Hello again!! I suppose many of you are in the midst of decorating, baking and doing other Christmassy stuff J. The past few weeks have been depressing and hard on all of us, and I think it’s a good thing for everyone to be renewing their hope this time of the year. The past is past, and we can pray and act for a better future for all of us on this planet.
I know Christmas means more cookies and puddings than cupcakes, but I thought I’d put in a slightly healthier version for those whose pantries are overflowing with baked goodies J.
What you’ll need:
150 g whole wheat flour
¼ tsp baking powder
110 g unsalted butter
125 g powdered sugar
4 tbsp peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
80 ml milk
1½ tbsp + ½ tbsp mini chocolate chips
What you’re going to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 180° C and line a 12 cup cupcake tin.
2. Sift flour and baking powder and keep aside.
3. Beat sugar and butter with an electric beater till thick and creamy.
4. Add the peanut butter and beat again till mixed well.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Add the vanilla and whisk well.
7. Add the flour, milk and chocolate chips in this order: 1/3 flour mix, ½ milk, ½ tbsp choc chips, 1/3 flour mix, remaining milk, ½ tbsp choco chips, remaining flour mix, ½ tbsp choco chips. Gently fold in each ingredient as you go.
8. Spoon batter about halfway of each cupcake liner.
9. Top the cupcakes with ½ tbsp choco chips and bake for about 20-25 minutes at 180° C. Check if a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. The tops should be lightly browned, but not too much.
Note: Avoid using salted butter, since the peanut butter already contains salt.
These can be made with regular flour as well, not sure why you’d want to do that,though! And if you don’t like chocolate (do you even exist?), you can skip the whole choco chips part. I used crunchy peanut butter, but you can use either.
Along with being great to gift your neighbors or friends for Christmas, this is also a good idea for a child’s snack box. It stores well in an airtight container, contains whole grain (whole wheat), healthy fats (peanut butter) and looks yummy (chocolate chips)!! If you want to make it even more sinful, make a chocolate ganache and frost, or if you couldn’t bother with that, there’s always Nutella!!!!
.gif)
