Chocolate - Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I wasn't feeling very well on New Years Eve (nasty cold) but wanted to do something special for my guys.  This is what I came up with ~ homemade chocolate peanut butter cupcakes.  Well, kinda homemade.

This is a fun and easy way to make chocolate peanut butter cupcakes and you probably already have all the ingredients you need just sitting in your pantry!    

Ingredients:

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's Cake Mix)
• 1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Peter Pan Honey Roasted PB)
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk

First, prepare your cupcakes according to the package instructions.

While the cupcakes are baking, you can prepare your icing.

1. Mix the peanut butter and the butter together.  I did mine by hand, but if you want your icing fluffier, you can use an electric beater to incorporate some air into the mixture.  You could also add more butter. 
2. Slowly add the powdered sugar to the icing, a little at a time (easier to mix that way).  
3. Next, add the milk in.  This is not an exact science; you can add as little or as much as you like until you reach the consistency you desire.  For this particular cupcake I wanted my icing very thick.  I also had heavy cream leftover from Christmas and so I used that up first.
4. This step is very important.  Taste it!  Is it sweet enough?  Is it too sweet?  Do you want more of a pb taste?  From here you can tweak the recipe using the ingredients to make it your own.  I listed what I thought was tasty.
5. Once you are happy with your icing's consistency and flavor, scoop it all into a baggie.

Back to our cupcakes now ~~~

Once your cupcakes are cooked and cooled it is time to fill and frost.  This is the fun part!

Using a knife, cut out a little hole in the center of the cupcake.  My guys love peanut butter, so I made a big hole (about 1" in diameter and 1" deep). 

Next, cut a corner off your icing bag and pipe it into the cupcake centers.  After filling, do a little swirl of icing on the top but remember, you don't need much ~ all the flavor is on the inside! 

Next time, once I get the icing the consistency I want for the top, I am going to separate it into two batches.  Two-thirds will be put in a baggy for the cupcake tops.  The other third will be made into a much thinner icing (adding more milk) and put in it's own baggy for filling centers.  

In my opinion, more textures always makes things taste better.  Which is why I also garnished our cupcakes with some chocolate covered peanuts (remaining chocolates from my sweet mom who brought enough chocolate to Christmas dinner for each person to eat like 1 lb each! ~ Yeah, we're Italian and that's how we do it...lol)!  Love you mom.  =D

 Hope you enjoy and have a Happy New Year!