T is a huge fan of peanut butter cups. The boys see Daddy eating them and really want to try them but cannot because we are dairy free. We do not want to risk an allergic reaction because something looks yummy. To prevent jealousy with the boys, Daddy tends to buy them in secret and then eat them after bedtime. No longer will Daddy have to sneak brand name peanut butter cups, because we have discovered a delicious recipe to make our own! They are very yummy. There are a few things I would change the next time I make them, but as a first attempt the are very tasty.
I do not like to cook or bake with a recipe. I just get way to distracted, by a kid screaming or needing to go to the bathroom, so I prefer to use methods instead of recipes. Give me a general idea of how to do it, and what the ingredients are and we are golden. That is how I like to make things!
Ingredients:
-dairy free chocolate chips**
-natural peanut butter
-icing sugar
That is is. Those 3 ingredients are all you need! I put the fancy stars after dairy free chocolate chips because if you are not dairy free, than feel free to use milk chocolate or whatever chocolate you prefer. Next time I make these I am going to make them with carob chips.
Next, get out your muffin tins. I made 24 peanut butter cups, but the great thing about using a method verse a recipe is you could make 2 if you wanted too instead of 24. Though I am unsure of why you would only want two! Give your kids a handful of paper liners and have them fill the tray. This is my boys' favorite job. Sure, there are many spots that have more than one liner but that is perfectly ok with me. My boys also like to get creative and never use just one color. Sometimes they make patterns using the different colors, or argue over which colors goes where. In the end, when it comes to finally eating them, they never care what color they pick. I am considering investing in some reusable muffin tin liners, and I think they would work really well for these. Until then, the paper ones will have to do.
While the boys were lining the muffin tins I set up a glass (Pyrex) bowl over a pot with about an inch of water and tossed a few handfuls of chocolate chips into the bowl. You just want to melt enough chocolate for the first layer of the peanut butter cup. Once the chocolate was melted I used a teaspoon to scoop the chocolate into each cup. I pushed the melted chocolate around a bit with the measuring spoon and tapped the muffin tin on the counter a few times to help even out the bottom layer. It does not have to be perfect but you want a nice thin layer that covers the bottom of the cup. Next time I would probably use a 1/2 teaspoon measure at the chocolate was a little thick for our liking.
Once you have coated the bottom with a thin layer of chocolate it is time to get the peanut butter ready. Mix equal parts of natural peanut butter and icing sugar together. I warmed up my peanut butter slightly as it was a little thick from being cold in the fridge. For 24 cups I used 1 cup of peanut butter and 1 cup of icing sugar. I used a tablespoon measure to separate out the amount for the individual cups, but next time I will cut that back to 1 teaspoon per cup. The ratio of chocolate to peanut butter was very good, but i would have prefer for this amount to make 48 cups instead of 24 because they were a little large - especially for the boys.
Combine the peanut butter and icing sugar well. You do not want little clumps of icing sugar in the peanut butter. If you like your peanut butter very sweet than you may want to put a little more icing sugar, but the half and half mixture was pretty close to the brand that T loves. Once everything was combined, I used a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out the filling. Lucas rolled it into balls, and then Jack gave it a little squish. It was then my job to put the squished blob of sugary peanut butter onto the chocolate layer. Place carefully as the bottom layer has not set up yet. Jack tried to force one in and disturbed the bottom layer. It was not very noticeable until we removed the paper and saw the peanut butter sneaking out of the bottom. I made the peanut butter blob slightly smaller than the chocolate so that when we put the top layer of chocolate on it would seal the sides with chocolate.
Melt a few more hand fulls of chocolate, and while you are doing that clean up from the peanut butter mess. It left us with very sticky hands. It also left us with sugary peanut buttery utensils which had to be licked clean before going to the sink to be washed.
Once the chocolate is melted, and the peanut butter has been licked clean from the utensils, scoop the chocolate and cover up the peanut butter center.
Tap down the muffin tin to smooth out the top, and then put into the fridge to set up. We also ground a but of sea salt onto the top for an extra special touch - I love salt and chocolate. It is quite a tasty combination.
Once the chocolate has set, you can remove the muffin tin liners and enjoy. We removed ours after about an hour, but they were still a little gooey and made us have some nice chocolately fingers. After 3 hours, which was just in time for dessert, they were perfect.
Enjoy!
Combine the peanut butter and icing sugar well. You do not want little clumps of icing sugar in the peanut butter. If you like your peanut butter very sweet than you may want to put a little more icing sugar, but the half and half mixture was pretty close to the brand that T loves. Once everything was combined, I used a tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out the filling. Lucas rolled it into balls, and then Jack gave it a little squish. It was then my job to put the squished blob of sugary peanut butter onto the chocolate layer. Place carefully as the bottom layer has not set up yet. Jack tried to force one in and disturbed the bottom layer. It was not very noticeable until we removed the paper and saw the peanut butter sneaking out of the bottom. I made the peanut butter blob slightly smaller than the chocolate so that when we put the top layer of chocolate on it would seal the sides with chocolate.Melt a few more hand fulls of chocolate, and while you are doing that clean up from the peanut butter mess. It left us with very sticky hands. It also left us with sugary peanut buttery utensils which had to be licked clean before going to the sink to be washed. Once the chocolate is melted, and the peanut butter has been licked clean from the utensils, scoop the chocolate and cover up the peanut butter center.
Tap down the muffin tin to smooth out the top, and then put into the fridge to set up. We also ground a but of sea salt onto the top for an extra special touch - I love salt and chocolate. It is quite a tasty combination.
Once the chocolate has set, you can remove the muffin tin liners and enjoy. We removed ours after about an hour, but they were still a little gooey and made us have some nice chocolately fingers. After 3 hours, which was just in time for dessert, they were perfect.
Enjoy!
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