what up buttercup?

Chocolate and peanut butter. Has there EVER been a better combo? Probably not. The best part of making homemade candy? The caloric information is not printed on the back, so what you don’t know you can’t gain… that’s how that works, right?

Anyway, grab some paintbrushes, mini muffin liners, and a few other ingredients and get makin’. These are simple, delicious, and well peanut butter cups…what more do you need to know?

I adapted this recipe from here and she adapted it from here.

•12 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Hershey's Special Dark chips)
•1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (I added in an extra 2 TB or so, and I used Jiff creamy, nothing special)
•1/4 cup powdered sugar
•1/4 cup crushed graham crackers (finely, but not a powder, but not huge chunks either...I put them in a sandwich bag and rolled a can on them, fancy right?)

In a bowl, mix together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and processed graham crackers. Put in the fridge to harden up a bit because it will be easier to form into balls.

In a double boiler, carefully melt the chocolate 3/4 of the chocolate. Once smooth pour melted hot chocolate on reserved 1/4 to properly temper. (Also, I add a tablespoon or so of corn syrup to give it nice shine)

Lay out your liners and place them on a flat baking sheet that will fit in your freezer.

Using a brush, paint the melted chocolate on the bottom and sides of mini cupcake liners. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

While those are in the freezer get out the peanut butter mixture and form into teaspoons or tablespoon balls depending on what size peanut butter cup you are making.

Remove the cupcake tins from the freezer, and place about one teaspoon (1 tablespoon for larger size) of the peanut butter mixture in each cup, make sure to put it in the middle, not touching the sides of the cup. Spoon more melted chocolate on top of each cup, make sure to get in there around the sides too.

Place the peanut butter cups back in the freezer for another 15 minutes to set. Let them sit at room temp before devouring.

A few minor discrepancies I had with these… let me emphasize minor because these turned out fantastic.

1.) I am at my parents house far away from my pastry supplies so I don’t have pastry brushes. However, they had several new water color paintbrushes… cheap ones, like 15 for a dollar cheap ones. I pulled on the brushes several times to get any loose hairs out, and all was fine. I was really nervous that there would be hair in my peanut buttercups, which could be the only thing that could ruin such a delectable duo, but rest assured… if you can’t pull the hairs out, neither can your chocolate.

2.) I called my brother in the kitchen for reinforcement because I wanted to get all of the liners painted before I had to temper the chocolate again. Upon doing so he argued I shouldn’t be painting the chocolate all the way to the top of the liner, because it would be too hard to peel. However, I painted them to the top anyway, and they were slightly difficult to peel, but came off easily either way. So when making these call your big brother for help, ask his opinion, and then do what you want anyway.

3.) I again, used cheap-o chocolate so they were a tad melty upon touch, but once again… get over it.

Wrap these up in foil when finished and impress your friends (and watch them struggle as they try to figure out if the liner is still on or not)! Bake and enjoy.