Home Made Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups {of love}

I am a choco-holic. And Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse to OD.

Chocolate is my vice.

My Godfather, Uncle Louie, had a drawer full of chocolate peanut butter cups from a swanky chocolate shop in Rockport, MA {TUCK'S Candies) the last time I visited him. He made the mistake of letting me know where his 'stash' was and I cleaned out an entire box of enormous peanut butter cups over the course of the week that I was staying with him.  OOPS.

It was then that I thought, "I could make these".

Over the years, I've tried several different recipes and have developed my own.

They're so good that my dog once ate 3 dozen off of our kitchen table the day before Christmas {and survived]...just saying, they're irresistible. 

And easy to make.

"Like Louie's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups"

For filling:

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tbsp butter, room temp

1/8 tsp salt {optional}

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup confectioners {powdered} sugar

For cups:

a bag of dark choc or milk choc chips {your preference}

1 Tbsp butter

-Mix all of the filling ingredients together in large bowl. Use a handheld blender or stand mixer...blend until combined, smooth and uniform.

-Melt Chocolate and 1 Tbsp butter in microwave safe bowl for 15-30 seconds, stirring in between and repeating until the chocolate is smooth and completely melted.

-Put cupcake papers in muffin pans. Put a spoonful of chocolate in the bottom of each cup. Spread the chocolate around the bottom to cover the bottom of the cup.

- Freeze for 5 min.

-Take out of freezer and put a dollop of filling in each cup.  {I'm not a perfectionist in the kitchen. I know what I like and I'm picky, but while I'm creating I get messy and I'm not always neat...it's home made...it doesn't have to be perfect..unless you're a quilter, and then you are used to being precise...but I like to just dollop the filling in...you could use a piping bag, or be exact with a scoop...if you want}.

-Put in freezer for 5 min. 

-Re-melt your chocolate if you need to..you probably do.  15-30 seconds at a time in the microwave, stir, and repeat.  Do not burn your chocolate.

-Take muffin tin with your cups out of freezer. Spoon chocolate over your filling...covering the peanut butter filling and filling in the rest of the cup with chocolate.

-add sprinkles if desired {my kids love sprinkles...sort of an instant party, but I prefer mine without}.

-Put back in freezer for at least another 5 min. 

DONE!

put all filling ingredients in the bowl and mix

after about 60 seconds it should be uniform, taste to see if you prefer more peanut butter or if this is the 'level' of pb you're happy with ;)

I make mine ginormous in regular muffin tins

but they are perfect in mini-muffin tins, too. mini-papers are easy to find in most baking sections.
Mine here are by Wilton.

Put chocolate at bottom of cup, swirling to cover entire bottom and freeze for 5 min

Add dollop of PB filling and freeze again for 5 min

SOOOO GOOD

After pulling out of the freezer, top off with more melted chocolate

And sprinkles if you desire.

Put back in the freezer for another 5 at least.

So good!
And I can allow my self to have a few once a year...
XXXOOO!