I’ve got a Girl Scout in my family. What that means is that every year around this time, I am completely overwhelmed with Girl Scout cookies that I bought in support of her troop and absolutely no idea what to do with them all! What’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie? Although I will forever be up for a Thin Mint or a Samoa, my absolute favorite is the Tagalong. I am a sucker for chocolate and peanut butter together and I always have been. So a few days ago, I sat myself down and thought about something that I could do with the half dozen boxes of them sitting in my garage, mocking me. And so, these cupcakes were born!
I’m pretty proud of this recipe. It’s my very own and I feel like it’s pretty darn near perfect for my purpose. Because I fill these cupcakes as well as frost them, the consistency has to be just right that they’ll expand without cracking or falling apart in the process. Like everything I share with you, these are not difficult to make- basic ingredients and minimal steps mean that these are fun for everyone from amateur bakers and kids to seasoned veterans that just need a sugar fix. And these will give you that fix- and then some!
Have you ever filled a cupcake before? It’s really very easy with the right tool. Don’t bother with any of that nonsense where you have to punch out a hole and then replace part of the cupcake after filling it. Instead, do yourself a favor and grab a bismarck tip and call it good. A bismarck tip is an extra long, thin piping tip that you can punch into the top of your cupcake to inject frosting without any hassle. They’re available for cheap here on Amazon, or if you need one right away, most likely also at your local Michael’s or Joann’s craft stores in the baking aisle. To use one, attach it to your decorating bag and insert the tip about 2/3rds of the way into your cupcake. Using firm pressure, squeeze frosting into the cupcake until you meet with slight resistance or the sides begin to bulge. Continue to squeeze while you slowly back the piping tip out of the cupcake.
Like all good chocolate baking recipes, this one calls for coffee in place of water. It will really bring out the flavor of the cocoa powder and I encourage you to try the recipe this way first, even if you don’t usually drink coffee. If you absolutely have to swap it out, you can use water. Whatever you choose, make sure that the liquid is hot when you add it to the bowl, because the heat is what will make the batter pourable and create that perfect consistency once it’s been baked. You want to fill your cupcake wrappers about 2/3 of the way to the top. When they bake, they should have a nice, rounded top that is higher than the wrapper edge- a cupcake with some height to it always looks twice as lovely.
Also, let’s chat for a moment about the peanut butter frosting. Mmmm, frosting (insert the Homer drooling GIF here, haha). The amount that my recipe makes will feel like a lot at first, but between filling the cupcakes and then frosting them, you should have just about the right amount for 2 dozen complete treats. Because you’re sinking a cookie into the frosting, you’ll want it nice and fluffy, and thick enough to grab and ‘hold’ a cookie upright. I frosted all of my cupcakes in this post with a 1M open star tip, and it gives a great shape for this particular recipe. The 1M tip is almost always going to be perfect for a cupcake project, so it’s a good one to get into your arsenal as soon as possible.
Okay, enough chat- let’s get our cupcake on. Those Tagalongs won’t eat themselves!
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Tagalong Cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Cupcakes
- 2 cups flour all purpose
- 2 cups sugar granulated
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup coffee hot
Peanut Butter Frosting
- 2 1/2 cups peanut butter creamy
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 6-7 Tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a cupcake pan with wrappers.
- Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Add in the vegetable oil and milk, mixing well to combine.
- Whisk two (room temperature) eggs in a separate bowl and then add them to the chocolate mixture.
- Add the vanilla extract and hot coffee to the bowl. The batter will be very thin.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake pan, filling each cupcake wrapper about 2/3 of the way. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.
Peanut Butter Frosting
- In a large bowl, combine the butter and the peanut butter. Beat several minutes with mixer, until ingredients are completely incorporated.
- Alternate adding in the powdered sugar (1 cup at a time) and the heavy cream (2 Tbsp at a time), beating about 1 minute between each addition.
- Once all the sugar and cream are added, turn mixer to 'high' and beat several minutes until frosting is light and fluffy. If needed, add more heavy cream one Tbsp at a time until frosting is at desired consistency.
If you’ve never been able to achieve that lovely, high frosting shape on a cupcake before, this may be the frosting that gets you there. It’s nice and thick, and if you’re using the recommended 1M tip, all you need to do is start on the outside edge of the cupcake and squeeze hard on your decorating bag. Once you get all the way around your cupcake, move inward just a big to cover half of the outside circle you just piped. Then move again for a third circle. Once you reach the center, press down just a bit and pipe a star shape onto the top. Release pressure on the bag and then lift it off of the cupcake.
Once you have the frosting down, you can drizzle some lines of chocolate syrup or ganache over the top. Firmly press a cookie into the side of the frosting. Stick your cupcakes in the fridge for an hour or two to secure the cookie (this is an important step if you are going to transport them!).
And that’s all there is to it! Let me know if you have any questions and if you loved them as much as we do. Happy baking!
