Peanut Butter Cups!

Pet pig loves peanut butter cups!

It was a co-worker’s birthday this week and I wanted to make something a little different that I thought everyone would like. I made these peanut butter cups for the first time this past Christmas. They were a lot of fun, but I definitely had a learning curve to get over.

I was going to buy ice cream for the birthday part-ay, but at the last minute decided to go for the PB cups. I knew the birthday guy liked peanut butter, and I had all the ingredients on hand. So at 6am Monday morning (yes, you read that right) I decided I had enough time to whip up a batch.

Thank the good Lord I’m a morning person!

I dare say these turned out even better than the first go around! I used more chocolate and better peanut butter. A while back I gave up my beloved Jif. I decided if I was going to enjoy peanut butter I wanted to enjoy it the way it was intended. Sans artificial ingredients. The only problem was I do not like the taste of all natural peanut butter (just the nuts and a touch of salt). I want to like it....but I just don't. I grew up proud and short on Jif, and as you can probably tell I like things with a touch of sweetness.

Then, the heavens opened wide and I found this.

The peanuts are roasted like Jif, but unlike the big J the only other ingredients are palm oil, cane sugar (yay, not refined!) and sea salt. Sorry Jif, MaraNatha takes the cake. It is so good, and I recognize all the ingredients! Double win!

This recipe is adapted from the very cool blog Have Cake Will Travel's peanut butter cup recipe. A couple tweaks - I also used a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate and omitted the salt. I also opted for the plastic PB molds (thank you Hobby Lobby) instead of mini cupcake liners because I like my cups on the smaller end. Oh dear....Freudian slip...

....anyway....

Trust me, these cups are quite rich and a small bite is enough. Although, I did put the cups in mini cake papers to keep them fresh and avoid them sticking together.

These are super quick to whip up and are a big hit. I made about 18 in half an hour! It helped that it was first thing in the morning and I was peppy. I also had to hurry so I could get to work on time, which helped speed things along. Unfortunately, with the hustle and bustle of the morning I did not have time to take proper photos. I did grab a few at my day job. Enjoy!

Moose's Peanut Butter Cups
(Adapted from Have Cake Will Travel)

Choco Cups:
3 bricks Baker’s Semi-Sweet chocolate
¼ cup milk chocolate chips (recommend: Ghiradelli)
2 T. creamy peanut butter

PB Filling:
½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract

1. With a paper towel rub each peanut butter mold with vegetable oil (just a touch to help the cups come out of the molds easily).

2. Melt semi-sweet chocolate for 1 minute stirring at 30 second intervals. Add milk chocolate and nuke for another 20-30 seconds. Stir until all chocolate is melted.

3. Add 2 tablespoons peanut butter to chocolate and stir until smooth.

4. With a spoon pour chocolate in each mold to approximately 1/3 way full. Spread the chocolate to coat the mold on all sides . Pop in the fridge or freezer to set.

5. Mix filling ingredients together until incorporated. Grab the molds from the freezer as they should be set by now.

6. Put a dallop of peanut butter filling in each of the chilled cups. Then fill each cup with the remaining melted chocolate.

7.Pop back in the fridge or freezer to set up. After about an hour (or as long as you have until you have to leave for your day job) take them out and enjoy!

Warning: Will create sugar high if eaten first thing in the morning with coffee.

Not that I would know….oh wait.

xoxo forever, Rachel!