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| white chocolate peanut butter cups |
It's been VERY busy around my house lately. I've taken trips the last few weekends and my mother is coming into town this weekend...which makes me very aware of how much cleaning I need to do. But it also reminded me of chocolate making with my mother.
My mother, Renee, owns an extensive collection of chocolate molds. I'm. Not. Kidding. Extensive. I'm fairly certain her chocolate molds outnumber all of her dishes, flatware, and stemware combined. Growing up I remember making Turtles, and lollipops that looked like the Care Bears, and of course a peanut butter cup.
Most people don't own peanut butter cup molds, but they are easy to find online should you decide to invest. You actually don't need them. You can use mini baking cups and they turn out just the same. For this post I even decided to see how a peanut butter cup would turn out in little brioche pans. They're lovely! And a beautiful switch, with elegantly smooth sides. In all reality you can use just about anything to make a peanut butter cup. Some people even choose to do a bar concept instead.
Personally I like home made peanut butter cups better than a store bought variety. I mix powdered sugar into the peanut butter! I’m a sweet tooth and I am all about the extra sugar! It also makes the peanut butter much easier to work with and closer in consistency to be dough-like, and I like being able to identify all my ingredients instead of eating a barrage of chemicals I can’t pronounce.
There are so many cute ways to make peanut butter cups also for a little twist. Here I have some with the peanut butter exposed, as well as traditionally with the sides of chocolate. I love the exposed peanut butter. It’s adorable and really stands out compared to the entirely chocolate variety.
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| homemade peanut butter cups |
Peanut Butter Cups
Candy Melts or Almond Bark Chocolate
Peanut Butter (preferably organic)
Powdered Sugar to taste
All the amounts are up to you! Based on how much you want to make! For a miniature sized peanut butter cup you’ll use about 1 teaspoon of peanut butter.
Line a mini muffin tin with miniature baking liners.
Mix together peanut butter and powdered sugar to taste. I personally prefer a more dough like consistency.
Melt chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Stir in-between each interval.
Dollop about half a teaspoon full of chocolate into the bottom on a baking liner and spread around the bottom (and sides if you want to the more traditional look). Repeat this process for all the baking molds and place the entire pan in the freezer.
While the chocolate is freezing start to pink off teaspoon sized balls of the peanut butter mixture. Set aside until ready to fill.
Take a peanut butter ball and push it into the baking liner. Press down with your thumb to fill and even out the tops of each peanut butter cup. Repeat for all the peanut butter cups.
You’re chocolate will most likely have re-hardened. If you need more melting chocolate add it to the bowl and repeat the 30 second microwave melting process.
When the chocolate is ready dollop another half teaspoon on top and spread the chocolate across the entire surface of the peanut butter. Repeat to the remaining chocolate cups, occasionally tapping to tray on the counter to get the tops of the chocolate to smooth out.
Place in the freezer for a final few minutes to harden up the chocolate. When ready pull the peanut butter cups out of the freezer and serve wrapped or unwrapped. Store any uneaten peanut butter cups in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
