Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Makes 15-18 cupcakes

• 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pans with paper liners.Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse for a few seconds to mix. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the blade and pulse until smooth. The entire mixing process should not take more than 5 seconds. Fill the muffin cups about two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool completely on a rack before frosting.

The Joy of Cooking

-- Substitutions: This recipe calls for a food processor, but I mixed the batter fairly easily by hand. I made these cupcakes using chunky/salted peanut butter since it was all we had on hand at my friend's house. When I make these cupcakes in my own home, I will use a chunky/unsalted peanut butter--I found that the nuts really added a wonderful dimension. I nixed the butter and used two tablespoons of vegetable oil since it has less saturated fat. Next time I would like to try a plain yogurt substitution for both the oil and butter. There were no chocolate chips on hand so we opted for a chocolate frosting. Next time I'd like to experiment with other frostings, perhaps even a peanut butter frosting even though it seems redundant.