Peanut butter + Chocolate = LOVE for most people, but I am not one of them. I would much rather drag my celery sticks through thick and gooey creamy peanut butter or slather on some chunky peanut butter and raspberry jam onto toast for a great throw back sandwich.  Whenever I think of peanut butter cups I think of my brother, who is a peanut butter and chocolate lover, and “50 First Dates” with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. “Want me to put some peanut butter cups in your eggs?” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4quLuThn_Sc I had intended to make these awhile back for a friend and his tattoo shop. They were doing a great donation night for Project Semicolon. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go and support this great endeavor due to previous obligations with my children, but I was there in spirit (and still owe Sam some goodies!).

Since I was going to be making quite a few of these in not a lot of time, I had bought pre-made chocolate shell cups. I do have a candy mold to make these by hand, but this was way simpler for the time I was going to have to make them. I bought three packages (about $4 each at Walmart) of ChocoMaker dessert cups. These cups come in two trays of six and unwrapped. There is no need to peel anything off these delicious Dark Belgian Chocolate cups. To make these from scratch you would  need a mold and tempered chocolate. These cups are so versatile. You can fill them with any type of ganache or cream, the possibilities are ENDLESS!

I made up a triple batch of chocolate ganache (ensuring I would have some leftover to make some goodies that I do like!). Ganache is so easy to make. It is my go-to filling for cupcakes and cakes. If you leave it out at room temp. it will set and can be used for a rich and decadent frosting. For a single batch of ganache you will need 1/2 cup heavy cream and 8 oz. of good chocolate chips – I used dark, and a pinch of salt and a tsp. of instant coffee granules.

Keep in mind, dark chocolate is easiest to make into a ganache and white chocolate is the hardest. I put all my ingredients into a pan and and stirred constantly until it was smooth, creamy and combined. Don’t let this mixture stand or it will burn; you need to keep stirring it. You can do this in a microwave by combining all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and heating in 30 sec. intervals and stirring throughly between each heating session.

After ganache was made, I set it aside off the stove to set slightly before using as my peanut butter cup topping. For the centers I used double batch of filling. For a single batch you will need 1 c. creamy peanut butter, ¼ c.unsalted butter, ¼ c. light brown sugar and 1¼ c. powdered sugar. In a medium saucepan over med. heat, combine peanut butter, butter and brown sugar. Heat until completely melted, stirring constantly. Pour mixture into a mixing bowl and add powdered sugar a little at a time. Mix on low until it is complete incorporated. Set aside and let cool slightly. I put this mixture into a disposable piping bag, which makes the process much cleaner and easier. Once the mixture is cooled, pipe into shells. You will need to flatten the top slightly and push it into any open gaps. 

Then spoon on the ganache and smooth it out for a delicious and indulgent treat! P.S. – You might want a glass of milk – just sayin’! ENJOY!