Sunday, February 21, 2010

Chocolate is Nature’s Way of Making up for Mondays

Spoken so truly! So what better way to make up for the beginning of the week (be it occupied with work, school, or other activities) with some yummy chocolate?

There's no better way to tide yourself over till the weekend. I decid
ed I would tide myself (and my family and friends) over with some amazing Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcakes (aka rich, chocolate brownie batter with Reese's Peanut Butter Cup peanut butter in the middle)! I pulled this recipe out of Martha Stewart's book, Cupcakes. The recipe below I copied from
a blog, Half and Halfs, created by two cooks, Dana and Stevie (http://halfandhalfs.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/peanut-butter-filled-chocolate-cupcakes/). My pictures leave a lot to be desired, but Dana and Stevie's are wonderful!


These were melt-in-your-mouth good. True, they were a tad dry and crumbly, but only around the heavily peanut butter parts. However, whenever you cook/bake peanut butter, it gets a tad dry and crumbly, so no worries. My family said they were a keeper and would love to have them again!

What I Would Do Differently
  • When doubling the batter, I'd quadruple the filling
  • Add a little bit of oil or one more egg to stay away from dryness

Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Makes 12.

Peanut butter filling ingredients:

  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
  • 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cupcake batter ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a standard muffing tin with paper liners.

Stir ingredients for peanut butter filling together until smooth and set aside. (Note: We might have eaten some on toast… it was yummy)

Next onto the batter. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Melt chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over simmering water (do not get any water into the chocolate!). Stir until melted, then remove from heat. Once it has cooled slightly, whisk granulated sugar into the mixture. Add eggs and whisk until smooth. Add vanilla, then flour mixture. Stir until well incorporated.

Spoon 2 Tbsp batter into each liner, then 2 Tbsp of the PB filling. Follow with another Tbsp of batter and 1 tsp filling. Swirl the top with a toothpick. Bake for about 40 minutes, rotating half way through. Cool completely in the tin before removing cupcakes.






2 comments:

  1. My mouth is watering just from the pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your mouth WILL water when you eat them! :]

    ReplyDelete