Awhile back we had some friends over for an impromptu dinner. We all pooled groceries that we had lying around the house and attempted to make something delicious at the last minute WITHOUT having to go to the store. It was really fun—and the end results were delicious. For dinner we made some rigatoni pasta with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, chicken and a Parmesan/mozzarella cream sauce. We also had toasted bread with garlic-infused olive oil and Parmesan cheese on top. Delicious. For dessert, I found a box of chocolate cake mix and we improvised this recipe from a recipe found on Pillsbury.com. They were quite possibly the best cupcakes I have ever had–so I definitely wanted to record the recipe!
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layered Cupcakes
1 box chocolate cake mix, plus ingredients necessary to make the mix (eggs, oil and water)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Place paper baking cups into regular-size muffin cups.
2. Mix cake mix according to package instructions.
3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add powdered sugar; beat until creamy.
4. Spoon 1 level tablespoon chocolate batter into each cup; evenly spread 1 level tablespoon peanut butter filling on top. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with peanut butter chips and chocolate chips.
5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (do not overbake). Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack; cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or cool.
Source: Improvised from recipe found on Pillsbury.com
