Peanut Butter Cups

What defines a friend? That's a deep question, but I'll give you one characteristic I enjoy: someone who sends me recipes to try. There's something about it when someone says, "Jenny, this made me think of you, so you should try it." Big. Warm. Fuzzy. That, my friends, is how I acquired this mind-blowingly awesome feast of chocolate and peanut butter goodness. My sweet friend Holly went on a send-Jenny-a-bunch-of-fun-recipes spree, and now all followers of Real Kitchen. Real Life. benefit. Thanks, Holly! You can tell from the picture these are worth making. In fact, you should stop whatever you're doing, buy the ingredients, and get to work.

Peanut Butter Cups

chefjennylyn.com

3 cups chocolate

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 cup graham crackers, crushed

1 tsp. sea salt

Place liners in 12 muffin cups.

Melt 1 1/2 cups chocolate in a double boiler. Remove it from the stove, and turn off the heat. Paint a layer of chocolate in each cup, liberally covering the bottoms and sides. Set the double boiler aside, and save remaining chocolate.

Place the muffin pan in the refrigerator for 20 minutes while making the peanut butter filling.

Combine peanut butter, crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar, and salt. Stir until well-combined.

Return the double boiler to the stove, and heat over medium-high. Melt remaining 1 1/2 cups of chocolate.

Remove the muffin pan from the fridge, and divide peanut butter mixture among the cups, smoothing it to fill the bottoms. Each will take about 1 1/2 tbsp. of this fluffy, fabulous filling.

Using a spoon, dip chocolate from the double boiler into each cup, and be generous! Smooth the tops, or create a swirl (whatever floats your boat).

Place the muffin pan in the refrigerator for 40 minutes to an hour.

Make history.

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This recipe is originally from Design Sponge

What's more fun than making sweet treats? Making them with friends! Holly and Kathleen came over to try these with me, and all three of us were pleased with the simplicity of the recipe and the great result. Kathleen is filling the Stoneware Muffin Pan with foil liners.

She'd heard of the Measure-All Cup, but this was Kathleen's first experience with it. All I can say is that she left a huge fan of this tool, the standard for measuring all things sticky, creamy, or gross. She used the Skinny Scraper to fill it up, and the rest is history.

Holly is the person who designed my blog, so you know she's super fun. Not only does she design well, but she melts chocolate like a pro. Put a little water in the 3-Qt. Saucepan, place the Double Boiler on top, and stir occasionally. This double boiler has been upgraded, so that's why it looks different on my website. You can't tell, but Holly's using the Mini Mix 'n Scraper to stir.

Graham cracker crumbs in the Manual Food Processor! I promise this tool is every bit as good as it seems, and it's even got a silicone grip on the bottom to keep it from sliding around.

Painting with chocolate! Holly's using the Chef's Silicone Basting Brush to get a good, thick coat on each liner. You don't realize how handy a basting brush is until you don't have one. This one is perfect, and it goes in the dishwasher for easy cleanup, even when it's full of chocolate.

Kathleen is using the 5" Strainer to sift powdered sugar into a Stainless Mixing Bowl. For small amounts, this can't be beat. This is about to become peanut butter filling. AAAHHH!!!

The Medium Scoop turned out to be the perfect size for to fill the chocolate cups. A leveled off scoop for each cup was what we ended up using, and there was just enough filling. Sorry, but there's not any leftover after that, so don't get ideas about snacking on the filling. In fact, I had to use the Mix 'n Scraper to get everything out of the bowl and stretch it to fill all twelve cups.

Each cup then gets a huge serving of chocolate to top it off, and boom! Recipe complete. Refrigerate these, and they're ready for consumption in less than an hour. If you're super excited, stick them in the freezer instead. Yes, the Stoneware Muffin Pan can go in the freezer.

These are full-size peanut butter cups. There's no playing with this recipe; it separates the men from the boys. Sure, I could only eat half a cup, but that just means I get to save the other half for later, right? I've got so many ideas for making these again, and I can't wait for an occasion that justifies the effort. Otherwise, I'll end up with twelve huge peanut butter cups in my house, and that has disaster written all over it.

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