Peanut Butter Cupcakes

 Ohhhhhhh  Mawwwwww  GOODNESS!!!!!  I'm never going back to a regular peanut butter sandwich.  EVER.  I'll have to make this frosting and the  incredibly moist chocolate cupcake to go with it.  Oh, and by the way, I'm so sorry it's been so long.  I've been a bit backed up lately.  But any way, I can still make up by giving you one of the best cupcake recipes of all time, right??

Preheat oven to 350.

whisk together  1 3/4 cups cake flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.

Add 1/2 cup cocoa, 

And whisk to combined. 

cream 1/2 cup butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar at high speed until well blended.  Add 2 egg yolks, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.  Reduce speed to low.

Add the flour mixture and 1 cup buttermilk alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and beat just until combined.  Add 2 ounces melted unsweetened baking chocolate.

Beet 2 egg whites and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar on high speed until stiff peeks form, as we did in this post.  Then fold in the egg whites into the batter.  Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. 

For the Frosting:

• 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup salted butter - softened
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (more if you want a stronger peanut butter flavor)
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 6 - 8 cups (approx. 1 ½ - 2 lb.) powdered sugar
• 6 - 8 tablespoons milk

 Cream together shortening and butter.  Add peanut butter and mix until combine.

Add the vanilla and mix until combine. (combined?  Combine?)

Add the powdered sugar and the milk.

Pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes and garnish with whatever you like!

Enjoy!