Review: Reese's Spreads

I recently had the opportunity to try out the new Reese's Spreads, and I was pretty excited to see what I could do with it.  I received this product complimentary from Influenster for testing and evaluation purposes.  This is a peanut/chocolate spread similar to Nutella, but it definitely has that Reese's Peanut Butter Cup taste.  

I thought about how I could test this product out, and I had a ton of ideas.  You could dip fruit in it, you could swirl it into brownies, you could heat it up and pour it on ice cream (my husband tested that option out for me!), and so on.  Then I came across this recipe for Peanut-Butter Filled Cupcakes on the Martha Stewart website, and I knew that's what I needed to try.

I used a box of Tastefully Simple's Classy Chocolate Pound Cake, prepared according to the box, and baked in a 12-muffin pan.  When using Classy Chocolate Pound Cake, I find it useful to heavily grease the cups and dust with a bit of the baking mix to keep the cupcakes from sticking.  These were baked for 15-20 minutes, and taken out when they pass the toothpick test.

I let them cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack.  When they were cool, I ran a butter knife around the edge of each cupcake to loosen it in the pan and avoid any sticking.  Next, I used a metal measuring spoon to scoop out a "plug" from the bottom of the cupcake.  You could use a melon baller, but I don't own one!  If I were frosting these cupcakes, I would have done this on the top, since the plug will be hidden by the frosting.  Set the plug aside, and scoop out a bit more of the cake to make a cavity in the center.

Using a butter knife or a thin spatula, scoop a small amount of the Reese's Spreads into the cavity in the cupcake.

Once you've added the Reese's Spreads into the center, replace the plug back into the bottom of the cupcake. The plug should be flush with the bottom of the cupcake so it sits flat.

Then, just dust the tops with a bit of powdered sugar and serve!  This was a big hit with my husband and son, definitely a 2-thumbs up recipe!\