Peanut Butter Caramel 'Chikki' Cupcakes - the name is clear enough to tempt anyone! Salty Peanuts + Caramel = a match made in heaven :)
Servings 8cupcakes
Author Noopur
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Honey Muffins
125gall-purpose flour
1 ½tspbaking powder
50gpeanut butter- chunky or creamy
30ml2 tbsp oil
60g3 tbsp honey
180ml¾ cup milk- room temperature
Peanut Brittle
50gsugar
1tbspwater
30gpeanuts- roasted, salted and roughly chopped
8gbutter- ½ tbsp
Salted Caramel Buttercream
60gunsalted butter
100gicing sugar- sifted
3-4tbspsalted caramel sauce
Instructions
Peanut Butter Honey Muffins
Prepare a muffin tin with liners - this recipe makes about 8-9 regular sized muffins. Preheat the oven to 180C.
In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder 2-3 times.
In another small bowl, add the oil, peanut butter, honey and milk and mix until slightly combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined (some lumps are okay). DO NOT OVERMIX else you'll end up with dry muffins.
Pour the batter into prepared tin and bake it for 12-13 minutes at 180C. A toothpick inserted should come out clean and the top will be springy when touched. DO NOT OVERBAKE else it'll dry out the muffins.
Remove from the oven and after 2-3 minutes, remove the muffins from the tray and let them cool completely on a wire rack.
Peanut Brittle
Prepare a baking tray - either with a silicon baking sheet or just grease the tray well.
Prepare the caramel - in a heavy bottom saucepan, add the sugar and water and heat on a low/medium flame.
Once the sugar dissolves, do not stir. The sugar will start turning golden and then turn amber. Switch off the heat. Keep a close eye on the caramel as it can go from amber to burnt in a matter of seconds.
Add the butter and mix. Be careful as it'll bubble up and release steam. Once the butter melts, add the peanuts and mix till they are coated evenly with caramel.
Immediately spread out the caramel on the baking tray as evenly as possible with a silicone spatula to about 1/2 inch thickness. Let it cool for about 15-20 minutes. Break the brittle into medium sized pieces to use as decoration for cupcakes.
Salted Caramel Buttercream
Using a hand mixer/electric mixer/whisk, beat the butter for about 5-7 minutes till smooth and pale.
Add vanilla essence and mix well.
Gradually add the sifted icing sugar to butter while beating it. Ensure all sugar and butter is mixed well.
Add 3 tbsp of salted caramel sauce (recipe here) and beat the mixture again for 2-3 minutes till all combined.
You can add more caramel sauce (1 tsp at a time) or icing sugar (1 tbsp at a time) depending on the consistency of the frosting.
Transfer the icing to a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice (I used Wilton 1M).
Notes
Assembly – Pipe the buttercream on cooled muffins with rosettes swirls. Drizzle some salted caramel sauce and decorate with a piece of brittle on top. You can also core the centre of the muffins and add some caramel sauce inside.