Peanut Butter Banana Cupcakes

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, very soft
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 cup ripe banana, mashed (2 large)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line 16 holes of a cupcake tin with muffin liners.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter until fluffy.
Beat in peanut butter.
Add in the eggs one at a time, followed by the bananas.
With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour mixture until just combined.
Evenly distribute batter into 16 muffin cups. (fill about 3/4 full)
Bake for 16-18 minutes, just until a tester comes out clean.

The cupcakes will be very lightly browned.Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
Makes 16 cupcakes.

This recipe came out so good I can hardly believe it!I am so glad that it worked I played around with two different recipes to come up with this one and I love it! The banana and peanut butter really work well together and neither is overpowering. They are nice and dense and hold together nicely. Alone with a cup of coffee they would be delicious...but you know me I need to make them even sweeter so I am going to try a cream cheese frosting and I will update this post later to let you know if it worked.

UPDATE: The cream cheese frosting was a perfect touch of sweet to these cupcakes.
The recipe I used follows:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.
Store in the refrigerator after use.