Chocolate and Peanut Butter – Oh My!
I absolutely love chocolate. Hubby – not so much. The only way I can get him to eat chocolate is when I contaminate it with other things. But I don’t mind mixing in some peanut butter – what a great combination!
I had been hearing great things about this recipe so I had to give it a try. I even got hubby to help with adding the peanut butter!
We both loved the cupcake in it’s finished state. It was the first time I had ever made a from-scratch chocolate cake. The cake itself wasn’t very chocolatey, but the finished product was amazing. I will definitely be making these again sometime!
Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate (cup)Cake (2 WW pts – 5 pts with frosting and PB filling) From the back of the Cocoa box or here (Makes ~2 dozen)
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour – I use King Arthurs White Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk – I used Silk Light Vanilla Soymilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil – I used 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely.
Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Frosting (2 WW pts)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
1/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar – I used 2 1/2 cups
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
Peanut Butter Filling (1 WW pt)
Mix 1 cup of peanut butter (I used low-fat JIF creamy) with about 2 Tbsp powdered sugar.
To assemble, we used the cone method as described here. It worked well with a helper 🙂 I cut the cones out, and hubby spooned in the PB mixture. Then I replaced the cones and frosted the top of the cupcake.
Note: The batter is VERY THIN… as in liquid.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Aren’t they the best? They’re so addicting. I’ve actually starting using the same ingredients, but mixing them like a more traditional chocolate chip cookie (i.e., softened butter instead of melted), because I like the dough better with softened butter. The baked cookies were just as good. Best of both worlds!
These look gorgeous. Don’t you just love AB??? 🙂
The cookies look great. I love AB too..he’s such a dork (in a good way).
I love the ATK/CI Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. I will have to try these to see what I think. I remember seeing that the recipes looked similar so I am sure I will love them.
Another AB lover here. My husband gives me a hard time about my DVR list with him but loves it when I give him a fun tidbit or cook him something from AB.
I completely agree CoCo. Hubby does the same thing. I sometimes even watch episodes I’ve seen before! Hubby doesn’t like to admit it, but he loves AB too. Sometimes he’ll be the one saying “AB says to do this…”
They look SO good!! I am a sucker for a chewy chocolate chip cookie. Although, I must side with your hubby – I prefer mine with just a bit of chocolate.
How much is a stick of butter? I’m not in the US and have never come across this measurement before.
Sorry about that Naomi – 1 stick of butter = 8 Tbsp. Does that help?
this is very similar to the ccc recipe i use, but anything that makes it chewier is good in my books! i will have to keep this one in mind 🙂
Yes Jen, thank you!
Yum! I will definitely be trying these. I always chill my cookie dough too usually because I’m too busy with 3 little ones but I also read that article in the NY times awhile ago and I felt like I deserved a nice big pat on the back for always doing the 24hour chill 🙂 Great post and beautiful cookies!
I love Alton Brown because of his scientific approach to cooking and baking. I’ve been baking “The Chewy” for years. One thing I do differently: Before chilling the dough, I scoop it into balls. This makes the process much easier. Sometimes I freeze the balls for baking later. After I place the balls on parchment, I carefully place a few extra chocolate morsels on top, pointy side up. This extra step produces picture-perfect cookies every time.
The Chewy is my go to recipe for cookies. I make a few alterations, occasionally, such as substituting 1/4 of the brown sugar with dark brown sugar. I bake small portions in mini muffin tins; one batch makes 48 cookie bites that are super chewy and the perfect size bite. I’ve made them every year for Christmas gifts for a few years now.