Even though I have recorded my dislike for peanut butter a couple of times here in the blog, I baked these chocolate chip peanut butter cupcakes for my son because like most of the children he is a hard core peanut butter fan.
I don't know what I would do without peanut butter because its an accompaniment for most of his main food; from breads, dosas, chapathis to even pasta. He absolutely loves the pasta dish I make or him with whole wheat penne tossed with steamed broccoli and peanut butter sauce. We saw that on TV one day and he asked me to prepare it for that day's dinner and it has become a regular now.
Coming to this peanut butter cupcakes recipe, I found it in a tofu/vegan cookbook. I don't remember the name of the book and the author. While going through my cookbooks I found this handwritten recipe which I had copied from a book that I had borrowed from the library. That book had a lot of interesting recipes using tofu. After doing a search on Amazon, looking at the cover, I think it must be "Tofu 1-2-3".
This recipe for peanut butter cupcakes is so simple to bake if you have all the ingredients in hand like I did. I was able to prepare the batter and fill it in the muffin tins during the 15 minutes the oven was preheating. The baking time is 20 minutes. Cool it for another 5 minutes and viola within 45 minutes you have your delicious homemade vegan cupcakes. The version I have here is not vegan because I didn't have dairy free chocolate chips. So mine is vegan friendly.
These cupcakes get my vote because the flavor of peanut butter was very mild; not as strong as I was hoping it to be. Another vote for not being overly sweet and for not having added fat other than the peanut butter. It got two thumbs up from everybody in my family. So if you too are looking for something similar then do try these chocolate chip peanut butter cupcakes.
Recipe
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 cup Maple Syrup
- ⅔ cup Soft Silken Tofu (See My Notes #1)
- ½ cup Creamy Peanut Butter (I used unsweetened and unsalted)
- 3 tablespoons Milk (I used 2%)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 tablespoons Water (See My Notes #2)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350/180C for 15 mins. Lightly grease and line the muffin tin with paper liners. Also spray the paper liners lightly so that you can peel off the cupcakes easily.
- In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Blend together all the wet ingredients except water.
- Pour the wet mixture to the flour and combine until just moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips too. If you feel that the batter is too tight add 1 to 2 tablespoons water.
- Fill each muffin cup ⅔rds full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. I checked after 16 minutes but the cupcakes were not done; the batter was sticking to the toothpick. I baked for another 4 minutes and it came out clean.
- Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack. Do not leave it in the tin for more than 5 minutes because the paper liner will start giving out moisture and the muffins will become soggy.
My Notes
- Soft silken tofu was mentioned in the original recipe but all I had was Firm silken tofu and that too the Lite variety from Mori Nu. Earlier I baked a chocolate cake using that tofu and got a rubbery cake so I was in a dilemma whether to use it or not and finally decided to go with it. Surprisingly these peanut butter cupcakes turned out very good; light and fluffy unlike the chocolate cake. I used the dry measuring cup to measure the tofu. Mine was vacuum packed so it did not have any water at all. I spooned it in the ⅓rd cup twice.
- Water was not mentioned in the original recipe but I had to use it because I felt that the batter was too thick. I think that this wouldn't be necessary if we use soft tofu because it has more water content than the firm silken tofu I used. I guess that the consistency of peanut butter also matters. Mine was quite hard as I had stored it in the fridge. I think another tablespoon of water also would not have hurt the cupcakes. So consider all this before adding the water.
- I got only 11 cupcakes but the batter could have been easily divided among the 12 muffin cups. Mine looked more like muffins with small domes than cupcakes. Had I stretched the batter among the 12 cups it would have looked perfect.
- If you have a sweet tooth increase the quantity of chocolate chips to ¾th cup or the maple syrup by another ¼ cup.
Nutrition
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jai says
Hi what can I use instead of tofu?
Madhuram says
Yogurt maybe or even flax egg.
Nina says
I'm interested to know that peanut butter sauce you mentioned for the pasta you make your son. Would you be able to provide a link or something? Thanks!
