Peanut Butter Cups require a little bit of finesse work but with the right molds and patience, they make an amazing, chocolatey and peanut butter treat!
Peanut Butter Cups are one of my favorite candies and always give me a smile whenever I have one. So, I thought, why not make my own? I thought that this would be a difficult process as the shape alone felt really intimidating.
But then I remembered that existence of cup cake liners! They have the natural ribs that mimic the sides of a classic peanut butter cup. This recipe took a quite of a bit of finesse and patience, but it was worth it as the results were irresistible!
Check out the Make section of MCG for more fun recipes like desserts and savory dishes. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think and how the recipe works for you!
Ingredients
There aren’t many ingredients that go into making a peanut butter cup but there is one that really surprised me: graham crackers! This was not an ingredient I was expecting but was a great stabilizer for the recipe. The obvious ingredients are peanut butter and chocolate, but I also used some powdered sugar to really bring the center mixture together.
Process
Creating the Filling
This first step of this process was creating the peanut butter mixture for the insides of the peanut butter cups. Using a food processor, I crushed the graham crackers to make a more powdered like texture.
While this was grinding, I put the peanut butter into a heatproof bowl and melted it in the microwave. The microwave was the perfect tool to warm the peanut butter in 20 second bursts. I only needed to do two bursts, but different peanut butters might require different amounts of time to soften.
Then I added the powdered sugar and softened peanut butter into the food processor and blitzed it again. Blitzing is a weird process. I feel like it doesn’t always provide consistent results unless blended for long periods of time. The mix needed to be fully combined so I ended up blitzing the mixture for quite a while.
Filling the Lining
The next step started with melting the chocolate. Once again, the microwave was my best friend. I melted the chocolate in 30 second bursts until it was smooth. The chocolate chips I used ended up just looking melty, but a whisk quickly made the mixture dissolve into a pool of chocolate.
Three cups of chocolate chips felt like a ton of chocolate, but I can say after completing the recipe, maybe it wasn’t enough. And that feels extremely weird to say. But the chocolate is used in two parts: the bottom of the lining and the top of the cup.
I used a silicone brush to line the bottom of the cupcake liners with chocolate. This part was fairly difficult to do and I definitely feel like I did not add enough chocolate to the bottom or the sides. But I did use enough chocolate to just barely cover it.
Finishing the Cup
After the cupcake liner was covered in chocolate, I put in a scoop of the peanut butter mixture. I found that a cookie scoop was the perfect amount of filling for each cup. But a tablespoon can also do the trick.
I pushed the filling down into the cup before putting on the top layer of chocolate. The top layer needed to be spread around to fully encapsulate the filling. And it worked fairly well.
I did find that I was a little heavy handed with the top chocolate. Which actually balanced out perfectly with the thin bottom and sides. It kind of ended up being the perfect amount of chocolate.
The peanut butter cups were then chilled in the refrigerator for about an hour to set. After the hour was up, I demolded each peanut butter cup from the cupcake lining, and they were ready to eat. These sweet treats were surprisingly delicious when cold. I stored them in the fridge when I wasn’t eating them.
Reflections
As I’ve stated before, I feel like I don’t have an even distribution of chocolate around the whole cup. It turned out well because the bottom was thin and the top was thick but I would have liked it to be even all the way around if I could help it.
But otherwise, there turned out amazing!! They were a little on the bigger side but given my tools, I think it was absolutely perfect.
Lessons
Dealing with Melted Ingredients
One thing I wished I had remembered at the start of this journey is that melted ingredients like to resolidify. Especially if they were solid at room temperature before. Unless kept hot, the ingredients will return to their original state.
I knew this would happen to the chocolate, but I didn’t realize it would also happen to the peanut butter. This is a recipe where you have to move quickly, or the ingredients will become difficult to work with.
recipe
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor optional
- 1 Silicone Brush optional
Ingredients
- 10 Sheets Graham Crackers
- 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
- 2 Cup Peanut Butter basically an entire standard size jar
- 3 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
- Place the peanut butter in a heatproof bowl and soften on 20 second burst for about 40 to 60 seconds.
- In a food processor (or medium size bowl),blitz graham crackers until they are sufficiently crushed. Add in powdered sugar and peanut butter until completely combined.
- In a heatproof bowl, melt chocolate chips for 30 seconds at a time until the chocolate becomes smooth and fully melted.
- Add a heaping teaspoon of chocolate into each cupcake liner. Use a silicone brush (or the back of a spoon) to spread the chocolate along the bottoms and sides.
- Place a heaping tablespoon of the peanut butter mixture into each cup and use the back of a spoon to flatten the mixture.
- Add a heaping teaspoon of chocolate on top of the peanut butter mixture and spread across the top using the back of a spoon.
- Refrigerate for about an hour or until firmly set!
- Enjoy!!
Does every Halloween always make peanut butter cups?