Snickers cupcakes

What to tell you about these cupcakes that isn`t already described by their 3 main ingredients?
Chocolate.. Caramel.. Peanut..

There is nothing diet about this recipe and oh, how do I even dare to post something of this kind just before summer, when everybody seems to be counting calories.
Well, if you are one of them - do close your eyes!




The parts of this recipe are nothing new, they all already exist on my blog. But still, putting them together in this type of recipe just seemed like a reasonable time to publish them again.


The recipe for these chocolate muffins were published back in 2011, followed by my simple but irreplacable peanut butter recipe. I wrote about making caramel in yet another cupcake post, and my favorite chocolate mousse recipe was published last year.
But in this recipe, they will get a whole new meaning and purpose.. mostly because these are the recipes I repeat and use a lot in my kitchen.

So, here they all are within the Snickers cupcakes..

Snickers cupcakes

Chocolate banana muffins
makes 14 regular/ 40 mini muffins

200g sugar
130g all purpose flour
2 tbs cocoa powder (for baking)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 banana (mashed)

120ml water

60ml milk

60ml oil 

1 tsp vanilla extract

In one of the bowls, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt.
In the other bowl, lightly whisk an egg. Add in the mashed banana and whisk in together. Add in the water, milk, oil and vanilla, and whisk in so that it all comes together.
Bring the dry and wet ingredients together and mix them with a whisk, until there is no more flour lumps.
Fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake them on 180C. If you are making regular size cupcakes, bake them for 15-18 minutes, and if you are making the mini cupcakes, check them out after 10 minutes baking. The safest way of knowing if they are finished is by doing a toothpick test.

Baking tip - Don`t get scared before pouring the batter in the muffin cups. This batter is on a runny side, so it is not your typical thick and dense muffin batter. Don`t add in extra flour to it, to fight the fear.

Chocolate mousse

120g dark chocolate (the finer, the better)
30g butter
2 eggs
2 tbs caster sugar
120ml heavy cream
2 tbs caster sugar
1 tsp fruity liquor (optional)

In a bowl on a steam bath (au bain marie) melt together the chocolate and butter. After the two ingredients melt and come together in one, take it off the steam and whisk in 2 egg yolks and the liquor (optional), mixing it until the batter becomes nice and glossy. Set it aside to cool down.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites till stiff peaks (about 6-8 minutes) and than add in 2 tbs sugar, while continuing beating it for another 1-2 minutes, till the batter becomes glossy.
In a third bowl, mix heavy cream into creme chantilly and near the end, add in sugar and vanilla.
After the chocolate batter is chilled, fold it into a chantilly batter with a spatula and than add in the wgg white batter and fold it in as well. Let the mousse to chill in the fridge before using it as a frosting on these cupcakes.

Peanut butter

150g peanuts
2 tbs caster sugar
1 tbs butter (room temperature

The process of making peanut butter is explained in one of my posts, but here it goes once again, briefly as the whole process really is.
Put the three ingredients into a blender and - blend together. That`s all folks! Really!
Just let it chill in the fridge before using it because the blending process makes it a bit runny.. too runny to use it for this purpose.
Of course, making the peanut butter in advance and having it there in the fridge definitely speeds up the process of making these Snickers cupcakes.

Salted caramel sauce

150g sugar
100ml heavy cream
2 tbs butter
a pinch of salt

I always had a feeling that caramel sauce is a really difficult thing to make.. until I found a very clear and simple recipe in this "Millefeuilles" by Catherine Kluger booklet that gives the actual measurements for the ingredients that I need for these cupcakes.

The truth is, I still prefer a hunch over a recipe when making caramel sauce, but for all you that are doing it for the 1st time, this recipe will come very useful.

So, on a medium heat, melt the sugar into caramel, watching out it doesn't burn. When all the sugar crystals disappear, put it aside and whisk in the butter, until the butter and sugar create an even batter. It may take a minute or two, and there might be an oily ring around the caramel, but that is okay. Then put it back to high heat and pour in the heavy cream. Whisk it in, but watch out because it will get bubbly. Whisk it on heat until it becomes a silky smooth sauce and than, remove it from the heat.
If you like the salted caramel, this is the time to add a pinch of salt and mix it in with a whisk. The caramel at this point is extremely hot so the salt will melt pretty quickly.

DO NOT get tempted to try licking a spoon or putting a finger inside the freshly made caramel to try it out, because you will end up with a burnt finger or even worse- burnt tongue, that will not have as much pleasure tasting the finished cupcakes as it normally would. Of course, I am not saying this from my own experience.. I would never... :)

And now it`s time to put all these delicious things into one pretty awesome cupcake.

In each of the muffins, pierce a hole that you will fill - first off with a spoonful of caramel sauce (which will make the inside of the cupcake moist and delicious). Than, seal the hole with some peanut butter (which will add the creaminess to the taste). 




Top the cupcake with the chilled chocolate mousse frosting. Decorate cupcakes with some more caramel sauce and some roughly cut peanuts. Who`s on diet now?!? :D



No point in saying - enjoy these.. I am pretty sure you can already feel their taste in your mouth. I can too!