FlufferNutter Cupcakes

I found heaven in a cupcake. Okay, so I may not be the first to throw together a FlufferNutter cupcake, but they are certainly not as popular as say, red velvet or s'mores. Also, I did my research on peanut butter cupcakes and added some variations to the recipes to come up with pure deliciousness. I have my fabulous boyfriend to thank for this experimentation. He made himself a PB & Fluff sandwich and well, immediate inspiration. 

After concocting my own cupcake, I went online to check out the ideas that other bloggers had and most of them are quite different. The key to this is a delicious peanut butter cupcake recipe... and I definitely had one.


Peanut Butter Cupcakes
(makes 12-16 cupcakes)

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (smooth works too, I just enjoy the extra texture)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 pinch salt
• Marshmallow fluff (Small teaspoon for each cupcake)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup cupcake pan. Beat brown sugar, shortening, and peanut butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg then stir in vanilla. 

Combine flour, cream of tarter, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. Stir into the batter alternating with the milk in two batches. 

Scoop one tablespoon into the bottom of each liner. Follow each tablespoon of batter by a small teaspoon of marshmallow fluff right in the center (don't let it touch the ends of the cupcake liners. Place one more tablespoon of batter over the fluff. Cups should be about 2/3 full. The fluff melts and gets absorbed into the batter to add back the moisture. I removed some milk from the recipe for this purpose. Bake the cupcakes for 15-20 minutes. 

Marshmallow Frosting

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2 large egg whites

1 tsp pure vanilla

1/4 tsp cream of tarter

pinch of salt

Combine sugar and water in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir constantly for 3 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Beat egg white, vanilla, cream of tartar, and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar syrup; beat until stiff peaks form and mixture is glossy in texture, about 7 minutes more.

I experimented with other things, such as purely mixing the marshmallow fluff into the batter itself, but due to the nature of fluff (super sticky, super sweet, and tends to expand in heat... I mean who hasn't put a marshmallow in the microwave just to watch it balloon up and then put it on a graham cracker with some hershey's chocolate :) ) Anyway, it tasted delicious, but it was nearly impossible to remove from the wrapper in one piece... therefore these cupcakes got combined with some of the extra frosting, mixed up real well and turned into cupcake balls. I swear the invention of cupcake balls has saved failed recipes everywhere. 

I used a plastic bag and cut off the tip in order to swirl on the frosting, then i topped it with some chopped peanuts. Aren't they pretty? Pretty delicious too....

Enjoy :)