I’ve been trying to get my brain around the idea of peanut butter and jelly cupcakes for awhile now. I’ve agonized over the hows and whys in my mind–where the jelly would go, what kind of jelly I would use, what flavor of cupcakes, yada yada yada. And then, out of nowhere as I was lying in bed awake and hungry, the simple solution came to me: why use jelly when you can use chocolate? I think that rule can pretty much be applied to all areas of life. Honestly, I’m kind of shocked it’s taken me this long to come up with this one–it’s not like no one’s ever put peanut butter and chocolate together. Enter Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.
I really am not much of a semi-homemade kind of girl–I really do make almost everything from scratch. But when it comes to cupcakes, doctored-up cake mix cupcakes really are my favorite way to go. They’re quick, easy, delicious, and fail-proof, regardless of elevation, humidity, or political affiliation. My only snobbery when it comes to doctoring up cake mixes is that I will only use Duncan Hines cake mixes (and they don’t even pay me to say that…in fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a conversation with anyone affiliated with Duncan Hines). You’ll need a white or yellow Duncan Hines cake mix as well as canola oil, 3 eggs, sour cream, vanilla, small Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and peanut butter. 
Preheat your oven to 350 and line 2 12-opening muffin tins with cupcake liners. Set aside.
Combine all the ingredients except the peanut butter cups in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium-low for 30 seconds, scraping the bottom and sides often, then beat on high for 3 minutes.
Fill each cupcake liner about 1/3 full with cupcake batter. Top with an unwrapped mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, 
and then top the Peanut Butter Cups with the remaining batter. You want to make sure that the candy is covered and the liner is about 3/4 full.
Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until they are golden on top.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely.
While the cupcakes are cooling, you’ll want to get the frostings ready. Yep, that would be “frostings.” Plural. It’s hot and Friday and the end of summer and your kids are fighting–I promise, you need frostings. For these cupcakes, I used the peanut butter frosting from these cookies and then the chocolate frosting from the infamous Tim Riggins Brownies.
Why that chocolate frosting, you ask? Mostly because between that frosting, this one, and this one, Mr. Riggins’ frosting is the quickest, easiest, and I always have those ingredients. Plus, the Old-Fashioned Chocolate Frosting is awesome, but it totally deserves to be the star of its own show rather than in an ensemble production, you know?
When the cupcakes have cooled completely, use this tutorial to frost your cupcakes. 
Squeeze a dollop of remaining frosting onto your finger, lick it, and ponder the wonder of the forthcoming school year, then pour a few glasses of milk and watch your kids ponder the wonder of you and your awesome cupcakes.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
Description
Along with a great cupcake base, the unique frosting combination on top really makes these shine!
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 Duncan Hines yellow or white cake mix
- 1 cup sour cream (full-fat or light, but not fat-free)
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 24 unwrapped mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
For the Chocolate Frosting
- 1/4 cup melted butter (real butter, not margarine)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 pound powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons evaporated milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup real butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2–3 tablespoons (or more) of milk (you can use some of the leftover evaporated milk; it’s awesome in this frosting)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine all the cupcake ingredients except for the peanut butter cups with an electric mixer on medium-low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl frequently. Turn the speed to high and beat for another 3 minutes.
- Fill each muffin cup about 1/2 full with batter. Top with an unwrapped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup , then fill the muffin cups with the remaining batter. Make sure the Peanut Butter Cups are covered and the cups are about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops are golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frostings. For both frostings, just combine all the ingredients for each one and whip until light and fluffy, adding additional milk as needed. Frost the cupcakes with the swirled frosting in tutorial linked to below.
Use this tutorial to frost your cupcakes!
