Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Here's a great idea for Valentine's Day.  Our daughter Melissa inspired this recipe, as she made chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting for a friend's birthday and it was heavenly. 

• 1/3 c canola oil
• ½ c butter, melted
• 4 T cocoa powder
• 2 large eggs
• ½ c sugar
• 1 t vanilla
• ¾ c flour
• 1 t baking powder
• ¼ t salt
• 1 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
 
Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper cups.
 
Line an 8" square baking dish with parchment paper and grease.
 
Place the oil, butter and cocoa in a bowl and beat together.  Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla and beat. Add flour, baking powder and salt and beat to combine.  Stir in chocolate chips and fill muffin tins three quarters of the way up.  Spoon the remaining batter into the prepared baking dish.   (If you do not want to make cutouts, just use the remaining batter to make twelve more cupcakes and double the frosting recipe).
 
Bake the cupcakes for ten minutes and the pan brownies for twenty minutes or until firm in the center. Cool the cupcake completely.  
 
Using the parchment paper lift the brownies from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool before cutting into shapes with cookie cutters. 

• 1 c peanut butter (creamy)
• 1 c confectionary sugar
• 5 T butter, room temp
• 1 t vanilla extract
• ¼ t salt
• 2 T heavy cream

Place the peanut butter, sugar, butter, vanilla and salt in a bowl and mix.   Add the cream, a little at a time and beat until light and fluffy.