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Monday, May 20, 2013

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Crunch Cupcakes

When I saw this recipe on Happy-Go-Lucky I knew I had to try it! John and I both love peanut butter. And chocolate. And pretzels. And anything sweet and salty. This had Wallace written all over it!

We never keep this kind of stuff around the house though because we'd eat it all! Luckily, or rather, unluckily, John's good friend Martin is switching jobs so I decided to make these to send to work with John on Martin's last day.

While I love doing things homemade, baking a cake from scratch is something I still haven't tackled. I've done pretty much everything else, but for some reason I've yet to do cake. Go figure.

I decided to try making the box cake taste more like homemade by doing a few tweaks I found here. It's pretty simple... you just replace the water with milk, add an extra egg and replace the oil with melted butter (double the amount).

Original Cake Recipe
Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
1 1/4 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Oil
3 Eggs

Better Cake Recipe
Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
1 1/4 Cup Milk
1 Cup Melted Butter
4 Eggs


The batter was a bit more fluffy than normal box cake batter, almost like a mousse and it tasted amazing. I licked the beaters when I was done mixing, of course.

I added Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to the bottom of each cupcake and I was a bit disappointed! I haven't bought them in quite some time and they have seriously gotten smaller! Plus, It took forever to unwrap all 24 of them. They should sell them unwrapped in a big bag or something. That would be awesome.


While they cooled, I started on the Peanut Butter Icing. 
And tried a cupcake of course. 
I picked the smallest, weirdest looking one and ate that.

OH MY GOD! 
Changing up the recipe made a HUGE difference.
It was so rich and moist and gooey and AMAZING!
I had to stop myself before I ate them all... and this was before the icing and pretzels!

What You Will Need:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup creamy crunchy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup half and half
Crushed Pretzels

Step One: Add all ingredients except the half and half.


Step Two: Mix until creamy. 

Step 3: Add the half and half and mix until fluffy.


Step Four: Frost all of the cupcakes and add the crushed pretzels.  

(I don't know why this is so blurry.. sorry!)

Let me tell you, these cupcakes are to die for!!!
Good thing I made these to send to work with my husband!
Otherwise, I'd eat them all! 

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