Frosted Peanut Butter Cupcakes

My friend Sam gave me two super cute cookbooks for my birthday this past summer - a Cupcake one and a Muffin one. I was flipping through the cupcake one the other day and decided the Frosted Peanut Butter Cupcakes recipe looked delish, so I made them Wednesday night.

I pretty much followed the recipe to a T, it says it makes 16 cupcakes, I only got 14 and in the end, I definitely could have just made 12 slightly fuller ones. The frosting recipe definitely makes more than enough for this recipe. I may try to make use of the leftovers at some other point this weekend for something else. The only real change I made was to the frosting recipe, adding some vanilla and a bit of peanut butter to kick up the flavor. Also, as you'll probably notice, this recipe has really odd measurements that you don't see everyday (1/8, 5/8, "heaping,").

One snafu occurred while making these - somehow I either didn't turn the oven timer on or accidentally shut it off when I went to check on the cupcakes at some point. As the minutes went by I questioned why the timer hadn't gone off yet. Lo and behold, I discovered the timer wasn't on. Quite luckily nothing was burnt, just slightly overdone so I got lucky in that respect. My husband said they were good, just a little dry, which I expected given the situation. Next time I make these I'll just have to make sure the timer is on!


Frosted Peanut Butter Cupcakes
(from Cupcakes by Susanna Tee)



4 tablespoons butter
Heaping 1 1/8 cups firmly packed brown sugar
Heaping 1 1/8 cups firmly packed brown sugar
Heaping 1/3 cup crunch peanut butter (I used smooth)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Scant 1 5/8 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Generous 1/3 cup milk


Frosting:
8oz cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 350F. Put 16 muffin liners in muffin pan.

Put butter, sugar, and peanut butter in a bowl and beat together on low with electric mixer for 1-2 minutes or until well mixed. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla extract. Sift the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl, and then, using a metal spoon, fold them into the mixture, alternating with milk. Spoon batter into muffin liners (about 2/3 full).

Bake cupcakes in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. Transfer to wire rack and cool.

To make frosting: put the cream cheese, peanut butter, and butter in a large bowl and use electric mixer to beat together until smooth. Sift the confectioner's sugar into the mixture and beat until well mixed and smooth.

When cupcakes are cooled, spread frosting on top of each cupcake. Store cupcakes in refrigerator until ready to serve.