Dessert served with your own fingers
No cutting, plating or garnishing, these peanut butter cups are already a beautiful serving. And far better than a peanut butter cup you buy once a year on Halloween to give away to children. Easy to make, the PB cups take less effort than walking into the grocery store, finding the bag of candies, hauling them home and opening plastic. And you know exactly how much sugar, salt, chocolate and peanut butter they contains and the quality of these ingredients.
For this recipe, sherry can be substituted for other flavor, but butter should only be substituted by a fat that is also hard at room temperature. Two measurements are given for a couple of ingredients because it’s easier to melt a small quantity of chocolate and keep watch on it. I’ve broken down the weights for the first layer and top layer of chocolate. This way, you will know you can use the whole amount for the first layer, and not fear there isn’t enough left for the cover.
Recipe:
3.5 oz Callebaut Chocolate
1 t. sherry
1 T. butter
4 T. peanut butter (1 t. powdered sugar?)
2 T. jam
topping: coconut, pecans, sea salt
1.75 oz. Callebaut Chocolate
1/2 t. sherry
1/2 T. butter
Procedure:
Melt the first amount of chocolate in a small thick pan over low heat with the butter and sherry. Pan can be set in a larger pan with water. Be careful not to burn chocolate. When melted brush into mini muffin tins that have been lighted greased with a butter paper. Freeze or chill overnight in frig. Mix nut butter with a small amount of powered sugar, or salt or other spice if the flavor is needed. If will be easiest to do this if the peanut butter is room temperature. When the bottom layer is firm, you’ll want to have melted the second batch of chocolate. When it’s ready to spread, have toppings ready if you’re using them, and anything else you want in the cup.
Remove muffin tin from the cold, and add a small spoonful of jam if using, and the a spoonful of nut mixture in each cup. Cover with a layer of of chocolate and while it’s warm add the toppings. Return to freezer (and wait two hours) or chill in fridge overnight. If the cups are very cold, they will pop out with a slight nudge of a knife as you run it around the edge. If you get more than halfway around the circumference, put the cups and tin into the freezer until they are very cold.