Abuelita Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Abuelita chocolate is one of those things you always had in your cupboards growing up, but if your parents hated you they probably just gave you Ibarra Chocolate. Just kidding. Ibarra is just as good but slightly bitter and I.Am.Not.That.Type.Of.Girl, I like my chocolate to be sweet.

If you’ve never had Abuelita Chocolate before, you’re missing out. It’s a thick round disc of sugary chocolate with cinnamon. My mom would always have a nice warm cup of Abuelita and pan dulce waiting for us at home on rainy days. Looking back, we might not have had very much growing up, but I can’t help but be thankful for such a tasty childhood.

I had wanted to incorporate Abuelita into desserts, so I figured why not start with cupcakes? If you follow me on Snapchat, you probably saw me snapping at Sprinkles basically every weekend over the summer and so now here we are 5 lbs later. #TeamNoAbs

It took me a few tries to figure out what kind of frosting I wanted to pair the cake with. I tried a raspberry frosting, cream cheese frosting, but none of them paired quite right. Then it hit me, PEANUT BUTTER! You guys, Peanut Butter+Cinnamon+Chocolate is a thruple I want to be a part of, and Ina came thru with a good recipe.

Abuelita Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes 18
Frosting adapted, barely, from Ina Garten’s

Cupcakes:
1 1/3 cup flour
1 cup white granulated sugar
3/4 cup ground Abuelita chocolate*, from 1 1/2 disks (but grind two full disks so you have extra for topping the cupcakes)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Frosting:
1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons heavy cream

*You can actually find already ground Abuelita chocolate if that’s the path you want to take, but it’s easy to just take the discs and chop them up into a rough chocolate chip size then blitz them in a large processor until it’s all ground up, don’t even worry if there’s some baby pebble sizes in there.

In a large measuring cup measure out the oil, then the buttermilk. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat with a fork until it’s combined. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix just until it’s combined. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full (I use 2 medium cookie scoops, 3 tablespoons) and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:

Beat together the peanut butter and butter until light and fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar, add the vanilla, salt and heavy cream and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Frost the cupcakes however you choose and top with a sprinkling of ground Abuelita chocolate.