A lot of the treats I make involve baking, but sometimes I want to make something that doesn’t involve the oven, or flour, or eggs, or whatever else the next batch of cookies will need. Making a simple candy is a great way to have something tasty, with a different kind of work.
In this case, I really wanted some peanut butter cups, but I wanted something nicer than just your average Reese’s cups. So I made some! It’s actually really easy, and a pretty flexible recipe. Throw a batch together, serve them up on Valentine’s Day, and you’ll be the star of the night.
A few notes to get you thinking for this recipe.
First of all, the chocolate. I used a mixture of dark and bittersweet chocolate. The bittersweet is around a 62%, while the dark is in the 50% range, which put this recipe at about 55%. You can mix in some more milk chocolate instead, or just use milk chocolate if you prefer something sweeter. I like the darker chocolate for this, but it does make for some very rich peanut butter cups, so keep that in mind.
I also don’t usually bother to temper my chocolate for things like this. I keep them chilled in the fridge, and can unwrap and eat them without mess. But, if you want less messy and melty peanut butter cups, it’s a good idea to learn how to temper it.
The peanut butter I used is creamy, and I mix it with some other stuff to give it a drier, crumblier texture. You can just use plain PB if you want, but it’ll be very creamy and messier to eat. I also made a few that I added a little dollop of jelly to, for a PBJ peanut butter cup, which worked really well. I think maybe next time I’ll make more like that!
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Equipment
- Miniature Muffin Pan
- Miniature Muffin Cups
- Double Boiler Or, a bowl over a pan of water
- Stand Mixer Optional, but it helps speed things up
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
- 3 Tbsp Butter Softened but not melted.
- 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
- ½ Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ Tsp Salt
- 3 Cups Chocolate Chips, chunks, chopped, your choice of mix.
Instructions
- Line your mini muffin tin with muffin cups and set aside. You'll either make multiple batches or need multiple tins, depending on how much you want to make.
- In your mixer, beat together the peanut butter and butter until it's mixed and creamy.½ Cup Creamy Peanut Butter, 3 Tbsp Butter
- Add in the powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs, vanilla, and salt, and beat until it has a dough-like consistency.1 Cup Powdered Sugar, ½ Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs, 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract, ¼ Tsp Salt
- Make little balls of about ½ teaspoon of peanut butter mix, and flatten them into discs. You can chill this a little to make it easier to work with. Use an extra muffin cup to measure the size.
- Melt your chocolate. You can do this in the microwave but I prefer a double boiler.3 Cups Chocolate
- Measure a teaspoon of chocolate into each muffin cup to coat the bottom. Add in your discs of peanut butter to each on top of the chocolate. Optionally, add a dollop of jam or another add-on on top. Then, cover it all with another teaspoon of chocolate.
- Tap the muffin pan to level the chocolate and remove any air gaps, then move it to the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes, or until the chocolate is set.