Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

chocolate peanut butter cups stacked on brown paper with more behind

Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Rich, perfectly chocolate-y, and loaded with peanut butter filling. These Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are so much better than store-bought.

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 45

Additional Time: 1 30

Total Time: 2 40

Servings: pieces

Calories: 215kcal

Ingredients

¼ cup salted butter room temperature
1 cups smooth peanut butter
1½ cups powdered sugar sifted + extra to dust hands with
3½ cups chocolate chips bittersweet

Instructions

Peanut Butter Filling

Beat butter and peanut butter until smooth.
Add in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well until combined.
Dust hands with powdered sugar.
Scoop out 1 Tablespoon peanut butter mixture at a time and form into a ball.
Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Put in refrigerator until chocolate is tempered.

Tempered Chocolate

Place chocolate in a glass bowl and place over a pot of simmering water.
Stir until chocolate melts and temperature is between 131℉/55℃ and 136℉/58℃.
Remove from heat and cool, stirring constantly, to between 82℉/28℃ and 84℉/29℃.
Place back over warm water and raise temperature to between 88℉/31℃ and 90℉/32℃. Hold at this temperature.

Assembly

Spoon ½ Tablespoon tempered chocolate in the bottom of a candy mold or candy paper.
Place peanut butter ball on top of chocolate.
Top with another ½ Tablespoon chocolate.
Place completed candies in freezer for 5-10, or until set. Remove immediately.

Notes

Substitutions

You can use any kind of chocolate you like, but tempering temperatures are different for white, milk and dark. You can find a guide for tempering white chocolate in our peppermint bark recipe.
You could use almond butter instead of peanut butter!
Vegan chocolate and butter can be used to make this recipe vegan.

Tips For Making The Best Peanut Butter Cups

The peanut butter filling may become greasy as it comes to room temperature. Be sure to keep it in the fridge!
When working with the filling, keep your hands lightly coated in powdered sugar.
This recipe could also be made into jumbo sized peanut butter cups by using normal sized muffin liners and pans.
Don't skip tempering the chocolate! It's the only way to really get that crisp, shiny chocolate.
Keep in mind, the temperature for the chocolate will keep going up after you take it off the heat. Always take it off when it starts getting close to temper!
The best way to set these candies is definitely in the freezer! But, you can leave them out on the counter to set.

Nutrition