Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

The world's greatest combination and the holy grail of homemade candy - homemade peanut butter cups!

You wouldn't usually catch me saying this but I am glad it's Monday! I've had 1 busy weekend, which started with me having to be a solo puppy parent and take Sage to the vet by myself for her 12 week jabs...our vet is a 40 minute drive away {cue horror movie music}

Keeping in mind this is a food blog (not a dog blog??) I'll spare you the details but let's just say our poor little pup didn't travel too well, leaving me on the side of the road (twice) running late for our appointment and running out of ways to clean up the mess. It was sorta stressful. The sorta stressful that left me needing a bucket sized glass of wine. And made me feel like I had an actual child. Seriously. Lucky for me, our vet is by the beach so once Sage was vaccinated we went for a run down by the water. And by run I mean walk. And by that I aaaactually mean we kinda just chilled. But it was nice! And then she slept the whole way home which was cute. And quiet {clapping hands emoji}

So once I had sat on the couch all night with a beer and a bowl full of curried vegetable noodle deliciousness and watched a cutesy Hugh Grant movie, by Sunday morning I was ready to take on something else. And this time it was not stressful or gross and didn't make me seriously re-think my desire to have at least 4 human babies. 

I made PEANUT BUTTER CUPS!! All by myself using only 4 ingredients and it took less than 45 minutes and they are just. omg. SO delicious. As in, I actually think I prefer them to actual Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Which makes me feel like I'm swearing because they are my all time favourite-eat 40 of them in one sitting-candy.

Chocolate layer. Freeze. Peanut butter layer. Freeze. Second chocolate layer. Freeze again until you can't bear it anymore and they are calling your name from the freezer and you take them out and inhale all 12 of them because they are the best thing you've ever made.

Whoa.

If you make them and they don't come out looking pretty, don't fret. This was not my first attempt at homemade peanut butter cups. The first time, I tried going for a pretty layered look. They did look good but they did not hold together well.

Another time I tried making them using homemade peanut butter and without sugar to try and make them kinda healthy.

Who even am I? Just, no.

The last time I made them, they were almost there but I didn't quite have the "banging the tin on the bench technique" that makes them level. Also, I made the mistake of distributing all the melted chocolate on top of the frozen peanut butter cups before trying to smooth it out. Um, melted chocolate + frozen peanut butter. Yeah, the chocolate goes hard real quick. Like, do it 3 at a time quick.

But this time, I've done it. One more thing ticked off my life goals list <--- I do have big dreams too, but you've gotta be realistic. Small victories.

Here are my tips for perfect peanut butter cups:

1. Take the time to make a little dip in the bottom layer of chocolate and to brush the chocolate up the sides of the cupcake cases a little bit. This is going to hold the peanut butter inside the peanut butter cup. It takes a little longer but is totally worth it.
2. Let the peanut butter layer freeze for about 15 minutes. This way it will be reasonably hard and won't mix together with the top chocolate layer.
3. Spoon the last of the chocolate on 3 peanut butter cups at a time. The frozen peanut butter will make the chocolate go hard really quickly and if you try doing all 12 at once, you will have hard lumps of chocolate sitting on top. Still tasty, but much less pretty. It's also worth at this stage dropping the tin on the bench a few times to ensure the top layer flattens out nicely.
4. Use standard Kraft, Sanitarium, Jif, Skippy whatever is the classic peanut butter where you are. I have tried this with homemade peanut butter with much less success.

That's it! You officially just became a superhero. The peanut butter cups will store well at room temperature but are also delicious kept in the fridge or freezer for a slightly harder to access treat <--- recommended.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for how many peanut butter cups you eat in one sitting after making these 😉

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Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

The world's greatest combination and the holy grail of homemade candy - homemade peanut butter cups!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 12 cups

Author: Laura

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ¼ cups chocolate chips
• ▢ ½ cup peanut butter
• ▢ 2 TBSP icing sugar
• ▢ 15 g butter softened

Instructions

• Line a 12 case mini muffin tin with paper cupcake cases and set aside.
• On low power in the microwave or using a double boiler melt ¾ cup of chocolate chips until smooth.
• Add a spoonful of chocolate to each cupcake case and drop the tin on the bench several times until the chocolate is smooth. Add a little more chocolate to each tin and carefully brush it up the sides a little, using a spoon. Also, try and make a small well in the bottom, being careful to make sure that the chocolate still covers the bottom of the case.
• Put the tin in the freezer for 15 minutes while you prepare the peanut butter mixture.
• Add peanut butter, softened butter & icing sugar to a small bowl and mix together really well until smooth.
• After 15 minutes, remove the tin from the freezer and spoon a scant teaspoon of peanut butter mixture into each cup. Drop the tin on the bench a few times to flatten the peanut butter and put back in the freezer.
• Add the remaining ½ cup of chocolate chips to the bowl and melt down again.
• Once the peanut butter layer is hard, remove from the freezer and, working 3 at a time add enough chocolate to cover the peanut butter layer. Drop the tin on the bench again after each 3 to make sure the top chocolate layer is smooth.
• Allow to chill in the fridge or freezer for 15 minutes until the top layer has set.
• Store in the fridge, freezer or in an airtight container at room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories: 171kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 71mg | Potassium: 69mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 75IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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