Inside-Out Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I tried this new recipe for my family's 4th of July picnic on Monday, and they were delicious! They are a little rich, so you have to like chocolate a lot....which is not a problem for me! This recipe is also from the Cupcake Doctor cookbook. I like them with a little bit of vanilla ice-cream as well =)

Inside-Out Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Makes: 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1 package plain yellow cake mix

1 1/2 cups water

1/3 cup chunky peanut butter

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

4 Peanut Butter Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Place the cake mix, water, peanut butter, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and blend on low for 30 seconds. Stop and scrape - then increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. The batter should be well blended. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full. Bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes (I think I only baked mine for 15). Remove pans from oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes. Using the bottom of a small medicine bottle approximately 1 1/4 inches in diameter, press into the center of each cupcake to make an indentation approximately 3/4 inch deep. Allow the cupcakes to continue to cool for 40 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache:

Makes: 2 cups

You need a DOUBLE recipe of the ganache for the cupcakes

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (they recommend Ghirardelli Doulbe Chocolate baking chips, which I used and are great)

1 tsp. vanilla

Place the cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile, place the chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl. Remove the cream from the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted. Stir in the vanilla. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour or chill for 20-30 minutes so it thickens to a spreadable consistency.

Once the cupcakes have cooled and the ganache has thickened, place a heaping spoonful into the well of each cupcake. Then spread a thin layer of ganache over the top. Immediately sprinkly chopped peanut butter cups over the ganache so they stick.