Good for chocolate sheet cake, cupcakes or on brownies.  Chocolate and peanut butter are such a sumptuous combination!  I have been making this for a while, so am not sure what first inspired me, but I believe it was an episode of ‘The Barefoot Contessa’.  She is a favorite of mine, her recipes work every time!

This is a very straightforward recipe your kids could make themselves.  Never buy that strange icing in a container from the store again (unless it is for a school event – the homemade icing doesn’t store as well).  I sent in  homemade icing to the school the day before an event, and they sent it back to me.  I think the fact that it gets hard and needs to be stirred and softened with a splash of milk the next day, made it unattractive to the teacher.  So for school I offer to bake the cupcakes instead.

Making icing at home is so easy, and the results are amazing.  Give it a try and I don’t think you will go back to the fake stuff.

 Ingredients:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 cup peanut butter

Tip:  I use Skippy all natural with honey.  It also contains sugar and palm oil and does not separate into layers like the really healthy kind we eat on sandwiches.  You can’t use the really healthy version or the finished product just doesn’t have the proper texture.

5 tablespoons softened unsalted butter

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

1/3 cup heavy cream

 

 

 

Put the sugar, peanut butter and butter into a large bowl and use a handheld mixer to blend until fully combined.  Add the vanilla and heavy cream and blend until nice a smooth.  Finish combining with a spatula and spread on cooled chocolate sheet cake, cupcakes or brownies.  May need to double the recipe to fully ice a layer cake!