Looking for a tasty snack? Look at this a little longer, then go ahead and make it happen! Homemade Peanut Butter and Jam Cups are what’s been missing from your life.. probably. It can’t hurt to find out, can it?
Jam or Jelly? I really thought a bit too hard about this one! While I compromised by calling a courgette a zucchini in the zucchini cake recipe, today I'm rebelling. In NZ, 'jelly' is a wobbly dessert, a staple of 70's birthday parties (I believe the adult version may have been alcohol fortified). So, we are going with jam, and maybe I've made too big a deal of it, but everyone has their hill to die on.
This is a very old recipe, hardly even a ‘recipe’ really! It’s from the days when I was ditching diets, and wanted fancy chocolates available all the time, but cheaply. There isn’t much I haven’t tried to enclose in chocolate. I even tried potato chips, and it wasn’t terrible, but let’s start with the basics.
Please note that the correct way to melt chocolate is bain marie (over a water bath) as this minimises burning. I have found that with the coconut oil added here, the chance of burning is small, but please do keep the heat low. I won’t be held responsible for the terrible disappointment of clumpy homemade peanut butter and jam cups.
Peanut Butter Cups
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Silicone Muffin Pan
Ingredients
- 250 grams Dark Chocolate We used Whittakers Dark Ghana
- 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 12 tsp Peanut Butter
- 12 tsp Jam Any flavour
- Cacao Nibs To sprinkle (optional)
Instructions
- Place the silicone muffin pan in the freezer
- Break the chocolate into small chunks and melt with the coconut oil on a very low heat until the mix is smooth. Keep stirring so that it does not stick to the bottom of the saucepan.
- Remove the muffin pan from the freezer
- Using a spoon, pour a little of the melted chocolate mix into the bottom of each cup in the muffin pan. As it is cold, the mix will solidify slightly into a disc
- Drop a tsp of nut butter and a tsp of jam onto the top of each chocolate disc
- Top up each cup with melted chocolate until the nut butter and jam are just covered. If you are using the nibs, sprinkle these on. Another option is a little sea salt
- Place the pan back in the freezer until the tops have solidified
- When you are ready to snack, pop out a section or two. They will be hard at first, but quickly become a bit softer at room temperature
- Store in the fridge or freezer.
Homemade peanut butter and jam cups – tricks and tips
The chocolate is the star! With a simple recipe like this, choosing a different chocolate makes a huge difference. When I first started making peanut butter cups, the selection was just a few brands at the supermarket. Now you practically need a diploma to understand the varietals and origins of the cacao beans. You can test a particular combo by spooning a little nut butter onto a square and doing a taste test. Make it your own!
Storage and handling. Definitely store these in the fridge. The addition of coconut oil means that these peanut butter cups are not quite as stable as store bought ones. Take them out to soften slightly before eating.
perhaps a different homemade chocolate treat?
I’ve got you! I’m always looking for ways to bump up my intake of those chocolate antioxidants. You will find my efforts all here on the ‘chocolate‘ tag.