Monday, October 24, 2005

Peanut Butter Cups



When I lived in the US, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups was one of the greatest candies of all time, in my opinion. What could be better? I got highly addicted. Well, I came home, and.. no Reese's. No peanut butter candy at all, actually. Which was a shame, because Peanut Butter M & M:s? Oh. My. God. Even better.

Anyway. I guess I've grown out of it, more or less - I don't crave it anymore, and I rarely buy any, either. (You can find Reese's in some stores, with the other "American" food - Newman's Own Caesar Dressing, Little Becky Marshmallows, Oreos..) But when I came across a recipe for making my own? Heck yeah! I used this recipe, from Culinary in the Desert, but I scaled it down so much I'm re-posting it. I got a little under 20 cups from this - actually 20 with peanut, but only 17 with chocolate, so... I have to pace myself a bit better next time. Anyway, here we go:



Peanut Butter Cups
20 small cups

100 g smooth peanut butter
56 g powdered sugar
12,5 g brown sugar
125 g dark chocolate
22,5 g butter - divided into 15, and 7,5 g

In one bowl, place the 15 g of butter, the peanut butter, the brown sugar and the powdered sugar. Mix until smooth. (You *could* use a food processor, but for such a small amount, I'd rather not.) In another bowl, break up the chocolate, and add the tiny little 7,5 g pat of butter. Melt in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stir until smooth. (Or over a double boiler, by all means.)

Divide the peanut mix into small cups. Smooth with a spoon, or your finger. The cups should be about half full. Spoon over chocolate. Place in the fridge until the chocolate is set. Enjoy!

9 comments:

Niki said...

Heheh! Evil laugh. I LOVE that stuff. HAve you tried the recipe in Domestic Goddess? I made it once using hazelnut butter, for a change...and I ATE THE ENTIRE TRAY ALL BY MYSELF.
I should be embarrased by that, but actually I feel kinda proud!!

Anonymous said...

Mmm...those peanut butter cups look sooo good. They look very close to the real thing too. There are white chocolate ones out too...have you tried those yet? I love this candy, but I find that the PB cups are a tad too sweet, but if I adjust the sugar content, wouldn't the texture change as well (too soft)?

Anne said...

Niki, now feeling very ignorant - there's a recipe in Domestic Goddess?? Must try. Have not seen. No idea why, I love that book! Gah! Hazelnut butter sounds SO good. As always, can't find it. Maybe I could make my own? Sweden's a wasteland when it comes to exciting food stuffs like that :)

Tea - I think I did try a couple of white ones when I was in the US last! Yummy! PB cups are sweet, sure.. but in moderation, and with a great coffee.. yeah. Yum! (And I think you could use less sugar here - but they're actually not so sweet, especially not if you use really dark chocolate)

Rachael Narins said...

I always wondered why anyone would need a recipe for peanut butter cups, when they are so easy to buy...it never even dawned on my that in some places they arent easy to buy at all. LOL. Yours look so sophisticated and delicious. Mmm..

Danno said...

Holy Moses do those ever look good!! Peanut Butter and Chocolate are such a perfect match.
Guilty pleasure (one of many): Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches, with softened Nestle Chocolate squares (microwave.)
My wife just slowly shakes her head at me...She doesn't know what she's missing.

I sometimes make Elvis look like a healthy eater.

Niki said...

In Australia the hazelnut (and almond, madadamia etc) butters are found in the health found section of the supermarket, and they are very expensive. They'd also be in health food shops. I guess they're for people who are allergic to peanuts etc, but as hazelnuts are my favourite nut I decided to splurge one day. Extremely yummy stuff, but not a habit I'd want to indulge too often!
Yes, the chocolate peanut butter things are in the Children's section of Domestic Goddess (I think). They're in the form of squares rather than cups though.

Anne said...

Niki, I immediately looked them up in the book :) They look great! I love the squares, perfect if you're a crowd.. eh, or not. :) I'll have a look in the health stores! I bet they'd have something, at least Almond butter. Hoping for hazelnut though, that sounds delicious! We do have a hazelnut paste sort of thing, not like Nutella but way more nutty. It's *very* sweet, but also *very* good. Especially in milkshakes, yum.

Danno - that sounds REALLY good. Once in a while, what could it hurt? :)

Anne said...

RHFootball - no, it's hard enough to find decent (natural) peanut butter here, substitute stuff.. no, sorry. :)

Anonymous said...

you really want to make them better... use milk choclate in liner mix 1 cup peanut butter enough confectoner sugar and a little bit of melted butter put for filling then cover with more choclate you can also roll them in balls and dip them ... make your tounge slap your brain out