Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes ~ Vegan MOFO 2013

The amount of baking that I’ve been doing has dwindled in recent months (alhtough these pretzel rolls from Somer at Vedged Out and everything that Alexander has been doing  for his Vegan MOFO yeast theme have been getting me going again!)

But today’s creation was inspired by Annie , who’s doing an Ode to Peanut Butter and Jelly this month. Who can resist that? But I decided to take my peanut butter craving in a different direction and pair it with some good old chocolate. OK, make that double chocolate! Thus, the Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes were born … and even I couldn’t even pretend these are healthy enough to call them muffins 🙂 But they are amazingly delicious and are oil-free, so there is that. And with this great peanut butter topping, there’s no need for frosting, so you’re getting some protein instead of sugar!

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup agave
• 1 1/2 cups nondairy milk
• egg replacer for 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter, warmed

in a medium bowl. whisk together the bananas, agave, nondairy milk, egg replacer and vanilla. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix the wet into dry ingredients, then stir in the chocolate chips. This will give a light and fluffy batter.

Spoon the batter into a muffin tin, and then top with the warmed peanut butter (I just put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds).

Drizzling action happening….

Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes, or when a toothpick comes out clean.

This makes a large batch – I got 12 regular sized cupcakes plus 3 monster-sized ones (the kind that come 6 to a pan).

When I got to the last 3, I decided to go for a change and use banana instead of peanut butter…..

OK, so they’re not very photogenic, but the combination of the mushy cooked banana with the melted chocolate chips was fantastic! Definitely a winner…