupcake book.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chop coarsely
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chop coarsely
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Peanut Butter Filling
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line cupcake/muffin pan with paper liners of your choice. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Put butter and chocolates in a heatproof bowl and set over (not in) a pan of simmering water

Stir until melted

Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Whisk granulated sugar into cooled chocolate mixture. Add the eggs, whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in the pure vanilla extract, then add the flour mixture. Stir until well blended.

Make the peanut butter filling. Stir together all ingredients until smooth and use immediately.

Spoon 2 tablespoons of the chocolate batter into each lined cup. Place 1 tablespoon of the peanut butter filling on top. Put an additional tablespoon of the chocolate batter over the peanut butter filling layer.

Swirl 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter filling with the top layer of chocolate batter with a toothpick or wood skewer.

Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, about 40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

There was no frosting and in my opinion they didn't need any, they were just right! And most importantly Quinn loved them. He doesn't have a major sweet tooth so these treats were the perfect balance for him :)