Photo Credit: Pippa Biddle

Last week I was craving cupcakes. Since I cook for myself and don’t use  the campus dining halls at all I rarely have sweets around. If I buy them I know I will eat them all in one go. If I make them I will do the exact same thing but also lick the bowl. The supermarket next to my building sells cupcakes but they are huge and intimidating. All that I wanted was a bite-sized blast of chocolate and peanut butter in cupcake form! Is that too much to ask? Well, finally a good excuse came around as a friend was hosting at valentine’s day party for her volleyball team Saturday night. I wasn’t going to be able to go but I saw my opportunity for excess baked goods consumption. I whipped up these little buggers in about an hour and a half, left three on my desk, and delivered the rest to the party. I impressed myself with my restraint – it took a whole five minutes for me to devour the three that were supposed to last me at least 24 hours.

Photo Credit: Pippa Biddle

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes (makes 36 mini cupcakes)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 6 oz dark semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat over to 375F and line cupcake tin with liners
2. Combine flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, 1tsp salt, and cocoa powder in a large bowl. Mix until combined by hand or with electric mixer.
3. Mix in egg, milk and veggie oil until combined and there are no lumps.
4. Pour batter into cupcake tins. Each tin should be about 1/3 of the way full.
5. Bake mini-cupcakes for 5-7 minutes and full-sized cupcakes for 10-12 minutes
6. While cupcakes are baking heat 1/2 cup heavy cream in microwave or in saucepan. Add peanut butter and stir until combined. Pour mixture into medium mixing bowl and place in freezer for 5 minutes or until chilled.
7. Once chilled add vanilla and a 1/4 tsp salt. Beat on high with electric mixer until mixture starts to thicken. Gradually add powdered sugar until the mixture has reached a soft peak stage – this may not require the full cup.
8. Heat remaining 1/2 cup of cream in the microwave or a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until it has reached a smooth consistency.
9. Once cupcakes have cooled spoon peanut butter mixture into a piping bag with a 2-3 mm round tip for mini-cupcakes or larger round tip for full-sized cupcakes. press the tip of the piping bag into the center of the cupcake and squeeze firmly while pulling the bag out. The cupcake should inflate a little and some filling will ooze out of the top – this is ok.
10. Chill filled cupcakes in the freeze for 3-5 minutes. Remove from freezer 5 at a time and dip tops into the chocolate ganache topping. If the ganache has become too hard to dip warm it carefully over the stove or in the microwave at 5 second increments.
11. Place dipped cupcakes to the side and allow to set. This may take up to 2 hours depending on the room temperature.