Hi friends!
Seeing that this is the 5th dessert recipe I post on the blog and whilst taking into account that I had chocolate oatmeal for breakfast, I obviously have to admit: I’m addicted.
Addicted to chocolate.. and cake.. and peanut butter. You know, there’s a reason why some people call me peanut butter monster. The good thing is, the desserts and treats I crave are usually healthy. No need to feel guilty for sugar-free chocolate oatmeal, right? 
Even though I’m a fan of healthy living and the “everything in moderation” saying, nothing can stop me from munching on homemade chocolates, though. And nothing can stop me from taste-testing during the whole process (I totally think that “taste tests” are required even if the only thing you did was melting the chocolate).
Among my friends, I’m already known as the girl who brings dessert to a party. Once, I made a spin-off of CCK’s Deep-Dish Cookie Pie, which was a huge hit. If you haven’t already tried this recipe, do it. Immediately. For this weekend’s party, I’ll bring along three different versions of chocolates. The first variety published on the blog -which seems normal to most of you- will be the most extravagant variety for German taste buds. The other two varieties will be published in the following days. Something to look forward to!
At first, I’d like to give you a good reason why you should make PB Cups at home: the ingredient list of store-bought ones.
“MILK CHOCOLATE (SUGAR; COCOA BUTTER; CHOCOLATE; NONFAT MILK; MILK FAT; LACTOSE; SOY LECITHIN; PGPR, EMULSIFIER); PEANUTS; SUGAR; DEXTROSE; SALT; TBHQ (PRESERVATIVE)”
Due to the United States Food And Drug Administration, the dose of TBHQ in traditional PB cups is so low that it does not impact your health negatively. Nevertheless, do you want to eat something that has a lethal dose of 5 grams? (source) Animal tests showed that high doses of TBHQ can cause cancer in laboratory animal’s stomachs. Even a small dose of one gram of TBHQ can cause vomiting, nausea, delirium and collapse. (source) I guess nobody can eat 11 pounds of Chicken McNuggets, which contain 1 gr of TBHQ, without vomiting anyway. But do you really want to invite this chemical into your body?
This is what I have to say about only ONE ingredient of PB cups, and there are still 12 ingredients left that remain disregarded! I won’t bore you with the negative effects of white sugar and saturated fat though, because I feel TBHQ is scary enough to never eat a PB Cup again. So now, time to have fun creating your very own Peanut Butter Cups!!
The recipe I used was made up by myself but inspired by Chockohlawtay’s recipe for Canadian Peanut Butter Chocolate Candy. Regarding the simplicity of PB Cups, “making up a recipe” was not really hard. I mean, what can go wrong if PB and Chocolate are involved? Right, nothing. Which is why you can really go crazy with this recipe. Add cookie crumbs, use chunky PB instead of creamy, add cinnamon for Snickerdoodle PB Cups.. the possibilities are endless. This time, I opted to keep it simple. The use of maple syrup as a sweetener gave the candy a slight caramel flavour which reminds me of Snickers Bars (but better). If you want to, you can use vegan milk chocolate to replace the dark chocolate, but I think the combination of slightly bitter chocolate + rather sweet PB filling turned out perfect! Have fun!
Ingredients:
- 100 gr dark chocolate, chopped finely
- 50 gr (3 tbsp + 1 tsp) natural PB
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 50 gr (2 tbsp + 2 tsp) Maple Syrup
- 1/8 tsp vanilla powder (try vanilla extract at your own risk and report back )
If you do not care about glossy chocolates or use muffin liners for your candy, you can easily skip steps 1-4 and just melt all the chocolate in a double broiler.
- Melt two-thirds of the chocolate in a double broiler. If you have a kitchen thermometer, use it. The temperature should be between 50 and 55 °C / 122 and 131 F.
- Take the melted chocolate from the broiler and stir in the rest of the chocolate. Let cool for 2 or 3 minutes while stirring constantly. The temperature should come down to 27 °C/ 80 F.
- Put the chocolate in the double broiler for a few seconds. The temperature of the chocolate should rise to 33 °C/ 90 F.
- Your chocolate is now temepered and ready for use.
- Fill the chocolate in your molds or muffin liners. If using molds, rotate the molds in your hands to make sure everything is covered. This step can be a mess, so make sure you collect the drippy chocolate in a bowl.
- Let cool.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling by combining PB, salt, maple syrup and vanilla powder in a blender or with a whisk.
- Fill the chocolate cups with a teaspoon.
- Optional step: Smooth out the surface with your wet fingers. Make sure that you do not use too much water, otherwise the next chocolate layer will not stay on top.
- Reheat the leftover chocolate in your double broiler until it reaches 33°C/90 F.
- Pour the chocolate on top of your candy molds, smoothing it out with a spatula.
- Let cool.
If you use muffin liners, this step-by-step guide can be helpful.
Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!
On a different note, I decided to change the subheading from “An attempt at creating love all through” to “Discover your (com)passion”. The main reason is that the old subheading was maybe a bit too sugary and kitschy. And the word “attempt” got annoying for me, because it is used inflationary in blog’s descriptions. “Discover your (com)passion” features significant aspects why I decided to write the blog: I want to encourage people to go vegan. Since I went vegan, I really discovered my passion for cooking and baking. My boyfriend, a newly vegetarian feels much more compassionate about topics such as animal rights since he does not eat meat anymore. Ok, that was just a short statement on the new subheading. Maybe I’ll write a longer explanation betimes…
Love, Lara
