Sweet peanut butter filling surrounded by a layer of chocolate. These Homemade Peanut Butter Cups can be customized to be your new favorite candy.
12 Days of Holiday Treats: Day 3
Welcome to day 3 of SugarSpicesLife’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats. This is the second year of my 12 day series of holiday candies, cookies and other treats.
If case you missed the last two days, they were:
Hot Chocolate Cookies
Orange Shortbread Cookies
If you want to see even more holiday recipes, you can check out last year’s series here.
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Today I’m sharing my recipe for peanut butter cups! One of the reasons these are so tasty is that they can be customized to fulfill all of your peanut butter and chocolate desires!
If you’re looking for more peanut butter chocolate recipes, check out these:
Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies
Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Buckeyes (Peanut Butter Chocolate Candy)
Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookie Cake
Step One: Peanut Butter Filling
The first thing you want to do is put together the peanut butter filling. Ingredients for the filling are:
- Peanut Butter
- I use honey peanut butter. I highly recommend it for this recipe, and for late night snacking.
- Butter
- Since you use such a small amount, it doesn’t matter if it’s salted or unsalted.
- SaltÂ
- Powdered Sugar Â
- Graham Cracker CrumbsÂ
- Molasses Â
- This is an optional addition, but gives the filling a butterfinger-like taste.
Mix all of the filling ingredients together and then form it into balls about 1 teaspoon in size. Flatten the balls so that they form discs that are about 1 inch in diameter. You’ll then set these aside. If you aren’t going to be making the candy right away, you can/should place them in the refrigerator.
Step Two: Chocolate
Given that these candies are primarily chocolate and peanut butter, the type and brand of chocolate (and peanut butter for that matter) make a big difference.
Pick your favorite chocolate. I use a combination of both Nestle Toll House milk and dark chocolate chips. For my tastes, this combination has the perfect ratio of cocoa and sweetness.
Again, use your favorite chocolate(s) here.
Step Three: Assembly
- Line 24 cups of a cupcake tin with liners.
- If you have a 12 cupcake pan, simply melt half of the chocolate for each step, making one set of 12, then make the second batch of 12 after the first set has firmed.
- Melt half of the chocolate with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
- You can do this in a traditional double boiler, by placing the chocolate in a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water (a homemade double boiler of sorts), or heating the chocolate in the microwave on 50% power, stirring it every 30 seconds.
- Spread about 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate into the bottom of each of the cupcake liners.
- Place one of the peanut butter rounds on the chocolate.
- Melt the remaining chocolate and vegetable oil, then pour one teaspoon of the melted chocolate over the peanut butter.
- Let the candies sit until firm, then remove from liners.
It probably took more time to type this recipe than it takes to make these. They are so easy to make. But so good to eat.
Variation Ideas
If you want to try something different, for the chocolate/coating you may want to consider using:
- White Chocolate
- Melted Cookies and Cream Bars
- Mint Chocolate
- Melted Chocolate Oranges
- Butterscotch
And for the filling you could consider substituting peanut butter with:
- Nutella
- Cookie Butter
- Cashew Butter
Next year I’ll probably use one of these ideas for my holiday treats. I’d love to hear if you have other ideas too!
These Homemade Peanut Butter Cups can make all of your peanut butter chocolate dreams come true!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter I recommend Honey Peanut Butter
- 1 tablespoon butter unsalted
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1/2 tablespoon molasses
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips divided
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips divided
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil divided
Instructions
- Line 24 cupcake tin cups with liners. Set aside.
- Use electric mixer to beat together peanut butter, butter, salt, powder sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and molasses until well mixed. Form mixture into 1 teaspoon sized balls. Flatten balls so that they form a disc about 1 inch in diameter. Set aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, stir together 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Heat in microwave on 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate is melted and smooth.
- Spread 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate into the bottom of each of the cupcake liners.
- Place one of the peanut butter discs onto the melted chocolate.
- Melt the remaining 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil as above. Spread about 1 teaspoon of the melted chocolate over the peanut butter.
- Let candy sit 1-2 hours, or until firm, then remove liners.
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed these Homemade Peanut Butter Cups, you may also enjoy these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Butterfinger Truffles
Nutella Truffles
Tiger Butter Fudge
Easy Toffee
Chocolate Cherry Truffles
