Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes to mimic my favorite cupcake shop in New York, Molly’s Cupcakes. Whenever I visit NY I stop there at least 2 times a visit. I will say, texture and flavor wise these are spot on. The part that I will need to play with is the top. Molly’s cupcake tops are harder and crunchier in texture. 

I didn’t provide the frosting that I used in this post, but here’s the link to the peanut butter frosting that I used.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup canola/vegetable oil
• 1/2-3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (forgo the organic stuff if you can help it, the texture will be off otherwise)…also…I didn’t really measure the peanut butter I just sort of…put in what it looked like 1/2 a cup, but it was closer to 3/4
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sour cream, room temperature
• Splash of vanilla paste (or extract)
• 1 1/4 cup AP flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk, room temperature
• Nutella or some hazelnut paste or jelly, whatever

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners (this will make anywhere from 14-16 cupcakes depending on how much you fill the liner)
3. In a mixer with paddle attachment mix oil, peanut butter, brown sugar, egg, sour cream, and vanilla. When smooth add flour, baking soda, salt, and milk. I do half dry, then half of the milk, then the remaining.
4. Don’t overmix, just mix enough until the flour is moistened as incorporated. Overmixing will lead to tougher baked goods. Gluten, yo.
5. Bake for 20-25 min (depending on the oven, of course)
6. When the cupcake is cooled add the filling of Nutella. I took a melon baller and scooped out as much as I wanted, filled the cupcake with Nutella with a spoon (and yes, my finger to scoop it out), then topped off the cake with the scooped out cake, you don’t have to add the cake part back on, but it looks nice when a person cuts into the middle and sees the cake on top and the Nutella in the middle. Trust me, you can’t tell that it was scooped out
7. Then top with whatever frosting. I chose to do a peanut butter frosting, but it could just as easily have been a fruit flavored frosting 😀 Which I also like to make with strawberries