Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
With classic flavors and the ingredients of your choice, you can make Homemade Peanut Butter Cups your way. Consider organic, gourmet chocolate, sugar free or more. Yum!
It’s been years ago now since I created this recipe for Organic Homemade Peanut Butter Cups. I’d been challenged to make Easter baskets that were 100% homemade plus natural and organic. It was daunting, but a labor of love.
You see Homemade Peanut Butter Cups are a treat–for Easter or any time. (And I consider them essential for some holidays including Halloween and Christmas! )Whether you’re making them for a challenge, to use your favorite chocolate or simply for fun, it’s all good!
Making DIY Peanut Butter Cups is even a project you could consider doing with kids. While you might not want them pouring melted chocolate, they could easily make the peanut butter filling (see below).
Hmm, Father’s Day is coming up…
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. Commercial peanut butter cups are amazing. So how good do you think homemade will be!
Festive. Homemade candy just feels special! And it’s extra nice for holidays and special events.
Control the Ingredients. Want to go all organic? Eliminate corn products? Use the very best dark chocolate? Go for it.
No peanut butter line. My recipe/technique leaves no peanut butter showing on the outside of the PB cup (like some recipes). If your kids are as picky as mine, you’ll know where I’m coming from!
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
- Chocolate. This provides the chocolate flavor and creates the outside of the peanut butter cup. I recommend real chocolate rather than candy melts. It can be good chocolate chips or bars and you can use milk, semi-sweet or dark, per your preference.
- Creamy natural peanut butter. This provides the peanut butter flavor and fills the inside of the cup.
- Powdered sugar. This sweetens and slightly thickens the peanut butter.
- Coconut flour or almond meal. This thickens the peanut butter more, as needed.
Special Tools
- You’ll need mini (or regular) cupcake liners.
Step by Step Directions
Insert muffin cup liners in a mini muffin pan that holds 12.
Mix peanut butter and powdered sugar until well combined. Mix in enough coconut flour until you have a peanut butter mixture that at room temperature is moldable. Form into 12 small balls and flatten slightly. You’ll want them smaller than the inside of the muffin cups.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler (recommended since it holds temperature better) or microwave. Drop a dollop of chocolate in each of three muffin cups.
Bang pan on counter to flatten chocolate.
Place slightly flattened peanut butter ball on chocolate, pressing down gently, so chocolate starts to move up side. Do this for the other two prepared cups.
Spoon chocolate on top of the peanut butter in each cup and spread with spoon to cover. Working three cups at a time, repeat the above until all 12 are done.
Cool at room temperature (or in the refrigerator if it’s warm) until solidified.
How to Serve
This is a fun dessert or snack to serve anytime. And Homemade Peanut Butter Cups will be right at home on a cookie or candy platter. Or take them upscale by accenting a cheese or charcuterie board.
They’re also very nice for holidays. Include some in your Easter baskets or bag up a few for a holiday or teacher’s gift. Serve at a Halloween party or mix in with your Christmas cookies.
You can’t go wrong with Peanut Butter Cups!
Variations and Special Diets
Quality dark chocolate lover? Use your favorite in these! Peanut allergy? Go with almond or cashew butter.
Doing keto or low carb? Use a sugar free chocolate and a powdered sugar substitute (I like allulose).
And if the shaping is too putzy, go with Peanut Butter Balls instead!
Tips & FAQs
As indicated, different brands of peanut butter can be very different in terms of thickness. To deal with this, you can adjust the coconut flour, which serves as a thickener, as needed.
I’ll admit it took a few tries to create a good recipe. The first attempt resulted in a runny peanut butter center which was good only if you kept them in the refrigerator. Crossed that right off.
Next, I tried thickening my natural peanut butter with almond meal (aka almond flour or ground almonds) and I thought it worked well. That’s until my nut-hating daughter got home, took a bite, and wrinkled up her nose. In the end mixing in a little coconut flour did the trick. But I include both options for those who have almond flour on hand and don’t have a super taster child who hates nuts.
Can I make these full-sized? Yes, you can, though I worry the larger size might be too rich to finish. And alas, because I’m a big mini-dessert lover, I can’t tell you for sure how many full-sized PB cups this will make. But consider doubling the recipe if you do go larger.
