Peanut Butter Cups

Reece's kind of has the market cornered on peanut butter cups. Any way they make them equals something wonderful - mini cups, original sized, shaped as Easter eggs, Christmas trees, little bells, bats for Halloween... you name it, they're great! But did you know you can get a similarly wonderful flavor on your own? Its true. These little nuggets taste a lot like those orange wrapped gems but they're solid chocolate - no PB middles - the peanut butter flavor runs through the whole candy so you get that deliciousness in every bite! You know what else it awesome about these? You can have a pan of 40 made in about 10 minutes! That makes them great to throw on a goodie plate for your friends or as a last minute idea to take to a holiday get together!

Here's the ingredient list:


Semi-sweet baking chocolate, white baking chocolate, creamy peanut butter, powdered sugar & vanilla. Also in the picture I've included mini-cup wrappers. Make sure those make it onto your grocery list! They sell them right beside the standard cupcake wrappers.

First step is to melt your chocolate. Melt the semi-sweet & white in separate bowls and then mix them together, just incase they melt at different rates. You don't want scorched chocolate!


You'll notice there are chocolate chips in the bowl, too - that's because a box of baking chocolate (except white) generally has 8 oz - I wanted 9 so instead of buying another whole box of squares I added in 1/3 cup of s-s chips. 1/3 cup of chips = 1oz = 1 square of baking chocolate!

Once your chocolates are melted mix them in a bowl with the peanut butter, powdered sugar & vanilla. Start out mixing by hand - if you get tired feel free to finish with an electric. I just don't recommend starting with one because the powdered sugar will poof a giant cloud into the air! So incorporate it into the wet stuff before you bring out the power tools!


Now that it's all mixed up get your paper cups all laid out. Then grab a zip lock baggie (or pastry bag if you prefer) and load it with all the chocolate goodness! Snip a tiny bit off the corner & get to work!


Fill - fill - fill - FILL!! Don't go all the way to the top - only about half full.


A big AH-HA!! moment I had once I got to this point was "Hmmm.... how am I gonna move these!!?" So I stopped & slid them all onto a cookie sheet.


Then pop the pan into the fridge for a little bit & call yourself done! Once the chocolate has set back up you can just store them out on the counter. No need to refrigerate.

If my camera was better you could see them better, but these even turn out with the fun little ridges around the edges - just like the real ones!

ENJOY!

Peanut Butter Cups:

9-oz semi-sweet baking chocolate
3-oz white baking chocolate
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Melt the chocolates (separately) in the microwave, according to package directions. Once melted mix together and add in all remaining ingredients until well blended.

Transfer mixture into a large zip-lock baggie. Prep all your paper baking cups. Snip the corner of the baggie & squeeze to fill each cup half full. Put into the fridge to set up for an hour.

These may be stored on the counter in an air-tight container.

Source: http://www.melskitchencafe.com