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. 
A week of Oreo recipes!? Oh my goodness. This fudge looks awesome. I love sweet things that include pretzels. Sweet/salty is so delish.
I’m excited for a week of Oreos! The combo of pretzels and Oreos in your fudge sounds amazing!!
Oh yum! We love Oreos too! I have an Oreo cake recipe on my blog (foudn at another) that I did for Mr.s Birthday one year. It’s oen of my top searched posts. =)
I love Oreos, too, but I rarely buy them unless it is for a recipe. This looks fantastic. I don’t like pretzels very much, but I guess the other ingredients mask the taste of pretzels that I don’t like. Thanks for this recipe!
I was just casually reading the beginning of this post, and then I scrolled down and saw the picture…OooooooMG! AMAZING! That looks like the most fantastic thing! Plus I love a salty/sweet combo, so this is right up my alley 🙂
This looks amazing! I like your idea of adding more salt. Did you see that there are pretzel M&Ms now? I bet it would be fun to sprinkle some of those on top!
Those sound amazing! I love a sweet and salty combo too… in fact I may or may not have kept picking at these ginormous chocolate and caramel covered pretzels on the dessert table at our family Mothers Day bbq yesterday. yum!
I will absolutely be checking back for the rest of the oreo recipes… I’m a huge fan 🙂
This fudge looks and sounds phenomenal. Salty, sweet, rich, chocolaty, creamy, crunchy. I want!
More salt? That recipe seems like a perfect candidate for using sea salt! 🙂
hey I just tried your recipe and and the bottom layer never set. Is there something I can do to prevent that?
My Husband shared a tasty post from The Kitchn with me on google reader and i discovered your blog. I spent all of vacation mornings going back and reading and tagging your recipe ideas. I am so inspired and can’t wait to get in the kitchen!!! My Husband can’t wait either!!