Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cupcakes

It’s Day 5 of meatless week and so far so good. Except for the grape leaves I ate for lunch yesterday. A coworker brought them in and I couldn’t resist. Mr. and I have decided that zucchini makes a good meat replacement. Yesterday I made vegetable skillet lasagna with bowtie pasta and it was so good. I didn’t miss the meat at all.

I do, however, have a problem giving up sweets. I think it would benefit me much more to give up baked goods, like these cupcakes. Putting a Reese’s peanut butter cup INSIDE a cupcake? Genius. This was my first time making frosting and it was really good. For the first time ever I liked the frosting more than the cake. Round up some of that leftover Halloween candy and give these a try.

Source: Two Peas and Their Pod
Makes: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
For the Dark Chocolate Cupcakes:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used Ghirardelli baking chips)
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream (I used Chobani Greek yogurt)
12 full sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

For the Peanut Butter Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup peanut butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Mini Peanut Butter Cups, for topping cupcakes, if desired

Directions
To make the cupcakes: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.

Place butter, chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. 
Microwave in 30 second spurts on 50% power, stirring in between, until the butter and chocolate are melted and the mixture is smooth. (Alternatively, you could do this step in a double boiler.) Set the mixture aside to cool until it is warm to the touch.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. 

Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl to combine, then add the sugar, vanilla and salt and continue whisking until fully incorporated. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the bowl and whisk to combine. 

Sift one-third of the flour mixture into the bowl and whisk gently to combine. Add the Greek yogurt or sour cream and whisk to combine. Finally, sift the the rest of the flour mixture into the bowl and whisk until everything is well combined. The cupcake batter will be thick.

Place a spoonful of cupcake batter on the bottom of each cupcake liner. Place a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup on top of the batter.Cover the peanut butter cups with remaining batter, filling each about 2/3 full. 

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

Remove the pan to a wire rack and let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the peanut butter butter cream frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and peanut butter until creamy. On low speed, add in powdered sugar. Mix until combined and add the heavy cream. Mix until frosting is fluffy. 

Frost cooled cupcakes with the peanut butter frosting (I piped the frosting on, just using a ziplock bag and cutting off the tip) and top each cupcake with a mini peanut butter cup, if desired.