Peanut Butter: An American delicacy and a personal obsession. These are peanut butter cupcakes with a thin coat of peanut butter, peanut butter frosting, and crunchy, salty honey-roasted peanuts on top. Of course, just the cupcakes and frosting are delightful in their own right without going to the extra trouble.
If you love peanut butter, this is the cupcake for you.
Peanut Butter Cupcakes
yield: 24 cupcakes
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup natural peanut butter (personally, I used Jif natural creamy)
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
extra peanut butter (optional)
honey-roasted nuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using dark pans like mine). Line two muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and peanut butter, adding sugar and continuing to cream until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes on medium speed). Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing to combine. Add in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Divide batter among cupcake tin, using scant 1/4 cup of batter per cupcake. Bake in preheated oven for 15 - 18 minutes (18-20 if using dark pans) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely. If you're feeling frisky, smear the top of each cupcake with a dab of peanut butter.
Peanut Butter Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup natural peanut butter
3/4 tsp salt
4 - 5 cups powdered sugar
4 - 6 tbsp cream
Cream the butter, peanut butter, and salt until homogenous and lightened in color and texture (about 3 minutes on medium-high speed). Add in 3 tbsp of the cream and mix. Next, add 3 cups of the confectioner's sugar. The mixture, at this stage, should be stiff for frosting. Add the remaining cream alternately with the remaining sugar until desired sweetness/consistency has been reached*. Pipe onto cupcakes and top with lightly chopped honey-roasted peanuts.
*Personally, I like a lighter, less sweet frosting, so I tend to use 6 tbsp of cream and 4 - 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar in the end.
