Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

For my friend and ex-co-worker's birthday I decided to visit and bring cupcake. A while ago she'd told me to make peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting for a different event. I didn't because I wasn't sure I was as into the idea of peanut butter cake--that's for next time. This time I figured I'd stick w an awesome chocolate cupcake recipe I already had and see what I could do with peanut butter, powdered sugar, milk, cream cheese, and butter.
The result is awesomeness. Kind of the flavor of homemade Reese's (more peanut buttery and less sugary for those of you who have never had one) combined with the texture of thick butter cream. In other words, totally addictive.
Chocolate cupcakes! For once I managed not to overfill the cupcake liners so I made nice, even, non-gigantic cupcakes!
I had to make sure they were properly cooked...yes, they were.
I tried to frost them beautifully but they ended up looking a bit silly. The ones with the dot of chocolate on top looked cool but the attempt at lines majorly failed. Whatever, they were pretty phenomenal.

This is the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes.

This is the frosting, more or less. I say that because when it comes to making buttercream I cannot be bothered to actually measure things. I just taste as I go. The key to keeping it smooth and creamy is to add the powdered sugar a little at a time.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Butter Cream Frosting:
-1/4-1/2 C creamy peanut butter. I think I used the Trader Joe's creamy one.
-1/4-1/2 STICK of butter (not cup), softened.
-a large scoop of cream cheese (like with a spoon you eat cereal with. You could add more but I wanted this to be really peanut buttery, not cream cheesy with peanut butter flavor so I only used a little).
-powdered sugar.
-milk (I used 1%).

1. Start with a 1/4 c of the butter and a 1/4 c of powered sugar in a big bowl. Beat until incorporated and add more sugar. If it looks dry, add a splash of milk.
2. Add enough sugar so that it stops tasting like you're eating straight butter, but stop before it tastes like butter cream.
3. Add in the peanut butter and cream cheese. Keep adding sugar until the consistency and taste are to your liking. The end!

January Recipes: Peanut Butter Brownies

A few of my friends like to make Sunday brunch...this usually consists of a baguette, a few kinds of cheese, many mimosas, and jam or quince paste if I'm really lucky. Can I just take a second to tell the world how discovering quince is probably one of the most exciting things that's happened to me lately.

Anyway, I got distracted: the brownies. So one day we couldn't do Sunday brunch so we made Sunday dinner. Dinner consisted of roast chicken, a salad, homemade rolls, and peanut butter brownies for dessert. It was excellent all around. I'll get to the roast chicken in a different post since later I made one all by myself.

A different one of my lovely friends gave me Bon Appetit Desserts for Christmas and naturally I'm just a little bit thrilled. So when Sunday brunch became Sunday dinner, I decided that dinner needed a dessert and I figured why not use my new cookbook! PS- Apologies for the lack of photos, I was at someone else's house and they really weren't thaaaat stunning anyway. They taste great though...

Here goes:
Brownies with Peanut Butter Frosting
(not really at all adapted from Bon Appetit Desserts)
Brownies:
-Nonstick cooking spray
-5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
-4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate , coarsely chopped
-1/3 c butter, cut up
-1 1/2 c sugar
-4 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/2 c flour
-1/4 tsp salt

-Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9x13 metal baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with nonstick
cooking spray.
-Combine chocolates and butter in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted and let cool.
-With an electric mixer (or a whisk and strong arms) beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until thick and pale yellow (about 5 min). Reduce speed and beat in flour, salt, and then chocolate.
-Transfer to baking pan and bake about 20 min until only few crumbs come out with a tester. Cool.

Frosting:
-1 c creamy peanut butter
-3 T unsalted butter
-2/3 c powdered sugar
-1 T vanilla

-Beat peanut butter and regular butter until smooth, add sugar and vanilla, beat until blended. Spread over cooled brownies. Devour.