Peanut Butter and Banana Cupcakes

What do you do with two brown mushy bananas?  Feed them to The Bellman (he likes them that way I swear) or.......make banana cupcakes!  This is one of those recipes I have made so many times I have it memorized.  I especially love it because it is really easy and fast to put together and doesn't mess up my kitchen too much in the process.  The end result is an incredibly moist and fragrant cakey-muffiny treat. 

While these cupcakes are great on their own, they are even better with a dollop of peanut butter on top--but then isn't most everything?!  This time around I happened to have bag of mini peanut butter cups (the tiny pop in your mouth kind) in the house and just to be truly decadent I folded them right into the batter and baked them up. Whoa!  Chocolate, peanut butter and banana.  I must be channeling Elvis.




Any which way, plain or peanut buttered, you'll love them!

BANANA CUPCAKES
Yield:  16 cupcakes

1/2C butter
1C sugar
2 eggs
1/2C sour cream
1tsp baking soda
2C flour
1tsp vanilla
2 bananas, mashed
6oz Reese's mini peanut butter cups (I used the balance of an 8oz bag after first counting out 16 for a garnish and then sampling a couple :)

1.  Cream together butter and sugar.
2.  Add eggs.
3.  Add sour cream, flour and baking soda.
4.  Add vanilla and mashed bananas.
5.  Fold in the mini peanut butter cups.
6.  Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and fill three quarters full with the batter.
7.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.


PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING
Yield: 2 Cups

1C powdered sugar
1C peanut butter, creamy
5tbl butter, room temperature
1tsp vanilla
1/4tsp kosher salt
1/3C heavy cream

1.  Whip it....whip it good.

When cupcakes have cooled, pipe the frosting on top and garnish with one mini peanut butter cup each.

Enjoy!