Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

 

I really wanted to title this post "Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes"...but then I read it out loud and realized it sounds silly.  (EDIT: I decided to name it that anyway)  That's what these are though - delicious chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, topped with peanut butter cups!

It starts out with these cupcakes.  Any chocolate cake or cupcakes will work, but I had half a batch of the chocolate cupcakes from World Nutella Day in my freezer.  To thaw frozen cupcakes, just remove from freezer, take out of the gallon-size zip bag, and allow to thaw in the plastic wrap.  (You did wrap them the way I taught you, right?  Good.)  These will thaw on the counter in less than half an hour.

While they thaw (or bake, if you're starting there), you can whip together this delicious Peanut Butter frosting!

Peanut Butter Frosting

from AllRecipes 

1/4 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter

1 tbsp. + 1-1/2 tsp. milk

1 c. confectioner's sugar

I opted for crunchy peanut butter because that's what I had on hand, and I ended up loving the texture!  If you are planning to frost a cake with this, you'd probably want to use creamy to make spreading it easier.

In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and peanut butter.  Slowly mix in the sugar, and as the mixture thickens, add the milk a little at a time.  Beat in between additions of milk - you may find you need more or less, depending on your peanut butter.  It will take about three minutes with the beater for this frosting to get nice and fluffy.

This will generously frost eight cupcakes.

To serve, I frosted the cupcakes, then sprinkled with chopped peanut butter cups.  I took one peanut butter cup and cut it into quarters with a sharp knife.  I stuck the quarters into the "back" of each cupcake.  As you can see, I also had some mini cupcakes to decorate!  This frosting is fantastic, and when combined with chocolate cupcakes and peanut butter cups, well...what's not to love?