Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi-Hat Cupcake Recipe

These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes loaded with dark chocolate chips, topped with peanut butter frosting, then dipped in more chocolate are a sight to behold.  This is the ultimate chocolate peanut butter cupcake!  Take a look inside:

I developed this recipe last November, but only shared the recipe with those who made a donation to FilterPure (a non-profit committed to providing safe drinking water to the at risk populations of the developing world). Through this effort, Cupcake Project readers raised over $3000 for FilterPure.  At the time, I promised that in six months I would make the recipe public.  This week, three different readers pointed out to me that I'm late.  So, with no further stalling, here it is.

Questions and Answers About Whales and a T-Shirt Giveaway

Update 9/1/2011:  This contest is now closed.  The winner is Grace Sheese!  Congrats, Grace!  Thanks to everyone who entered!

One of my son's favorite books is Everyone Poops.  Everyone Poops reveals some important pooping facts (some animals poop on the go, while some stop to poop) and has some fun pooping humor (a one hump camel has a one hump poop, and a two hump camel has a two hump poop).  However, it leaves us with some vexing questions.  The book asks, "What does whale poop look like?" and it provides no answer.  Here's the answer:




I know. I know.  You didn't come to a cupcake blog to learn about whale poop.  So, let's talk about whales and cupcakes.

Is this not the cutest whale cupcake shirt that you've ever seen?! 

Want to win one? The shirt was a gift to me from Hey Cupcake! Threads and they are offering one to a Cupcake Project reader!

Here's how to win:

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Frosting

Peanut butter cookie dough frosting tastes just like cookie dough - after all, it is cookie dough (lightened up a bit)!

Take safe-to-eat peanut butter cookie dough, add two tablespoons of whole milk or heavy whipping cream for every cup of dough, and you've got perfectly pipe-able peanut butter cookie dough frosting.

Which cupcake flavor will you frost with peanut butter cookie dough frosting?  Here are my top picks:

• Oreo Cupcakes
• Oatmeal Raisin Cupcakes
• Snickerdoodle Cupcakes 
• Banana Chocolate Cupcakes

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough That's Safe to Eat

 

Why does cookie dough always refer to chocolate chip cookie dough?  For that matter, why does 90% of cookie dough ice cream use a vanilla ice cream base?  In the name of variety and a flavor combination that's hard to go wrong with, I present a recipe for peanut butter cookie dough that's safe to eat raw (no eggs!) and a recommendation that you mix it into chocolate ice cream.

When making peanut butter cookie dough, you needn't worry about ingredient order, mixing speeds, temperature, or times.  You aren't going to bake the cookie dough, so you can say, "Nanny nanny poo poo," to the laws of baking chemistry - just mix and eat!

Pumpkin Lollipops (or Sweet Potato or Persimmon or Lucuma)

Lollipops don't require artificial flavors or colors or even fancy molds.  All you'll need to make these lollipops are canned pumpkin, canned sweet potato, persimmon pulp, or lucuma pulp*, plus water, sugar, and some sticks.  You'll also want to have a candy thermometer (my favorite is the Maverick because it's digital and you can set an alarm to warn you when you reach the desired temperature - but any candy thermometer will do). 

The texture of these lollipops is a bit different than a typical lollipop.  When you bite them, they have a slight crunch, like maple candy (my favorite candy on the planet).  However, sucking the pops is definitely an option.  I gave one to my gluten-free cousin (she is so happy when I make anything that she can eat), and she sucked on one pop for at least ten minutes.  She smiled the whole time, in a closed-mouth-I'm-sucking-on-a-pop kind of way.

The lollipops taste like a super sweet candy version of whatever you make them out of (pumpkin, sweet potato, persimmon, or lucuma).  If you make them out of pumpkin, they would be a such a fun treat for a Halloween party; it's mid-August - time to start thinking about one of the best holidays of the year!

Brown Butter Cupcakes - If You've Ever Burnt Something, You Can Make Brown Butter

Brown butter cupcakes have a caramel-like taste and smell like a hot skillet of bubbling butter waiting for mom's pancake batter to be poured on. If you've ever burnt dinner, you can burn butter and create unforgettable brown butter.

