Whenever I get a craving for something sweet, I go through phases of what I want. Sometimes it's cookies, other times cake, rarely pie and currently, it's cupcakes. I don't indulge in cupcakes very often but nowadays it's all I can think about. Luckily, I had a bbq coming up this weekend so I decided to make a batch for my friends and me to enjoy. Now I didn't want any ordinary cupcake, no sir. I wanted this to be something that would hit the spot and satisfy my craving once and for all. The solution? Chocolate dipped nutter butter cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream frosting! These cupcakes are rich with multiple flavors all in one bite - just what I'm looking for.
Dipped Nutter Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
Nutter butter cupcakes
- 1 cup brown sugar (200 grams)
- 2 tbsp apple sauce (44 grams)
- 2 tbsp canola oil (22 grams)
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter (133 grams)
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup milk (180 ml)
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (186 grams)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup nutter butter cookies, chopped (100 grams)
Vanilla butter cream
- 3 cups powdered sugar (360 grams)
- 1 cup butter softened at room temperature (226 grams)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Ganache
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (142 grams)
- ½ cup heavy cream (125 ml)
Garnish
- crumbled nutter butter cookies or mini nutter butter cookies
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with muffin liners. Set aside.
- Beat together brown sugar, apple sauce, oil, and peanut butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, stirring until combined.
- Combine dry ingredients from flour - a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Add alternately with the milk to the peanut butter batter. Fold in the coarsely chopped nutter butter cookies. Fill the prepared cupcake pan about ¾ full.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the cupcakes, spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing it to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Beat together powdered sugar with softened butter until well-combined, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Add vanilla and heavy whipping cream and beat for another minute. When cupcakes have cooled, pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Place cupcakes on a sheet pan and place in the freezer for 30 minutes or until the frosting is set.
- Make the ganache. Heat heavy cream in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Mix until chocolate has melted. Let ganache slightly cool before dipping.
- Remove cupcakes from the freezer. Carefully dip the cupcakes one at a time into the ganache. Top with mini nutter butter cookies or nutter butter crumbs. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. Let set before serving.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
To create these dipped nutter butter cupcakes, I put together a peanut butter cupcake for the base, topped it with a basic vanilla frosting, and dipped it in chocolate ganache. What makes it a nutter butter cupcake? The addition of the cookies in the batter, of course! I tried nutter butter for the first time for these cupcakes and man, oh man, are they delicious! Sure, they're just peanut butter cookies, but there's something about them that makes them very addicting.
Make the cupcake batter and fill the prepare muffin pan about ¾ full. The cupcakes expand quite a bit while baking so you don't want to completely fill the pan. Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes or until the tops of the muffins lightly spring back. Another way to test if they're done is to insert a toothpick in the center. When it comes out clean, that means they are ready.
While the cupcakes are cooling, making the vanilla buttercream frosting. Beat the butter and sugar until combined, then add the vanilla and heavy cream. Pipe on the frosting and the first part of the decorating is done. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled when you frost them or else the frosting will slide right off.
Now you can technically just serve the cupcakes right here but we're going to take it an extra step and dip them in chocolate. Before you dip the cupcakes, freeze them for about 30 minutes. This will make it easier to dip into chocolate. Dip the cupcakes and let the chocolate set.
These dipped nutter butter cupcakes were best fresh as are all cupcakes. Make these fresh and serve them to your guests and there won't be any leftovers to worry about!
A peek into the inside...yum...
For more cupcake inspiration check out these cookies and cream cupcakes!
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