Madhuram says
Check this out: http://www.marthastewart.com/318266/creamy-peanut-dipping-sauce
Xxxxxxx says
There is no video of this recipe.
Madhuram says
I have started uploading videos only for the recent recipes.
Alexandra says
You can't even tell I used tofu!
Madhuram says
That's true Alexandra.
Cora says
What would be an appropriate substitute for the tofu? I'm egg-free and soy-free. Maybe greek yogurt?
Thanks for this site!
Madhuram says
You can try it, Cora.
Vera Zecevic - Cupcakes Garden says
Really nice cupcakes ! I would like to showcase this recipe on my
cupcake recipes & ideas blog if you agree. Best regards
AJ says
hi,
What will be the best replacement for maple syrup. it's not a common ingredient available in Malaysia.
Thank you
Madhuram says
I would try the following if I had to replace the maple syrup with sugar. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup milk instead of the 3 tablespoons. This is just my guess though. If you think that the batter is too thick after these changes, you could add some more milk.
Ashlee says
W.O.W your recipes are totally awesome!
I'm sixteen and am always looking for new recipes to try and I LOVE your Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cupcakes Recipe! Thanks so much! Keep it up!
Madhuram says
Thanks a lot Ashlee. Could you please rate the recipe?
Brianna says
Hey I was just wondering if there was anything else besides tofu that you can use?
Madhuram says
Maybe unsweetened applesauce? I wouldn't know if it works unless I try it for myself.
Laura says
This looks like a great recipe, I am excited to try it! I have also started a Gluten Free Recipe Blog-- http://www.thesimpleglutenfree.com.
sandiya says
This is just the perfect combination. My daughter loves peanut butter and cakes, great. Definately going 2 try it.
Chris says
Hi, I made these cupcakes last night and they were great. I didn't have peanut butter so I used almond instead. I also had the firm tofu, which was lumpy in the wet mixture so I used a beater on it for a bit to smooth things out. Also, I didn't have enough maple syrup, so I looked up the sub for sugar. I used 1+1/4 cups brown sugar and added an extra 1/4 cup of almond milk per the sub instructions. The batter did seem really dry, so I also added the additional water as well as some additional almond milk. Oh, I also did half/half with the all purpose and whole wheat pastry flour. I was worried about all the subs and changes, but really they worked out great. Thanks for the inspiration!
You're welcome Chris. You termed it right, inspiration it is or mere guidelines; because you have made so many changes.
Mayy says
Hey, how many cupcakes does this make roughly, I'm looking for a recipe for my foos tech classes, and this seems really interesting.
Madhuram says
It makes 12 cupcakes. You can see that info under the list of ingredients in all my recipes.
sarah | Cook this Recipe says
Oh my goodness! This is heaven! Though this is my first to hear a peanut butter-tofu combination...interesting! I love cupcakes and peanut butter, will try this recipe 🙂 Thanks for sharing
Sharmilee says
Peanut butter in cupcakes?! that sounds interesting n yum
Sanjeeta kk says
Lovely and perfect texture for these cute goodies!
Radhika Vasanth says
Yumm. Love the pic. The background looks surreal
Priya says
Cute and absolutely delicious looking cupcakes..
CurryLeaf says
Perfect Madhu.They look light too.Soft Mori Nu is available here also thgh costly.I think I can substitute paneer instead as well.The pasta with pb sauce is a must try as well.
Rachana Kothari says
Wow! Tofu and peanut butter sounds like an interesting combo 🙂 The cupcakes look cute and tempting.
satya says
wow what delicious n healthy version of cupcakes ...never tried with tofu ...sounds really interesting ...thanks for sharing
Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com
harini-jaya says
hey thats an interesting combo of tofu,peanut butter and maple syrup..shall give it a try!! Looks like a great protein source!!
Sayantani says
perfect cupcakes.
FOODESSA says
Although I do necessarily bake without eggs...I can appreciate recipes such as this one without.
I especially like the fact that you mentioned tofu as part of the recipe. BTW...thanks about your notes about the firmer tofu...however, I think I'll try your recipe with the softer kind.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom on these special cupcakes ;o)
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia