Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Cheesecake Frosting.

June 6, 2011

Big, big problem here.

Huge. Monumental.

Someone made frosting that tastes like chocolate cheesecake. Ugh. This is just great.

Someone who… has quite the fixation with cheesecake. Someone who started eating the frosting and the cupcakes and the sprinkles and sixteen more spoonfuls of frosting and didn’t take a solitary photograph until multiple cupcakes were consumed. Someone who completely forgot about even snapping one shot until the next day.

Someone is in trouble. And someone needs a life. Only so much chocolate cheesecake frosting can be consumed in 13 minutes. And it’s still not enough.

The worst part is that the cupcakes are pretty darn scrumptious too. The general consensus from the taste testers? Cupcakes that taste like Girl Scout Tagalongs.

Sweet. Someone doesn’t hate it.

Especially when one of those testers stacked together a double cheeseburger and topped it with salty, grilled kielbasa yesterday then claimed that he “didn’t want to waste the calories” from the vanilla ice cream offering I presented. Innnnnteresting. Instead he asked, “what about those peanut butter cupcakes you made last week?” Now that I can handle. Even if he did plan on stuffing one in his I’m-asking-for-a-heart-attack burger.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

makes about 12 cupcakes

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

2 whole eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup milk

3/4 cup peanut butter chips/morsels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and peanut butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and eggs and beat together until fluffy. Add vanilla and mix for another minute or so.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Fold in peanut butter morsels.

Pour into cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350. Let cool, then frost.

Chocolate Cheesecake Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 block cream cheese (8 ounces), softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup dark cocoa powder

1-2 tablespoons milk, if needed

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add in vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time and add cocoa powder, increasing the speed to mix. If the frosting it a bit too thick, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. If it is too thin, add additional sugar gradually. Frost cupcakes once cooled. Top with chocolate sprinkles.