Britt Bakes -- Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cupcakes

 

    We interrupt this program to give you an unscheduled blog post of a different genre -- baking! If you’ve known me for a while, you know I love to bake cupcakes. Cupcakes are my thing. Through high school, mostly my junior and senior years, I was known for my cupcakes at the bake sales. My baking game was stepped up when my high school boyfriend bought me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for my birthday. He actually gifted it to me a little early, and I think it was so I could make his birthday cake! My favorite types of cupcakes to make were more elaborate recipes -- taking candy bars flavors and making them cupcakes, incorporating alcohol, spins other desserts. After I graduated, I baked a lot less. Obviously I wasn’t working bake sales anymore, and had less of a reason to produce baked goods in mass. The situation is the same now; occasionally I feel like baking and bringing in treats to share, but typically I need a reason. Today is my boyfriend’s birthday so of course I had to make something special. Last year, I made my version of a Snickers cupcake. Traditionally, you see a lot of candy bar cupcakes made with a chocolate cake base. Sam doesn’t like chocolate cake that much so I opted for a peanut butter cupcake, with a caramel peanut filling, and topped with a chocolate butter cream. Tragically, I didn’t get a photo.

My little sous chef

This year I wanted to try something a little different: a peanut butter cheesecake cupcake. Upon my Pinterest search, I didn’t see anything like what I wanted. Mostly just cheesecake in cupcake liners. So I thought about exactly what I wanted and searched for individual aspects of the cupcake. I wanted to start with a graham cracker crust bottom, which I took from this S’mores cupcake recipe by Rose Bakes. The cupcake was to be a peanut butter cake with a swirl of cheesecake filling. The cake was adapted from Just So Tasty with the filling of these Red Velvet Cheesecake cupcakes from Crazy for Crust. And finally a whipped chocolate frosting from created by Diane. I can do a buttercream or cream cheese frosting without a recipe, no problem. But for this cupcake, I wanted a lighter frosting since the cheesecake filling and graham cracker crust would make it a little heavier of a cupcake. In the end, this cupcake was the perfect bite! There was a nice crunch from the crust. The cake has that great peanut butter punch with a bit of tanginess from the cheesecake filling. The frosting is light but still chocolatey. Someone told me this was the best cupcake they had ever had.

Just a few notes before we get into it.

1. I used a little less than a pack of graham crackers for the crust.

2. This batter is a little runny so be careful when you distribute it into the liners. I definitely made a mess!

3. I like to use a small cookie dough scoop like this one for placing the batter in the liners. 

4. Piping bags are a great way to squeeze the cheesecake filling into the tray, but a spoon would be fine to dollop it in.

5. A vanilla or peanut butter frosting would also be great on this cupcake. I personally love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.

Without further ado, here is the Frankenstein recipe for Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cupcakes!

Are you interested in more recipes? Comment below!