Questions & Reviews
Just wonder if this would work with plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream
AMAZING….Great recipe. *.*
I’ve been wanting to share an experience with you guys that was inspired by your pb frosting. I made your pb frosting back in January for a cake and it has stayed on my mind ever since. Last month I was in charge of making the cake for my friend’s birthday and I was coming up with different ideas to incorporate the pb frosting . . . then it finally hit me (in a dream of course). I call it reeses cake, it was amazing! I made a chocolate cake from a box, let it cool, cut each round in half, and filled all the layers with pb frosting. Then I whipped up a super yummy chocolate pb ganache and poured over the top. When it was almost cooled (but still a little gooey), I put crushed reeses pb cups on top. It was divine! Thanks for the inspiration, my friend was over the moon! xo
If I substitute Red Velvet cake mix for the white or yellow, do any of the preparation steps or ingredients change?
Well, I wouldn’t pair red velvet with peanut butter, but if you’re just referring to the cupcake part, then yes- you can do any flavor of cake mix!
Can I substitute vanilla pudding instead of sour cream? This goes against everything I stand for…I am not the “let’s change up the whole recipe and wonder why it flops” kind of girl. But my best friend has a dairy allergy and I’m really trying!!!
Yeah, you could totally use pudding- but make sure she can have it because most pudding is made with dairy!
Umm…these were amazing. Like down two of them in two minutes amazing. I’m not normally a huge peanut butter fan, but I knew my family and friends would love them so I made them to give away…and it’s a good thing I did because I would never have been able to resist eating them all on my own! Definitely one of my favorite recipes from you guys (and I have tried a ridiculous number!) Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas!
My batter is really thick. Am I supposed to add water like it says on the box?
Nope, it’s just a thick batter.
Is there any way to adapt a lactose free version of this wonderful recipe??
I wish I had a better answer for you, but I just don’t have enough experience with lactose intolerance to make any solid recommendations. I’m sorry!
I just made these cupcakes and they are delicious! I did a quick search on the internet on the best way to use the peanut butter cups and was told to freeze them first so I did. Worked great!
I tried this but the frosting was too thin and wasn’t very good it needed more powdered sugar.
I am going to make these tomorrow for a fundraiser bake sale for the Phi Alpha Theta History National Honor Society at my school. I am hoping they come out as good as they look!
I made these and took into my cliets office for an afternoon snack. Everyone wanted to know where they could buy them, they were so delicious! Thanks!
These are absolutely delicious! I must say, I have yet to be disappointed by your recipes. Thanks so much!
Holy Hannah! These were amazing! Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
Loved these!…. and so did my neighbors…. and mother…. and my husband and his brother…. ha ha I think we have a new family and neighborhood favorite! Thanks for this amazing receipe!
I cooked mine for 22 minutes and they are too dry and normally I have to cook things in my oven for longer so I would stick to closer to 18 minutes if you are going to make them.
These were the best cupcakes I have ever made. I made them for my daughter’s sweet 16 party and they were the hit. Most of the comments I heard were they were the best cupcakes ever. Thanks so much for posting this recipe.
Just made these tonight, SO yummy! I think they’d be good even without the reeses in the middle. Am wondering what the best way to store them is & how long they’re good for? Could you freeze them without the frosting? Thanks!
Oh, yeah, you could totally freeze these before you frost them! That sounds like something everyone should have in their freezer… 🙂
I made these last week for my husband’s birthday. Thanks for the great recipe!
You can see my post about these little cakes here: http://saturdayswithmaggy.blogspot.com/2011/08/baking-cake.html
These were a huge hit with my extended family last week! The only complaint I heard was I didn’t make enough! Thank you!
I have often wondered how bakeries did that with the frosting and now I know! What an awesome idea!
Just curious – does it make a difference what butter you use – salted or un-salted?
I made fancy white cupcakes once and the recipe demanded un-salted or death.
Okay. This is where we might get bludgeoned by the hard-core foodies, but Sara and I use salted butter nearly exclusively. Generally, especially in baking recipes, I just decrease or omit the salt that I add. But I used salted butter in this recipe and I was not sad about it at all. 🙂
These were absolutely delicious. I did have to add more powdered sugar to the chocolate frosting. But that is ok.
Also, I was wondering how you know how to “doctor” up cake mixes. Is that something you just figured out on your own? Is there a place that I can learn it? I love those kind best I just don’t know how to do it on my own.
Try the “The CAKE MIX DOCTOR” cookbooks, by Anne Byrne.