Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes

So today has been off for me, I have been sick, and slept until about 4:00 this afternoon. I was debating going to bed around 10:00, but decided to make cupcakes as I was feeling like something sweet, and have done absolutely nothing all day.

So, my husband Landon voted on Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes first, as I had two recipes I wanted to make, but I would have ended up with these anyhow as I don't have any milk in the house for the other one, so perhaps tomorrow I will bake some more, but we will see how I feel.

So this was a nice and easy recipe. It was very thick almost like cookie dough, so spreading it among 30 cupcake holders wasn't in the cards for me...I made 24 instead. I am glad I did though, as they don't rise much, and it would have made for a short cookie with lots of icing...perhaps that was her plan?

They took a little longer to bake, as they suggested 13 minutes and when I poked them they were very gooey in the centre...so I added 5 minutes, which may have been a tad too long, they are a little darker brown on the bottoms than I would have liked, but they aren't burnt...so keep this in mind if you try to make them.

A friend of mine at work made these at home and mentioned how much icing the recipe calls for, and that she cut it down and made 2/3 the recipe...and still had way too much icing, so I cut it down to 1/3 of the recipe and it worked out JUST perfectly...I probably would have slathered a whole lot more icing on if I had it - just because I like it...but I had just enough after scraping the bowl right clean.

We have found this is a recurring theme in Martha's recipes...the icing recipes seem to make way more than is necessary! Except for the meringue buttercream I had made was JUST enough for 3 dozen cupcakes...so perhaps we just need to make more cupcakes to utilize the icing...

Landon had a taster - he threw in some semi sweet chocolate chips into one of the cupcakes before I threw them in the oven...and he quite enjoyed that...so incase you chocolate/peanut butter lovers want to add a twist, this one worked. I would also like to try maybe a chocolate frosting on them.

I used natural peanut butter in the cake part, and creamy Kraft peanut butter in the frosting, as I wanted a sweeter frosting, and the recipe specified natural peanut butter for the cake part, but didn't mention anything in the frosting section.

The recipe states that after the frosting has set for approximately 10 minutes in the fridge to use a fork to create the traditional peanut butter signature pattern on top...I didn't have room in my fridge, so I set them outside in my travel container for 5 minutes (its -20 outside right now) and figured that would be long enough...it wasn't - but at this point I don't really care LOL

SO if you want them to look prettier, I would recommend putting them in the fridge for at least 20 to 30 minutes so it is good and firm...the frosting is quite soft, so it kept sticking in the fork, and then I kept placing it in icing sugar and it was just making a bloody mess in the end...which I ended up cleaning off the fork pretty well every time I tried...hence why they look sort of messy.

They taste like a moist peanut butter cookie with a nice creamy peanut butter frosting that isn't too sweet, but just a little sweeter and tangier than the cake part. A great recipe that is quick and easy. Enjoy!