No, I haven’t gotten enough of chocolate; if that’s what you’re thinking! Like most of us girls , I daydream of it all day long! When I think of dessert, all I can think of is chocolate! That glistening chocolate fondant flowing down a scoop of chocolate ice-cream! That perfect bite of moist chocolate cake that makes your eyes roll in the back of your head! Those little chocolatey surprises you get with each bite from a perfect little chocolate chip cookie! *sigh* Anyways! Snap out of it! :P So, here’s another recipe for chocolate-freaks like me.
You’d like to think that there can never be anythin’ as good as chocolate! But there is! And that glorious food is peanut butter! Am I right or am i right??? :D And what’s better than the both of them??? Chocolate and peanut butter together!!! As soon as the idea hit my head, I thought of peanut-butter cups. and I had little blue silicon cups, I had bought spontaneously one day ‘coz they looked so cute and I just couldn’t abandon them in the lonely corner of the shelf at the store. At least that’s what I told my mum when she asked me why I bought them! Now all I had to do was to search for the perfect recipe. I started my search from this wonderful vegan blog I follow “BitterSweet” By Hannah Kaminsky, a fellow food-blogger. And I had to look no further ‘coz there they were!!! Peanut butter cups!!! I had to stop and drool over the pictures for a minute or two before I could start reading the recipe. :P Tried them out and needless to say they were perfect!!! You could even try the chocolate cups with peppermint filling (recipe by Hannah Kaminsky). Click here to go to the original recipe :)
I dedicate this recipe to my school friend “Shari” who shares my love for PB. NO, I’m wrong here. She doesn’t love PB, She is crazy for it!!! And that is the understatement of the year! ;)
Try the recipe out and celebrate our obsession for chocolate and peanut-butter! ;) Cheerio!
Chocolate Candy Cups
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
Peanut Butter filling:
1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Confectioner’s Sugar
Splash Vanilla Extract
Peppermint filling:
1/3 Cup Vegetable Shortening
2/3 Cup Confectioner’s Sugar
1/2 – 3/4 Tsp Peppermint Extract (depending on desired intensity)
Splash Vanilla Extract
Method:
For both treats, begin by melting your chocolate in the microwave 30 – 60 seconds at a time, and stir thoroughly until completely smooth(I melted my chocolate on a double boiler). Use a spoon, thin spatula, or paint brush to brush the melted chocolate over the insides of paper mini muffin cups, making sure to leave no holes and spread it as evenly as possible. No need to go crazy though, because even if the walls are too thin and break when removed from the wrapper, I doubt anyone will mind after they take a bite! You will only use about 1/2 – 3/4 of the chocolate, so set the rest aside for later. Place the chocolate-covered papers into mini muffin tins so that they retain their shape, and let them cool and set completely. You can speed up this process by placing the tins in your refrigerator.
To make the peanut butter filling, just stir together the peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla until completely homogeneous and toss the mixture into the microwave for 30 – 45, just to warm it through and liquefy slightly. Give it another good stir to combine everything again, and drop dollops of the filling into your prepared chocolate cups. Be careful not to rub the sides too much so as not to melt the chocolate, and fill each up to about 2 – 3 mm from the top. Let the filling cool completely.
To make the peppermint filling, place the shortening into a bowl and microwave it briefly until just melted. Add in the sugar and both extracts and stir everything together until smooth. Drop the mixture into the cups as described above for the peanut butter cups, and let cool.
Finally, take out the remaining chocolate and melt it back down into a liquid state. Spoon the chocolate onto each of the filled cups and spread it out to the edges to fill in any gaps. Let it cool once again until set, and enjoy!
The Grub Shack 