Chocolate Peanut Butter Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Today at work we had a Thanksgiving potluck.  I was excited to try out these cupcakes with Nutter Butter turkeys that I’d found on Pinterest.  I’m a big fan of any creative themed treats – last year I made these cinnamon roll turkeys for Thanksgiving breakfast and some of my favorite cupcakes were these tropical themed ones from a girls’ night I had awhile back. 

These were actually pretty easy to make.  The hardest part was finding candy corn this time of year – now that Halloween is over, all the treats are Christmas themed.  Luckily, Lance tracked some down at Big Lots.

I cheated a bit by using a boxed mix for the cupcakes, but I added chocolate chips to the mix and made the frosting from scratch. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Thanksgiving Cupcakes (adapted from Mommy Savers)

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 box chocolate cake mix, plus any ingredients needed on the back of the box
• ½ cup chocolate chips
• Candy corn
• Nutter Butter cookies
• Mini M&Ms
• Candy eyes
• Craisins

Frosting Ingredients: (this actually made WAY more frosting that I needed…next time I’d reduce by a least half)

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 8-oz package cream cheese
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1-1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 T cocoa powder

Edible Glue: (Yield 1 cup – again, you can half this recipe & still have plenty…)

• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 large egg white
• ½ t lemon juice 

Directions:

1. Prepare cupcakes according to the box, adding in chocolate chips.    

2. While the cupcakes bake, prepare you edible glue by mixing powdered sugar with an egg white & lemon juice.  One the icing is thick and smooth, use it as a glue to attach the candy eyes, mini M&Ms, and craisins to the Nutter Butter cookies.

3. Use a mixer to beat together the butter and cream cheese for the frosting.  Add in the vanilla and peanut butter and blend until combined.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder until fully blended. 

4.  Frost the cupcakes then gently press the Nutter Butters and candy corn into the tops.  Then enjoy how cute & delicious they are!