Peanut Butter Cupcakes

If you like peanut butter, these peanut butter cupcakes are a real delight. Peanut butter in both the frosting and cake ensure that every bite you take is filled with intensely nutty flavor. Preparing these cupcakes is simple, and this recipe makes enough that you’ll have cupcakes for a few days. These are also great treats to take to parties and potlucks. Brown sugar and honey help round out the flavors in these sweet little cakes, and they’re easy to decorate with chocolate chips, sprinkles or chopped nuts if you want. These are refreshing and sweet morsels that you’ll be glad you made.

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Cupcakes

• Butter: This adds fat and moisture to the batter and increases the amount of air in the mix. That air is what helps the mixture become light and fluffy.
• Peanut butter: If you want peanut butter-flavored cupcakes, you need peanut butter, of course. Creamy is best.
• Brown sugar: This not only sweetens the batter but also adds a rich flavor as well as moisture from the molasses content in the sugar.
• Egg: Egg acts as the binder for the ingredients.
• Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract adds a really subtle flavor. It won’t overshadow the peanut butter but will help cover up any flavor from the egg.
• All-purpose flour: Use basic all-purpose flour for these cupcakes. Cake flour doesn’t have enough protein/gluten to provide the structure that these cupcakes need.
• Baking powder: Baking powder makes the cupcakes rise as they bake.
• Baking soda: Extra baking soda usually works with any acidic ingredients to help the batter rise. However, there aren’t any acidic ingredients here. Why add extra baking soda? It actually helps give the cupcakes a more brownish color after baking.
• Ground cinnamon: Cinnamon and peanut butter are a surprisingly good pair of flavors.
• Milk: This helps make the batter easier to mix.
• Peanut butter: These cupcakes even have peanut butter in the frosting, so you get that flavor in literally every bite.
• Confectioners’ sugar: Confectioners’ sugar makes the frosting light and sweet.
• Honey and vanilla extract: These add a little moisture as well as flavor, giving the frosting a full, rich taste.
• Milk: Milk makes the frosting spreadable. Add it in small amounts; remember, you can always add more but can’t remove the milk once it’s mixed in, so be careful.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the cupcake batter

Sheri Silver for Taste of Home

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl for five to seven minutes. The mixture should be fluffy when you’re done. Add the egg and the vanilla extract, beating to combine everything. In another large bowl, combine the flour and some salt, along with the baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, alternating with the milk (add some dry mix, then add some milk, then dry mix, then milk and so on). Beat the mixture well after each addition.

Step 2: Bake the cupcakes

Sheri Silver for Taste of Home

Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Fill each liner two-thirds full with batter. Bake the cupcakes for 18 to 22 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake when the cupcakes are done should and it should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then remove them. Place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 3: Make the frosting and decorate

Sheri Silver for Taste of Home

Cream the peanut butter and sugar for the frosting in a small bowl for five to seven minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy when you’re done. Beat in the honey and vanilla extract and then add the milk gradually, beating in enough to get the frosting to a spreadable consistency. Spread the frosting on the cooled cupcakes.

Sheri Silver for Taste of Home

Peanut Butter Cupcake Variations

• Use chocolate or strawberry frosting: If peanut butter in both the frosting and cake is too much for you, use chocolate frosting instead.This peanut butter chocolate cupcakes recipe is a great example. If you prefer to pair peanut butter with fruit flavors, try using a strawberry buttercream frosting, like in this peanut butter and jelly cupcakes recipe.
• Add a mini peanut butter cup: Add a surprise to the inside of the cupcake by pressing a mini peanut butter cup into the cake batter before baking, like in this peanut butter cup cupcakes recipe. Just be careful when you test the cupcakes for doneness. Don’t stick the toothpick through the peanut butter cup.

How to Store Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Place leftover cupcakes in an airtight container that’s tall enough to not smash the frosting. Store this in the refrigerator for up to four days. Note that cupcakes and frosting tend to become harder the longer they stay in the refrigerator, so eating the rest of the cupcakes sooner rather than later is a good idea.

Can you freeze peanut butter cupcakes?

You can freeze this peanut butter cupcake recipe. However, it’s better to freeze unfrosted cupcakes and frost them once they’ve thawed. Frosting can generally be frozen and then thawed in the refrigerator but freezing the cupcakes and frosting separately reduce having to worry about ice crystals in the frosting making the cupcakes soggy. You may want to try freezing and thawing a frosted cupcake and an unfrosted cupcake to see which works better for you.

Peanut Butter Cupcake Tips

Sheri Silver for Taste of Home

Can you use reduced-fat peanut butter in this recipe?

Don’t use reduced-fat versions of peanut butter or peanut spreads in this recipe. The fat in regular peanut butter adds moisture to the recipe; without it your cupcakes will be dry. You may also want to skip using crunchy peanut butter in this recipe. That version of peanut butter tends to be harder to mix with other ingredients because of the added bulk of the chopped nuts. But if you really want to reduce the fat in this recipe, substitute a different frosting or leave the frosting off completely.

Can you make the frosting easier to spread?

The combination of peanut butter and confectioners’ sugar produces a tasty frosting that can come out stiff. The mixture you end up with can be rather tough to spread despite the fat in the peanut butter. Don’t skimp on the honey and add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time to help moisten the frosting. Definitely use a creamy peanut butter that’s soft and easy to stir, too. You can also try putting the frosting into a piping bag and piping the frosting onto the cupcake instead.

How do you stop the frosting from tearing the top of a cupcake?