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5 from 1 vote

-The BEST Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes-

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time19 minutes
Cool/Filling time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 24 cupcakes
Author: Courtney Hunter

Ingredients

Peanut butter cupcakes

  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 flax eggs (2 TB flax plus 4 TB water)
  • ½ cup oil, neutral
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1.5 cups plant milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2.5 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoon cream of tarter
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 8 peanut butter cups, chopped up

Ganache

  • 2 cups chocolate chips
  • ⅓ cup plant milk
  • 1 TB oil

Peanut Butter Frosting

  • 1 stick or 113 grams vegan butter, room temperature (earth balance)
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 3 cups powdered sugar- up to 1 cup more if needed
  • ¼ cup plant milk
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 peanut butter cups, chopped, more if you want

Topping

  • 6 whole peanut butter cups, cut into 4's for topping the cupcakes.

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350.  Either line a muffin tin with cupcake liners, or grease and flour the tin.
    2. Make your flax egg and set aside.
    3. In a mixing bowl, either with your stand mixer or hand mixer.  Mix the brown sugar, peanut butter, and oil.  Mix this until it's fluffy.
    4. Now add the flax eggs and the vanilla, baking powder, cream of tarter and salt.  Mix.
    5. Add your flour and milk alternately, until they are both all mixed in. Now mix in your chopped peanut butter cups.  Fill your muffin tin, I use a big scoop to make sure they are even.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Start checking for a clean toothpick at 15 minutes.  You don't want to over bake them.  Let them sit for about 5 minutes in the muffin tin, then place them on a cooling rack.
    6. While your cupcakes are cooking you can make the Ganache.  Place all the ingredients into a glass bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, stir, stir stir, do another 30 seconds, and at that point, it should be ready after a lot of stirring.  If you are still having a lot of solid chunks, than microwave at 50% power at 15 second intervals,  you don't want your chocolate the seize up.  Stir until no solid chunks, it may be a bit grainy, but that's okay.  Put in the fridge until your cupcakes are cool enough to fill. 
    7. While waiting you can make your frosting.  Take a clean mixing bowl, mix your peanut butter and and butter until creamed. Add the rest of the ingredient, but add the powdered sugar one cup at a time on low speed ( so you don't have a powder sugar dusting in your kitchen). Once all mixed, add your chopped peanut butter cups.  Set aside.
    8.  Once your cupcakes are cooled, you can start filling.  I use this, and it is THE best for filling, I have tried so many different things.  But if you don't have one- you could use a piping bag and pipe them into your cupcakes. If you don't have piping bags, you'll have to get creative- a zip lock bag would work, with a corner cut out, but it will get messy (this is not my recommended way, but you gotta do what you gotta do). I fill the cupcakes with about 1.5 ML's, don't over fill because your cupcake will explode. Once they are all filled- you can top them with frosting.
    9. I use a medium cookie scoop and scoop a ball out, flatten it in my hand and add it to the top of the cupcakes.  Top with a little piece of peanut butter cup and enjoy your hard work!