Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

I will confess, I’m not much of a candy maker. Yes, I’ve made the odd batch of *oreo truffles*–crushed oreos with cream cheese dipped in chocolate–and I once entertained the idea of making actual truffles. But for whatever reason, it just never happened. Maybe I would be more interested in candy making if there was more flour involved? Who knows.

I wasn’t interested, that is, until my sister-in-law Misty put a fantastic idea in my head a few weeks ago. Instead of bringing some big, fancy, iced thing to Easter dinner, why not bring homemade Reese’s eggs, a certified family favorite? I was intrigued. Could you even make Reese’s eggs at home?

A quick search of the internet told me the answer was yes, I could make Reese’s eggs at home, but it would require the use of an egg shaped candy mold, which I, in my procrastination, had run out of time to secure. But what about just plain old Reese’s cups? Could making these at home elevate the classic favorite to a gourmet treat?

The answer–a resounding YES! Even the Bunny couldn’t have done better!

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Once, a long time ago, I read this Dan Rodericks piece lamenting America’s love for Reese’s cups. As Dan pointed out, Reese’s cups are one of the most loved candies in America, but they’re made with both inferior chocolate and inferior peanut butter, both of which Dan suggested, Americans would reject on their own. Put together, and Americans were in love. Dan thought that if people love these two poor specimens together so much, what would they do if presented with a cup made of high quality ingredients of each? Well Dan, we found out. I used good chips and decent peanut butter (I used the highly processed stuff, since I read natural peanut butter would be too runny). I tried both semi-sweet and milk chips. The results? AMAZING! Seriously. Like the best peanut butter experience ever. Noel declared them better than Wockenfuss. And I may have found a little love for candy making after all!

Ingredients (for 24 cups):

Candy liners, or mini cupcake liners–I used mini cupcake liners, and they worked fine
One bag of good semi sweet or milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Directions:

Set up your candy or cupcake liners on a rimmed cookie sheet.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt half of the chocolate chips, checking after every 30 seconds and stirring the chocolate. Melt only until most of the chips are melted, then stir the chocolate until the remaining chips are gone. This is important, because it keep your chocolate from melting.

Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate (or just enough to cover the bottom of the cup) into each cup. After the cups are filled, place the cookie sheet in the freezer to allow chocolate to harden.

Meanwhile, in the stand of an electric mixer, or by hand, mix the peanut butter and confectioners sugar until well mixed (ie no clumps of powdered sugar remain). Remove the cookie sheet from the freezer (make sure it has at least 10 minutes in there) and spoon about one teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture into each cup. Place the tray back in the freezer.

Melt the remaining chocolate in the microwave. Once the chocolate is melted, remove the tray and spoon just enough chocolate over each peanut butter ball to cover it. Distribute any leftover chocolate between the cups. Then, with the back of a spoon, smooth the tops of the chocolate peanut butter covered lump/ball to smooth it out. Place the cups back into the freezer until they’re hard. Store cups in a box in the fridge as long as they last, which might not be very long.

Enjoy your own peanut butter cups at home! I can’t wait to try these with some other nut butters. I think almond butter is going to be positively dreamy!

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