Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Chocolate and peanut butter are such a classic flavor combo. You really can’t beat it. I’d say it’s definitely one of my favorites.
This peanut butter frosting recipe is amazing. No wonder it’s famous. I decided to make these on a whim and take them to a cookout.
I got inspiration from Mermaid Sweets. I decided to kick it up a notch by filling the cupcakes with more peanut butter cup pieces and some ganache. Because ganache definitely makes everything better! Be warned though, after one of these guys, you’ll definitely need a glass of milk.
For the chocolate cupcakes, I used the recipe from Elisa Strauss’s Confetti Cakes for kids – I’m not going to post the recipe here, I recommend the cookbook, although I’m sure someone else has posted the recipe on the Internet somewhere…
Kathleen’s Peanut Butter Icing – as seen on Mermaid Sweets from the Food Network
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.
Chocolate Ganache (I had some leftover in the fridge, you would probably only need about 1/4 of this recipe)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
In saucepan bring whipping cream to boil over high heat.
Pour hot whipping cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate melted.
You can add more cream if your ganache is too thick to spread.
To assemble the cupcakes:
Using the cone method, remove some of the cupcake and set aside. Drop a few pieces of cut up mini Reeces peanut butter cups to the hole in the cupcake. Spoon some ganache in the hole.
Replace the top of the cupcake. Frost with peanut butter frosting (I used my Wilton 1M tip). Top frosting with more cut up mini Reeces peanut butter cups.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
mmm they look so super moist!
Yum! Those look really good! I’ve never tried white chocolate with pumpkin.
Wow white chocolate and pumpkin! What a delicious combination…yum!
I made those last year, and MAN OH MAN aren’t they good!
I have in the oven, a chocolate-pumpkin streusel brownie. Now, I want to make this too.
You have great recipes. Thanks.
These look delicious! And I totally do not blame you for having a couple before taking them to give away!
I love that you ate 2 while you were cutting them! 🙂 That sounds familiar!
They look wonderful!
These are the same bars I made, but I added cinnamon chips per recommendation from Maria at Two Peas in their Pod. They were great! Glad to see they turned out well for you too!
I totally agree I’m not crazy about chocolate and pumpking together. Another great flavor with pumpkin (in my opinion) is gingerbread.
I’m definitely adding this to my list of pumpkin recipes that will be baked from here until the kiddos say no more! 🙂
~ingrid
I love making bars. These look amazing. I will definety try these soon!
I made these last night to take tailgating at a college football game tonight and they are SO yummy! I used semisweet chips instead of white chocolate, but I bet they’d be good either way! I’m Really glad you warned that the mixture might look like it curdled after adding in the pumpkin, because I think it would have freaked me out and I would have thought I did something wrong!