Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate and peanut butter are such a happy pairing. They just bring out the best in each other! I found this recipe in a cooking app and made some modifications to make it my own.

You might be thinking, "Why would I make these when I can buy them just about anywhere?" Actually, this is Instructables so probably no one here is thinking this ;-)

But if you were, I would tell you that these blow regular peanut butter cups out of the water and you can take this
basic recipe and then customize it however you like.

Here are some fun options I'm considering for next time:

• Peanut butter and jam
• Almond butter with a dash of cinnamon
• Peanut butter and marshmallow fluff
• White chocolate with nutella and raspberry jam
• Cashew butter and honey

What else would you make? Try it and leave photos of your cup creations in the comments.

Ingredients
9 ounces/255 grams semisweet chocolate
¾ cup/205 grams smooth natural peanut butter
¼ cup/28 grams confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Special Kitchen Tools

• I used silicone cupcake baking cups which worked flawlessly! If you don't have them, paper cupcake cups should work as well. Try experimenting with mini and full size!
• A double boiler, or what I used which is a glass mixing bowl that magically fits into a sauce pot

Melt the chocolate (I use my homemade double boiler but you can also do it on low power or short bursts in the microwave) and put a spoonful in each cupcake liner. The amount of chocolate you'll need will vary depending on what size your cupcake cups are, but the goal is to line the bottom and partway up the sides.

Let the chocolate cool for half an hour and use the fridge to solidify overnight if it's hot when you're making these.

Pro tip! You'll want a nice, sturdy base for the filling but not too much chocolate that it's thick and hard to bite through. Think of an even coating on the bottom and sides.

Stir together peanut butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl.

You can be precise or not about these measurements. Ultimately it's to your taste so consider these just guidelines.

This is where I deviated from the recipe most because I didn't want to use a piping bag and it turns out, I didn't need to.

Once the chocolate has cooled and hardened completely, spoon some of the peanut butter mixture into each cup. Use the back of a spoon to get it to roughly level and to fill the cup with the mixture, pushing into any gaps. Next - and this tip will make your life much easier - dab your finger lightly in water so it's just a bit wet and use that finger to press down the top of the peanut butter mixture to a nice, level finish. This will help the cups have an even appearance when you pour on the chocolate top. The mixture should be lower than the chocolate rim up the side of the liner.

Next, melt the rest of the chocolate. In my case, I just reheated the original chocolate bowl and it worked beautifully. Pour a little of the chocolate onto each of the filled cups and rotate the cup in your hand to work the chocolate around the whole cup. It's okay if there's a bit of a lip to the chocolate. This is the point where you can add any toppings you like. I opted for sea salt. Crushed nuts, a drizzle of another type of chocolate, or even a hint of cinnamon would be super here.

Once they've hardened, you can pop them out of their cups and get ready to dig in!

This was my first time making these and it won't be the last. They're low effort, very easy to customize, and delicious in a way that stops you in your tracks.

Have a go and leave some comments for me and others here on your creations!