Growing up I had my favourite junkfood, like any kid. I wasn’t lactose intolerant and I wasn’t gluten-intolerant. At least, not like I am now. I don’t start to feel milk poisoning me 5 minutes after drinking it. I even ate cereal every morning – 2% milk – and enjoyed a few scoops of generic vanilla ice cream for dessert.
But once a week I was given a loonie and sent to an evening music rehearsal where I’d look forward to the 15 minute break. Half the group would rush to the vending machine and pick their (pun intended) poison. For me, that usually meant Reese’s peanut butter cups. Sometimes I stray to the crunchy caramel-chocolate of a Snickers bar, but there was nothing quite like the processed, salty, sweetness of Reese’s.
Now when Hallowe’en comes Reese’s are still the treat I miss the most, and if I’d know how easy they were to make I would have been making them in giant batches years ago. And yes, I’d probably be a lot fatter, but I’d also be a lot happier. From the endorphins, I mean! Not from the spare tire. I’d probably also be a lot mood swing-ier from the sugar, but that’s another story. My point is, there are lots of recipes on line that call for WAY too many ingredients, but all you need is a bar of chocolate you like (dark, dairy-free chocolate for the lactose intolerants, or even raw cacao plus some agave nectar. And you could add a few drops of almond milk or dairy-free milk to turn it into milk chocolate – easy), natural peanut butter (not Kraft or anything with preservatives or things that aren’t peanuts and oil. Maybe a little salt), raw agave nectar or a mild-flavoured (ex: clover) honey, and salt. Salt is key. Seriously, though, 4 to 5 ingredients. Check that Reese’s label. There’s a lot more ingredients that you probably can’t pronounce in there.
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Filling:
1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter (I like the crunchy variety, but for this smooth works better – otherwise you may end up with bumpy cups)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp agave nectar or 1-2 tbsp honey
Chocolate coating:
1 bar chocolate (Lindt-style bar, but use something better than Lindt. There are even rice-milk truffle chocolates from Terra Nostra that are amazing, but you can find dark chocolate bars that are far from bitter)
Optional:
1 tbsp agave nectar or 1-2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp milk (unsweetened, unflavoured almond is best because there’s no bitterness like hemp or soy milk or astringency like rice milk, though the chocolate flavour is very strong and will pretty much cover anything)
8 cupcake liners (the papers you peel off of cupcakes or muffins. You don’t need the cupcake trays, though.
Instructions:
Stir the filling ingredients together in a small bowl. Taste and adjust the salt and sugar. Some natural peanut butters need a bit more or less to recreate the Reese’s taste. Put the bowl in the fridge to cool.
Melt the chocolate (either carefully in the microwave 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, or in a bowl set on top of a saucepan like a double boiler. The latter is a better method because you can keep the chocolate warm while making the cups, saving you time reheating. AND it keeps it less cooked. You could even do a raw version of this by very gently warming raw cacao with agave and almond milk).
Add the agave and milk if desired (I didn’t. I don’t think they’re necessary, but it depends on the flavour of your chocolate bar. The milk also thins the chocolate, making more cups total).
While the chocolate is still melted and warm, drizzle a thin layer from a spoon into the bottom of the paper cupcake liners (If you pour the chocolate straight in your chocolate will be too thick. You need to use it sparingly. Place in the fridge carefully. You can put them in the cupcake trays just so they don’t spill if you want, but a plate or two will work fine. Turn off the heat on the chocolate for a few minutes while you form the peanut butter filling.
Take out the peanut butter filling from the fridge and take a small piece and roll it into a marble. Then flatten it into a disc that will fit inside the cupcake chocolate mold (you can see the way the chocolate-peanut butter-chocolate layering in the bottom left of the photo at the top). Once you have enough discs for your lines take the chocolate liners out of the fridge. They’ll have hardened enough by now. Put the discs in the liners and re-melt the rest of the chocolate. When the chocolate is warm drizzle it (using that spoon again – don’t pour or you may not have enough) over the peanut butter discs in the liners so they’re completely covered. Place in the fridge to harden! You’re done! To serve them just pop them out of the liners and they’ll have that beautiful ridged look.
…unless you have leftover peanut butter filling, which is better than being done, because you can roll the rest of the filling into balls and then roll it in the remains of the melted chocolate, as you can see in the photo above. Then you can chocolate-heavy peanut butter balls and peanut heavy balls with a little chocolate. Everyone has their preference. Sometimes I prefer more peanut to chocolate.
So the age old question: how do they get the peanut butter inside the chocolate bar? Like this. Aka culinary magic. 4-5 ingredients. Take that, Reese’s.
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