Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel Cupcakes

Doesn't that title just make your mouth water? I made these for class as it is my turn to bring snack tomorrow (I promise I'm in grad school...) and since my birthday is Tuesday I thought it best to combine my love of both chocolate and peanut butter. These take a little extra work but are well worth it. Aaron even put them on his Top 5 list of his favorite baked goods. And thank you to my friend Jamie for the cake recipe!

A note about quantity: Since my mini-cupcake tin has 24 wells and I had batter leftover, I learned that this recipe makes 24 mini-cupcakes and 3 regular cupcakes. Batter-wise, each regular cupcake = 3 mini cupcakes. So with the recipe below you can make about 33 mini cupcakes or 11 regular cupcakes. Cut the cake (pun intended) any way you choose.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel Cupcakes

1 recipe peanut butter caramel sauce (follow the variation at the bottom)
1 cup. almond milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 recipe chocolate ganache
2 Tbls. shelled peanuts (I used halved, but use whatever you've got)

First make the caramel and let it chill in the fridge while you prepare the cupcakes.

Preheat your oven to 350 F. In a large measuring cup mix together the almond milk and vinegar. It will curdle and become like buttermilk.

Meanwhile, sift or whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. 

Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla to the almond milk/vinegar mixture, and whisk until combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until combined.

Line your muffin tin with liners, or spray. Fill each well with 1 tsp. (mini) or 1 Tbls. (regular) of batter and bake for 5 minutes.

Take a dollop of the peanut butter caramel and press it into the center of each cupcake. The top of the batter will break and the caramel will melt slightly. Cool.

Cover the caramel with another 1 tsp (mini) or 1 Tbls. (regular) of batter and bake for 10-12 minutes (mini) or 18-20 minutes (regular), until the cupcakes no longer jiggle when you shake the pan slightly.

Cool the cupcakes fully on a wire rack before frosting them (so when they are almost cool, make the ganache. Or, if you'd rather make it ahead of time, microwave it until it's warm when the cupcakes have fully cooled). One at a time, hold the cupcakes upside down and dip into the ganache to just cover the top.

Press a peanut into the center of each cupcake, and try not to eat all of them at once.

That third larger cupcake? I accidentally dropped the entire thing in the ganache. So it became our taster. Shame.