Peanut Butter Crunch

This is my giant version of Reese peanut butter cups. Not trying to blow my own trumpet here, although it does sound very self-absorbed, but these cupcakes tasted really good.

I can't seem to remember where I got the recipe from but I sure did tweak it a little. I got it written down in my recipe book, so here goes.

Peanut Butter Crunch

Recipe by The Bakeanista

Ingredients:

6 tbsp unsalted butter

3/4 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy!)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180 deg'C and line a 12 cup standard-size muffin pan with baking cup liners.

2) In a small bowl, sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together, then set aside.

3) In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes. (I used crunchy peanut butter as I wanted some texture in the cupcakes, but you may opt to use smooth peanut butter if you so wish - up to personal preference.)

4) Whisk eggs in until well incorporated. Add in vanilla and mix well.

5) Add the milk into the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but make sure you do not over-beat.

6) Divide the batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 20-22 minutes.

6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.

For the chocolate ganache, all I did was to melt some dark chocolate over double boiler, then add a little heavy cream to smoothen the texture - sorry, no recipe for this! :$

I have however, a recipe for the yummiest peanut butter cream cheese frosting, which is what I used for my second batch.

No pictures because they were all eaten in a snap of a finger, but trust me, they were divine! In fact, I'd say that I very much prefer the peanut butter frosting to the chocolate topping. ;)

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

100g cream cheese

60g peanut butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Mix cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth and creamy. Pour in vanilla essence and icing sugar, then turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. Fill a piping bag with the icing and frost over cupcakes. Enjoy digging in! This combination would send a peanut butter lover to float on a cloud named Nine. ;)

Moist cupcakes, with a crunch - what can I say really? Yum! ;)