Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
HOLY SMOKES!!! Where to start? This is my first major food holiday as a blogger. I am feeling overwhelmed--with gratitude for my friends, family, career, opportunities, good fortune, my health, my sports, and more, but also because of all the great culinary creations to blog about. I am certain there are far more important things to be concerned about than the backlog of the blog, but admittedly, it is stressing me. Here's a list of the very noteworthy food items that need to be shared (in addition to these chocolate peanut butter cups):
- artichoke, mushroom, and parmesan sourdough stuffing
- sweet potato mashers
- fresh rosemary and thyme biscuits
- brussels sprouts and green bean salad with a dijon vinaigrette dressing
- pecan pie bars
I know I am leaving you in suspense and making you wait until next November to make some of these things. Sorry. Regardless, I hope all of you had a lovely Thanksgiving and a relaxing long weekend.
Most importantly at this very moment, however, is the need to celebrate the incredible deliciousness of these chocolate peanut butter cups. My favorite processed candy is the Reese's peanut butter cup, and these homemade ones are even better because you get to decide your desired perfect proportion of chocolate and peanut butter. They are incredibly easy to make and are absolutely heavenly. Also, they are gorgeous to give as a gift.
These are currently my favorite candy treat--and for good reason! Enjoy!
Peanut Butter Filling...
- a heaping 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter (I used Simply Jif because I knew it would hold together unlike natural peanut butter, but also because it doesn't have 11 million crazy preservatives)
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- about a 1/4 cup of granulated sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you want the peanut butter filling to be)
Chocolate Coating...
- 16ish ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2ish ounces of whit chocolate chips
- 1 slightly heaping tablespoon of shortening (it helps with the consistency and re-hardening of the chocolate...yes, it sounds gross, but it is necessary)
- Line a larger mini-muffin pan with mini-liners.
- Microwave the chocolates and the shortening until "al dente". This means, microwave for a minute, stir, microwave for another minute which should produce 90% melted chocolate chips (there will still be a few lumps). When at this stage, leave the chocolate and make the peanut butter filling.
- In another bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, and butter. Microwave until smooth, but not quite melted--about 45 seconds.
- Microwave the chocolate one more time until completely melted. Be careful though to not heat it so much that the chocolate seizes.
- Scoop the chocolate into a ziploc bag and cut a small sliver in one of the corners to use to pipe.
- Pipe the chocolate into the mini-muffin tins until they are a little less than 1/3 full.
- Scoop the peanut butter filling into a ziploc bag and pipe onto the chocolate until the tins are about 2/3 full.
- Pipe the top layer of chocolate until the tins are full.
- Top with crushed peanuts if you want.
- Place in the freezer or refrigerator (or in our case, outside) until set.
- Store in the fridge to maintain consistency, but these are best served at room temperature or slightly cooled.
- ENJOY! These are incredible.