The Food Edit:
So, here’s the thing: the heavenly marriage of peanut butter and chocolate has long been celebrated in the form of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. But there’s a catch— those salty, sweet, devilishly moreish treats contain some real interesting characters. Here’s a list, just because. Ready?
- Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Nonfat Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, Lecithin (Soy), PGPR Emulsifier)
- Peanuts
- Sugar
- Dextrose
- Cocoa Butter
- Contains 2% or Less of: Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Oil), Salt, Palm Kernel Oil, PGPR Emulsifier, TBHQ and Citric Acid to Maintain Freshness [stats courtesy of Walmart]
We’ll leave you to take what you will from this, but allow me to highlight one item from the above list. Palm oil is problematic at best. I’m sure the whole orangutan/deforestation/palm oil debacle hasn’t passed you by. We won’t go into it now, but if you’d like to find out more about palm oil, take a look at this article published by One Green Planet, or this blog post by The Green Vegans, who reckon boycotting the product is actually counterproductive...
And on to our amazing recipe! As a long-time fan of the peanut butter cup, this was one I just had to try. And let me tell you, it was more than worth it. If the luxurious sheen of melted chocolate being drizzled onto little peanut butter plateaus weren’t enough, imagine the gentle crack of the chocolate once it’s firmed up, giving onto a little pocket of paradise: a smooth, buttery filling. But I’m running away with myself.
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This recipe makes between 15 and 25, depending on the size of your mini cupcake cases.
Ingredients:
- 200g (7oz) good quality dark chocolate, melted
- 125g (1/2 cup) smooth peanut butter (no added sugar, if possible)
- 40g (2 1/2 tbsp) honey or other sweet syrup, added to taste
- Pinch of salt, if your peanut butter doesn’t have any added
You’ll also need
- your 15 cupcake cases (paper or silicone work well). I used paper cases which were about 1 inch across the top, and I got 25 out of the mixtures.
Method:
- Fill a small cupcake liner with the melted chocolate to the top, then turn the liner upside-down and allow the excess chocolate to drip off. Repeat with the remaining cupcake liners, and place them onto a baking sheet.
- Freeze the chocolate coated cupcake liners for ~5 minutes, then repeat the procedure (filling the liners with chocolate and letting the excess to dip off), making sure that the sides of the cupcake liners are well coated with the chocolate.
- Freeze again for ~5 minutes.
- In the meantime, mix together the peanut butter, maple syrup (or honey) and salt (optional).
- Fill the firmed up chocolate coated cupcake liners with the peanut butter filling, smoothing out the top. Leave ~1 mm space at the top for the chocolate layer.
- Spoon some melted chocolate on top of each filled chocolate cup, so that you get a smooth, even peanut butter cup top.
- Freeze for at least 1/2 hour to allow the chocolate to properly set. Then, peel off the cupcake liners and enjoy!
- The homemade peanut butter cups keep well in a closed container in a cool dry place (or the fridge) for ~1 week, or in the freezer for ~1 month
Go forth and create! Let us know how they worked out for you, or go to the original page on The Loopy Whisk where this recipe was originally published. There’s lots of other really yummy things you can have a crack at!