Brown butter cupcakes are basic, vanilla, butter-based cupcakes with the extra step of browning the butter.  It's a small step, but one that changes the cupcake flavor so much that it will seem like a huge brown bear step (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  I see delicious cupcakes looking at me!).    



Frost the brown butter cupcakes with your favorite frosting.  I think the cupcakes would be amazing with pumpkin pie frosting!  I topped mine with lucuma cream cheese frosting (luca-whaa?  Check out my post on lucama bars if you've never heard of lucuma).  The mellow sweetness of the lucuma frosting shined in its own right, but didn't overpower the brown butter.

Brown Butter Lucuma Bars

Brown butter lucuma bars taste exotic yet familiar at the same time. Bake the lucuma bars when you want to impress your foodie friends while still satisfying those with less adventurous palates.  Lucuma is a fruit most commonly found in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile with a pulp that has a texture like sweet potato or pumpkin and a flavor that some describe as maple-like (although I find the taste to be more of a cross between persimmon and plum).

If you're in the U.S. and you've had lucuma, it was most likely a powdered form of lucama that was used to flavor ice cream (if you are a raw foodist, you may have also used the powder as a sweetener).  In fact, I heard of lucuma for the first time when my friends Ian and Gabi mentioned that my candy cap mushrooms (also considered to have a maple flavor) reminded them of lucuma ice cream they had sampled. While lucuma powder has its place (I'll be writing about its use in frosting soon), lucuma pulp is also a wonderful ingredient to work with.  If you are lucky enough to live near an international or Latin grocery store, you should be able to find lucuma pulp in the freezer case.  Simply defrost the lucuma pulp and use it in place of pumpkin or sweet potato in your favorite dessert recipes. I went with lucuma bars, but lucuma pie is now on my to-try list.

These brown butter lucuma bars are a special treat - decadent, subtly sweet (like Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole), and basically irresistible.  Sadly, I know some of you won't be able to try them because lucuma may not be available in your area.  If you like the concept but can't find lucuma, this same recipe can be made with sweet potato, pumpkin, or persimmon pulp. 

Hefeweizen (Wheat Beer) Cupcakes

I'm in puppy love with my Hefeweizen cupcakes.  Maybe it's because I've been on a quest to find the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake and the past 15 or so cupcake recipes I've made have been some variety of vanilla, or maybe these Hefeweizen cupcakes really are just that good.  If you are a beer fan (I'm talking about the kind of person who drinks beer for the taste, not chugs for the buzz), and you like wheat beer, you will truly appreciate this cupcake.  With beer in both the cupcake and the glaze, these cupcakes have a noticeable beer flavor.  The cupcakes also contain a touch of lemon as though you squeezed some into your bottle.  

Beer cupcakes are typically heavy and manly.  The beer cupcakes I've created in the past are no exception.  I've done a beer cheese cupcake with bacon cheddar frosting (trust me on this one - it is a fan favorite), chocolate stout cupcakes, and Trappist cupcakes with a Trappist-style cheese.  Unlike those, these Hefeweizen cupcakes are beer cupcakes for the summer.  They are moist, fresh-tasting, and just the snack to tide you over while you're waiting for your burgers to finish on the grill.

Want More Details and the Recipe?

You'll have to head over to Jenn's blog, Beantown Baker, where you can read a guest post that I wrote.  While you're there, be sure to take a look around.  Not only does Jenn have a wealth of great posts of her own, but she's been having guest bloggers each Friday.  Check out all of her Friday Favs to discover new, fun blogs to read.

Panko Sprinkles

Sometimes sprinkles are just too sweet on a sugary cupcake.  Colored coconut (see my Pina Colada cupcakes) is a nice sprinkle substitute, but coconut is extremely divisive.  There are always crushed nuts.  However, nuts don't go with everything - plus, there's that darn allergy thing to contend with.  What's left when you want a colorful sprinkle-like look for the top of your cupcakes?  Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)!