Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

This past Wednesday I posted a video tutorial on How to Temper Chocolate. Tempered chocolate is key to making the best homemade peanut butter cups ever, they’re seriously way better than Reese’s. Plus, they’re really not that difficult to make. I actually briefly showed how to make them in my chocolate tempering video. In the video and photographed here I make these peanut butter cups with miniature cupcake liners, but I have also had great success making them with chocolate molds. Either way, they are adorable, impressive, and above all, delicious. These peanut butter cups make a great homemade holiday gift, too.

I strongly recommend using tempered chocolate, but if you need another option simply melt down the one pound of semisweet chocolate and add in 2 tablespoons of coconut oil or shortening. Follow the recipe directions, refrigerating the chocolate in between assembly steps. You will need to store the peanut butter cups in the refrigerator until ready to serve to keep them nice and firm since the chocolate won’t be as stable as tempered chocolate.

What is your all-time favorite candy?

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How to make

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Yield: 24 -36 peanut butter cups

Homemade peanut butter cups are a thousand times better than the store-bought kind and are simple to make!

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons butter
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup powdered sugar (more or less depending on preference)
• 1 pound tempered semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. In a small saucepan heat the peanut butter and butter until melted, being careful not to scorch. Remove from heat and add in the salt and sugar, mixing until smooth. Let cool then refrigerate until ready to use (can be made and refrigerated up to 3 days ahead of time).
2. If using miniature paper cupcake liners, use a pastry brush to brush the bottom and up the sides of the liners with the tempered chocolate to create a chocolate shell cup. Let sit at room temperature until shiny and hardened. Fill each cup with about a teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture. Pour tempered chocolate over the peanut butter mixture to seal the cup, using a spatula to spread into an even layer. Let the peanut butter cups sit until shiny hardened. Place in the refrigerator to speed up this process.
3. If using a chocolate mold instead, generously pour tempered chocolate into the holes of a candy mold to fill each hole completely. Flip the mold upside-down and let the excess chocolate drip back into the bowl with the remaining tempered chocolate so that each mold is thinly coated in chocolate. Flip right-side up and let sit until the chocolate is hardened.
4. Scoop a teaspoon of filling (more or less depending on your mold) into each mold. Be absolutely certain that there is no filling sticking up above the surface of the mold. It should be a little less than flush with the mold. Place in the refrigerator so the filling can firm slightly.
5. With a spatula, smooth the tempered chocolate over the filled molds, being careful not to disturb the filling. Tilt the mold to allow the excess chocolate to drip off. Let the chocolates sit until hardened before popping out of the molds to serve.

Course : Dessert

Cuisine : American

Keyword : peanut butter cups

Recipe by Tessa Arias

Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)