Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and made only two minor tweaks swapping out what was called for with what was in my fridge. My technique is also a little different...I just have a hard time dirtying more dishes than I need to :)

Boyf needed a dessert for his work Christmas potluck & these sounded perfect.

The recipe said it made 10 cupcakes...it really only makes 10 cupcakes, so I doubled everything (reflected below). I tried to stretch it to 12 and it just didn't work.

According to boyf, all of the cupcakes were devoured & deemed delicious!

ingredients
for cake
1.5C all-purpose flour
2/3C cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1C + 4 tbsp sugar
1C half & half
2/3C vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

for peanut butter buttercream
1C sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
3 sticks of butter, softened & cut into pieces
2C peanut butter (I prefer Peter Pan)
4 tsp vanilla extract

for chocolate coating
2C semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp vegetable oil

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cake: In a large bowl (I used my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer), whisk together sugar, half & half, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Cake: Add dry ingredients a little bit at a time until well blended.
4. Cake: Distribute batter even amongst 20 cupcake liners.
5. Cake: Bake ~25 minutes until center is cooked. Let cool.
6. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream!
7. Buttercream: In metal bowl (or Kitchenaid Mixer Bowl), whisk sugar, egg whites, and salt.
8. Buttercream: Boil water in sauce pan.
9. Buttercream: Set bowl in sauce pan, and whisk until ingredient appear to be melding together. (The recipe calls for a thermometer and waiting for ingredients to be 160 degrees, I didn't have that so I just kept sticking my finger in it until it got hot - safe, probably not but it seemed to have work...I probably whisked with the bowl in the pan for 8-10 minutes.)
10. Buttercream: Remove bowl from the pan and whisk at high speed until mixture resembles shaving cream.
11. Buttercream: Whisk in butter, vanilla, and peanut butter a little bit at a time until mixture is well combined.
12. Buttercream: Transfer buttercream to pastry bag with tip OR if you're like me - a freezer size ziploc bag and snip the end off.
13. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes.
14. Chill the cupcakes in the fridge for about an hour (to allow the buttercream to harden for dipping).
15. Chocolate: In double boiler OR if you're like me - a metal mixing bowl on top of a pot, melt chocolate chips and vegetable oil, whisking until completely melted and thin.
16. Transfer melted chocolate to a deep bowl or large coffee mug.
17. Dip cupcakes one at a time by holding on to the liner and dunking frosting into the chocolate. Let the excess drip off, flip over and let harden.
18. I stuck my cupcakes back in the fridge for a bit to help the chocolate hardening process.
19. Enjoy!