Big Surprise Inside

My husband and I are repeatedly beating our heads against walls trying to get our older son to eat right now.  He just had his tonsils out and consequently his appetite has taken a nose-dive.  He was already pretty skinny so he doesn't have any weight to lose.  Because of this, we were told to feed him ANYTHING he would eat.  As of day #5, we had not found anything that worked very well.  I decided to pull out the big guns: chocolate cupcakes.  I also remembered how much he loves cake batter, so I chose a recipe without eggs.  To add to all of this, I thought I'd throw in some incentive to eat the entire cupcake.  I put a peanut butter cup in the middle.  I found a post-Halloween sweet deal on peanut butter cups so I had some hanging around that needed to be used up.
This turned out to be one delightful cupcake and my son actually ate most of one.  Whew.  I think I can use these for motivation for a couple more days. 
I highly recommend making these if you are ever in need of a serious peanut butter/chocolate fix.

Peanut Butter Cup Cakes (makes about 12)
1-1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tbls white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together dry ingredients, make a well.
3. Pour wet ingredients into well.  Stir until just combined.
4. Fill 12 muffin-pan cups about 1/3 full with batter.
5. Place peanut butter cup into each cup on top of batter.
6. Pour batter over each peanut butter cup so that the cups are about 2/3 -3/4 full.
7. Bake about 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Cup Frosting
5 Peanut butter cups
1/4 cup butter softened (salted butter is okay)
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk

1. Crush peanut butter cups and cream with butter until mostly smooth and fluffy using an electric mixer.
2. Add cocoa powder, mix.
3. Add milk and powdered sugar in a couple of additions each and continue to mix until smooth.
4. Frost cupcakes and enjoy!