Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:

10 ounces (285 grams) dark chocolate (70% cacao), broken up into small pieces

1/3 cup (85 grams) natural peanut butter
1 ½ tablespoon (25 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon (1.5 mL) salt
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

Garnish: chopped peanuts and flakes of sea salt

Method:

1. Slowly melt chocolate pieces in a double boiler over ‘just barely’ simmering water.
2. While chocolate is melting, make the filling by mixing the peanut butter, soft butter, vanilla and salt. When the mixture is thoroughly combined, stir in the confectioner’s sugar. Set aside.
3. For the cups, use mini-cupcake liners …
   
   ….or, if you want a little larger cups, use a standard-cupcake liner. Aluminum foil tart pans also work very well. If using paper liners, place them in a muffin tin for stability purposes.
4. When the chocolate has melted, use a small spoon or a paintbrush to coat the bottom and sides of the liner. Depending on the size of the liner, this will be about 1-2 teaspoons of chocolate. Tilt the liner in order to ensure that the chocolate has coated the sides and that the bottom layer is not too thick.Alternatively, you can also just make a thin layer at the bottom (no sides) so that the layers can be seen on the outside.

1. Place the muffin tin in the freezer for a few minutes to set.
2. To each cup add a teaspoon of the peanut butter filling. Then cover the cups with another teaspoon or two of the melted chocolate. Sprinkle each cup with a some chopped peanuts and some sea salt flakes.
3. Place the cups back in the freezer until firm – 10 minutes. Remove the cupcake liners and enjoy!

Questions and comments are always welcome         alex@chilipeppersandpears.com ^[1]