Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In bowl #1 of 3, combine the milk and vanilla.

In bowl #2 of 3, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of your stand mixer (bowl #3 of 3), combine the sugar, butter, and eggs. Add the peanut butter to the mixer as it’s mixing the sugar, butter, and eggs. Mix until combined.

Add half of the flour mixture into the mixer (keep the mixer on a medium to low speed) and mix until combined.

Add all of the liquid ingredients (milk and vanilla mixture).

Switch to a tougher, more durable mixing utensil than the whisk, then add the remaining half of the flour mixture. Mix until combined.

Remove this bowl from the mixer and stir the chocolate chips by hand.

Line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners and fill them 3/4 or the whole way, depending on how big you want the cupcakes to be.

Pop these bad boys into the oven, which should be ready for you at a lovely 350 F. Meanwhile … prepare the icing:

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the pre-made icing with the cocoa powder.

Depending on how creamy you want the icing to look and taste, add the half-and-half (or just milk if you don’t have half-and-half or heavy cream) into the icing and mix to combine.

At roughly 20 minutes after the cupcakes entered the oven (or whenever they appear ready to you), remove the pan from the oven, set it on a rack and let the cupcakes cool. This is where I always get impatient! I want to frost those cupcakes in a heartbeat, but you really do have to let them cool for a good 20 minutes or longer before frosting them.

Enjoy!