A Homemade Kitchen: Peanut Butter Cups

Last week I kicked off a new series called A Homemade Kitchen with a tutorial for creating peanut butter at home. I was thrilled to realize that I'm not the only person who thinks homemade is a thousand times better than store-bought! Homemade is better for your budget, body, and taste buds. The post ended up being much more popular than I could have imagined so I know you guys will love today's recipe, which happens to be the one I promised on last week's post.

Today's recipe incorporates last week's homemade peanut butter into one of my favorite candies - peanut butter cups. Except when made at home there are no hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, or preservatives. Not to mention homemade peanut cups taste infinitely better than store-bought ones. When I took my first bite into a homemade peanut cup months ago I literally shouted, "YES!" because they were so damn good.

This recipe would be really fun to make with kids, too. All it entails is surrounding sweetened peanut butter with melted chocolate and refrigerating. Pretty simple. Yet so, so, so good. And, don't feel bad if you need to use store-bought peanut butter, just make sure to avoid the ones with hydrogenated oils and pounds of sugar (especially since this recipe adds sugar). If you're concerned about the confectioners' sugar in this recipe, you could try to substitute honey or agave nectar, although the texture might be affected.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Makes about 2 dozen cups
Adapted from All Recipes

• 1 cup peanut butter, preferably homemade
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 (11.5 oz) bag milk chocolate chips (or semi-sweet, if you prefer)

Line a 24-cup mini muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.

Mix together peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl until smooth and well-combined. Taste and adjust sugar and salt as necessary. Set bowl in fridge to chill.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips in 15-second bursts until smooth and shiny. Drop teaspoonfuls of the melted chocolate evenly into prepared mini muffin cups, reserving the remaining chocolate. Using a small spoon or small silicone pastry brush, push the melted chocolate up the sides of each mini muffin cup. Place muffin tin in fridge until chocolate is firm, up to 30 minutes.

Once chocolate is firm, remove muffin tin from fridge. Remove peanut butter mixture from fridge. Top chocolate cups with teaspoonfuls of the peanut butter mixture, pressing mixture down with your finger to smooth out. Top peanut butter with teaspoonfuls of the remaining melted chocolate. Return muffin tin to fridge and chill until peanut butter cups are set. Peanut butter cups can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days.