Vanilla Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Hey All!! Happy Monday! Throughout the summer my posts will be less often due to the fact that I am outside loving life and soaking up as much sunshine as I possibly can before the dreaded Indiana winter comes again. Please stay away as long as possible snow! I don't want any.

Recently my little sister turned 25. Yay!! The last birthday you have that's actually exciting until you hit 30...or so I've heard. For me, all my mid and late 20's have not been something I've looked forward to. But my sister graciously walked into 25 with her head held high and her face stuffed with these amazing Vanilla Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting I made her for her birthday!

It just so happened her birthday was on game night (Wednesdays) and she got to decide the menu. This has always been a tradition in our big family that we've done our whole lives. She wanted hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, and any kind of dessert that had chocolate and peanut butter.

Since Reese cups are her favorite I knew I had to fill these sweet little cakes with them. I decided to do big and mini ones. So for the big ones I made they had a whole cup and for the minis they had half a cup. Perfect!

She absolutely loved them!! They're super moist and packed with tons of flavor!

Ingredients:
Cupcakes
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 Cups sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 Cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 Cup milk
12 mini Reese cups
Chocolate chips

Frosting
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup peanut butter
2 Cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp milk

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with cake liners.

Whip the butter on medium speed until almost smooth.

Pour in the sugar and beat well.

Add in the eggs and vanilla and stir until fully combined.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Alternately stir in the milk and dry ingredients until everything is mixed. So stir in a little milk, then a little of the dry stuff, then milk, then dry, so on and so on until it's all mixed in.

Pour the batter into the cupcake liners until about 1/3 full. Place a Reese cup on the batter and top with more batter until completely covered.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.

Let them cool on a baking sheet before you frost them.

For the frosting:
Beat together the butter and peanut butter. Add in the sugar until completely mixed together.

Add in a tablespoon of milk one at a time until the frosting is nice and thick. You might not need all the milk, so make sure to stop as soon as it's all combined and easy to work with.

Shove the frosting in a piping bag and swirl on top of the cooled cupcakes. Toss on some chocolate chips and serve!

So what have you been up to this summer?! I'd love to hear your fun ideas.

Thanks for stopping by!