Chocolately Peanut Buttery Goodness

The two most perfect foods, together.  I do it a lot.  I can't resist.  Peanut butter and chocolate need to be together in any way, shape or form.  In this incarnation, it's chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter cream cheese frosting. 

Start out with any chocolate cupcake recipe you like.  I happen to have buttermilk in my fridge and wanted to use it up, so I used a standard buttermilk chocolate cupcake recipe.  Start with a stick of butter, softened and 1 1/2 cups of sugar in your mixing bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.

Once it's fluffy, add 2 eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.   Then beat in 1 teaspoon of vanilla. 

In another bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

You will also need to combine 1/2 cup of buttermilk with 1/2 cup of water.   Then add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk mixture.  In other words, add some dry then some wet, some dry and some wet, until all ingredients are incorporated.  Then fill your cupcake cups 2/3 the way full and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes (make sure your toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean). 

Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool completely on a rack.

While the cupcakes cool, it's time to make this kick ass icing!  You will need an 8 oz. block of cream cheese and a stick of butter, both softened, to start.

Beat until smooth and creamy.  When you have a nice smooth butter/cream cheese mixture, add 1/2 cup of peanut butter.   You can use creamy or chunky, but natural is probably not a good idea because of the oils.  Beat in the peanut butter then add 1 1/2 cups of sifted powdered sugar.   Beat until fully incorporated.

Ice cupcakes however the heck you want, but I suggest you load it on!   This frosting is all kinds of yum and you don't want to short change yourself.  Although, I suspect the leftovers might be pretty yummy on just about anything... toast, a bagel, a spoon, a hubcap, whatever.  And feel free to add a bit extra peanut butter if you want.  Personally, I think next time I make it I'm going to up it to 3/4 cup.

Money shot!

Buon Cibo mia Amici.

Ingredient lists - Cupcakes:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup water

Frosting:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter

Forgive me Nick

No, not my Nick. Nick Malgeri. His Supernatural Brownies are the best. But yet, I keep playing with them, messing with them, and otherwise embellishing them. It's a compulsion I have. I got a bee in my bonnet to make Cheesecake Brownies. And as often happens, I am never satisfied with one recipe. So I combined a few. I started of course with Supernatural Brownies. I have no need to go anywhere else for my brownie base. It would be foolish to mess with perfection. So let's start there.

You know the drill. Grease your 9 x 13 pan. Preheat your oven to 350.

Start out by making the cheesecake mixture. I used one 8 oz. block of cream cheese (softened), 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, one egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix together with a mixer and set aside.




For the brownies you will need 8 oz. of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate and two sticks of butter. Melt them together and set aside.




This time I did the recipe by hand instead of the Kitchen Aid. So whisk four eggs, then add 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cup of packed dark brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of vanilla.



Fold in one cup of flour and you are done! That's it. Simple ingredients that turn into deliciousness. Pour the brownie batter into prepared pan and then take the cheesecake batter and drop dollopfuls into the brownie batter. You can try and smooth it, but it's not real easy because the cheesecake batter is rather thick. I tried, but I think swirling it with a wooden skewer would probably work better.

Bake for 45 minutes and enjoy!







These are SO good. And quite honestly, I think two packages of cream cheese would be even better. What's odd is that a lot of the recipes I looked at only called for 4 oz. of cream cheese. I guess a lot of people feel that less is more, but I am of the more is more school of thought!