Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Okay...so I know it's been years or something...but I just haven't found the time to write...or really, I just didn't feel like writing. It happens I spose. Anyway...as of recently I've been baking up a storm. Generally one new type of cupcake every weekend (during the week is almost impossible seeing as I have kids and all). BUT, while I will post all the other recipes for the deliciousness I've been baking up...I wanna start with the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes I just made. Who doesn't like peanut butter and chocolate? Anyway...here it is - serve with a nice tall glass of your dairy or non-dairy beverage of choice:

REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUP CUPCAKES
_{Makes 24 cupcakes}

For the cake

1 Box chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's Food)
1 c sour cream
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
2 eggs
24 Reese's Peanut butter cup miniatures - unwrapped

1) Preheat oven to 325° and prepare cupcake pans with liners.

2) Combine all cake ingredients except candies. Spray a measuring tablespoon with cooking spray (the batter will be thick and will stick if you don't) and plop 1 T of batter in each cupcake liner. Wet your finger with some water and spread batter to edges of cup. Place a Reese's miniature in the center of all the liners (upside down works best). Next spoon approx 2 more tablespoons of batter over each candy, making sure it covers it completely.

3) Bake in oven for approx 25 minutes. So, the toothpick test won't work with this cupcake because of the PB cup in the middle...so the easiest way to know if they're done is to touch the top of the cupcake. If it springs back up, it's done.

For the frosting

1 1/4 cup + 2 T peanut butter (for me that was about an entire 16 oz jar)
3/4 stick butter, about 6 T (room temp)
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Heavy cream (about 3 - 5 T depending on what consistency you'd like. I used 4 T)

1) In a bowl use a hand mixer, or fancy stand mixer, and cream sugar and butter. Scrape down the sides and then add peanut butter and 1 T of cream. Blend everything together. Add more cream as you're blending until you reach desired consistency.

2) Frost as desired! I used a 1M tip from Wilton and a pastry bag. I also topped each cupcake with chocolate sprinkles and a Reese's mini...no, not miniature...mini. They come unwrapped in the bag and are about the size of a dime...PERFECT for topping cupcakes! You could also cut the miniatures in half or chop them up and sprinkle them on top.

_{NOTE: You may have a lot of frosting left depending on how much you use for the cupcakes}

I used LIVESTRONG to compute nutrition info

The surprise inside

Who DOESN'T like bananas and chocolate??

I have lots of recipes I want to start posting...so I'll start with one I made today.
Total time is about 30-35 minutes.

BANANA & CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

1 3/4 c all purpose flour
3/4 c agave nectar
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 egg
3/4 c vanilla yogurt
3 ripe bananas
Chocolate chips (I'm not designating an amount because these are sprinkled on top, so it's up to you as to how many you want)


1) Preheat oven to 375º & prepare muffin tin (okay, fancy way of saying spray it with an oil - like coconut or canola)

2) Combine flour, baking soda, & salt in a bowl and set aside

3) In another bowl beat the egg, then add the bananas and mash (I used a potato masher and the process went rather quickly). Then stir on yogurt & agave.

4) Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until moistened.

5) Fill muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full (you will probably have some batter left over, I used to to fill some mini muffin tins) and then sprinkle some chocolate chips on top. I used semi-sweet chocolate and you can see from the picture that I didn't add an obscene amount on the top of each muffin. I think putting too many will make these REALLY sweet.

6) Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Test for doneness by pushing your finger on the top of the muffin. If the dent you created puffs back up, they're done! (You can also use the toothpick trick to test for doneness as well)

On a side note, these muffins are a little dense compared to commercially bought muffins or muffin mixes (more like a banana bread than a muffin)...but they taste amazing and no pesky fillers or additives. ENJOY!

UPDATE (19 SEP 10): I poured this into a bread pan today. Same ingredients, but I added about a 1/4 c of chocolate chips into the batter, turned down the temp to 350º, and baked for about 60-70 minutes. It turned out great!!!