Blueberry Reese's Cupcakes

I told you I hadn't given up on the elusive Blueberry/Reese's combination, and I meant it.

Behold Take Two: Cupcakes.

The other day I was browsing Foodgawker (as I do), when a post about blueberry icing caught my eye and triggered a brainstorm. Blueberry Reese's Cookies may need some refining, but why not try Blueberry Reese's Cupcakes? They're a little easier, to start with. The two flavors give each other more room, for one thing, which was one of the flaws of my cookies - the blueberry and Reese's effectively canceled each other out so that neither ended up potent enough.

Before I could build my recipe, I had some decisions to make. Would the blueberry take the form of cake or frosting? If frosting, would the cake then be peanut butter or chocolate? If cake, would the frosting be peanut butter or chocolate? Tough decisions, let me assure you. A half hour or so of Foodgawker browsing later, I decided on this combo: peanut butter cake, chocolate and peanut butter chips within, and blueberry cream cheese frosting.

I thought the peanut butter would be a less aggressive flavor than chocolate, and was therefore less likely to compete with the blueberry frosting for attention. 

I mean, let's face it. When you have purple frosting, you give it your full attention.

Oh yeah.

This frosting gets its blueberry flavor from pulverized freeze-dried blueberries. Observe:

They worked a lot better than my boiled blueberries from the cookies. All (and more) of the flavor; none of the hassle. I think I'll incorporate them into future Blueberry Reese's cookie efforts. 

Backing up a little, I had extra batter after filling the twelve regular cupcake holders, so I decided to take advantage of my host family's Legit Kitchen amenities (it's really nice to be in a Legit Kitchen again) and make mini-cupcakes! I've never made them before because my family doesn't have a mini-cupcake pan, a deficiency I hope to rectify in the near future. 

Aren't they cute?

After allowing my cupcakes sufficient time to cool, and my frosting sufficient time to firm up in the refrigerator, it was time to frost!

Bag'O'Frosting

Every aspect of this recipe went beautifully. The cupcakes baked to golden-brown-tinged perfection, the frosting thickened properly without needing the exorbitant excess cups of sugar the recipe advised in the event of thin frosting, and attained a deliciously tart blueberry flavor that gracefully counterbalanced but did not overwhelm nor was overwhelmed by the cream cheese. The final products are a beautiful sight to behold. If I do say so myself.

Having tasted one of these beauties, I can attest that they are not only attractive, but delicious. Really, they could not have turned out better. They surpassed my expectations, and blow my first Blueberry Reese's experiment out of the oven.

Seriously. 

I wish I could share one (or two) with you, because I now have over a dozen delicious cupcakes on my hands, and no one to force them on feed them to since my host family is on a group diet! Whatever shall I do?

Blueberry Reese's Cupcakes, makes about 12 cupcakes

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

¼ cup butter, softened

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1-cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-½ cups flour

1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder 

1/3 cup milk

½ cup peanut butter chips

½ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and peanut butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and eggs and beat together until fluffy. Add vanilla and mix for another minute or so.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Fold in peanut butter morsels.

Pour into cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350.

While they are baking, make the frosting.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup of butter, softened

8 oz of cream cheese, softened

1.2 oz (34 grams) freeze-dried blueberries, pulverized in a food processor

3-5 cups of confectioner’s sugar

In a large mixing bowl, mix butter until it is softened and uniform. Add cream cheese and beat together until it is uniform. Add pulverized blueberries. Add 3 cups of sugar to the mixture and mix. Add more sugar if necessary. Mix again until mixture is creamy and spreadable. Add more sugar if necessary.

Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. Top with a mini Reese's cup (optional).