The Best Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes

Kalimera readers, is it really lame to be starting off with another apology? I love writing here absolutely, but I've been so busy with the move that I've had barely any time to breathe, let alone blog. Today I finally cracked under some of the moving pressure and decided to relax by doing an activity that I really, really enjoy: baking!

I'm going to visit Constantine and his family this long weekend from thursday-monday so I figured it'd be nice if I showed up with a beautiful selection of gourmet-quality cupcakes. Armed with an icing nozzle and a standard six-cup pan, I set out to tackle my favorite cupcake recipe!

Peanut Butter & Banana Cupcakes

adapted from the book "Perfect Cupcakes", by John Owen & Terry Newel

Sweet, Subtly Peanut-Buttery Cupcake Batter

1 cup of flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

2 mashed bananas

Deliciously Chunky Peanut Butter Frosting

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream

1/4 cup of finely chopped peanuts

1 tbsp of butter

1 banana, sliced.

Whew! There are lots of ingredients there but the end result is completely worth the effort. These are absolutely delicious, not to mention very attractive. Definitely the kind of cupcake to give to guests and special friends.

• Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare a standard (6cup) muffin pan by either greasing or inserting liners. I really enjoy buying pretty liners at gourmet cooking supply stories. It really dresses up the cupcakes and makes them that much more special.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• In another bowl, beat together sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the mashed banana. Slowly combine the ingredients. Like with banana bread, stop beating the ingredients until they are -just- combined. Mixing too much will make your cupcakes too dense.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes. Got toothpick? You know the drill ^~
• For the frosting: beat peanut butter in small bowl until fluffy. Beat in the sugar. Add cream until you've reached your desired consistency. This is going to be more of a spread than a twisting tower of icing.
• In a non-stick pan, over medium heat, melt your butter. Slice the banana and saute the slices until browned, about 1 minute each side. Transfer to paper towels to cool.
• Ice your cupcakes. Then, place your tiny pieces of peanut in a bowl. Holding the cupcake on it's side, 'roll' the edges of the cupcake in the peanut butter pieces. This step isn't necessary, obviously, I just find it very pretty. For a finishing touch top with a piece of banana.

Try not to devour all of these before you get them to the people you're gifting ^~

Enjoy!

❤ Miss