Can I add vanilla? One reader suggested adding vanilla to the filling. Some recipes do have this, though the ingredient list I saw for Reese’s didn’t. But if you love vanilla, mixing in 1/2 teaspoon probably won’t change the consistency any more than brand variation.
And that’s the point of these–you do you!
Creative Candy Creations!
- Crack Cereal Snack from Palatable Pastime
- Easy No Bake Peanut Butter Bars Recipe from Blogghetti
- Homemade Peanut Butter Cups from Art of Natural Living
- Salt Water Taffy from That Recipe
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Homemade Peanut Butter Cup
Ingredients
- 6 ounces chocolate bar form, or 1 cup or a 6 ounce package of chocolate chips
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons coconut flour or almond meal, as needed
Instructions
- Insert muffin cup liners in a mini muffin pan that holds 12.
- Mix peanut butter and powdered sugar until well combined. Mix in enough coconut flour until you have a peanut butter mixture that at room temperature is moldable. Form into 12 small balls and flatten slightly. You'll want them smaller than the inside of the muffin cups.
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler (recommended since it holds temperature better) or microwave. Drop a dollop of chocolate in each of three muffin cups. Bang pan on counter to flatten chocolate.
- Place slightly flattened peanut butter fall on chocolate, pressing down gently, so chocolate starts to move up side. Do this for the other two prepared cups.
- Spoon chocolate on top of the peanut butter in each cup and spread with spoon to cover. Working three cups at a time, repeat the above until all 12 are done.
- Cool at room temperature (or in the refrigerator if you prefer or it’s warm) until solidified.
Nutrition
Updated from April 12, 2014 original.
I can’t believe I didn’t see this when you posted it before! I’m making these for my best friend’s birthday (early July). We used to go to Provincetown together and our first stop was always the little chocolate shop with homemade peanut butter cups.
Hi Inger! I made these and they were really good. My second batch I made for a friend and made some changes to make them more like the ones we used to get in Provincetown. Thanks for getting me going on this — you (as always) are a wonderful inspiration.
Inspiration or corrupter. Alas they can be so close 🙂
One of our favorites to make year round!
I felt guilty at first–but that didn’t last!
Peanut butter cups are my favorite candy. I can’t wait to try making them at home!
I loving this recipe! Peanut butter cups are on my top 3 favorite candy list. Once I start eating, it’s so hard to stop!!
Um, you’re forgetting the Vanilla Extract/flavor.
I tried to make a chocolate peanut butter cup creamy thing myself, I used Maple, and I think coconut flour, and cocoa powder, but it didn’t taste like Reese’s, so I then added some honey and vanilla flavored almond milk, and I’m pretty sure it was the vanilla flavor that was missing, ’cause then it tasted just like Reese’s.
I could add the vanilla myself, but I am not certain of the measurement, maybe 1/2 teaspoon?
But, I have to be certain that the extract is gluten free and no wheat or rye or barley was used to make the alcohol, otherwise I get dizzy unless the alcohol doesn’t burn off or something when it’s not baked.
Have you ever tried vanilla powder Heather? It will add the flavor without adding liquid or alcohol. There should be a number of places to get it on the internet. I smiled at the suggestion of vanilla because I do use it so much–for example I won’t make anything mint flavored without vanilla (I think it mellows it)!
Hahahaha… the failed one looks like a “peanut butter cup vampire”! lol.
I don’t mean to laugh at the failure, I just find it funny because of what it reminds me of.
You know, one thing you could do is swirl the chocolate around in the paper muffin cups and then put the filling in… and then no more “peanut butter cup vampires”!
But, I do love your idea to make the peanut butter not so pliable, then when one bites into it it doesn’t turn back into a peanut butter cup vampire getting it’s “blood” all over you.
I always have to laugh at failure, Heather–happens so often testing new recipes! But perhaps I should go back to the runny “vampire” version if I make these for Halloween 😉
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did you use a regular cupcake tin or mini cupcakes? This look amazing! Thank you!
These were made in a mini cupcake tin. As good as they are, I’m not sure I could eat one as big as a real cupcake!
You are the best! Seriously!
I love PB cups but find Reese’s a tad bit too sweet for my personal taste. By making my own I have some control over that because I can use dark chocolate – problem solved! Thank you!
I prefer my sweets with dark chocolate too–I hope you to try them.
Ooh, this looks good. I love peanut butter cups!
Aren’t they just one of the best, Beth! They don’t even need to be homemade to be good!
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Who is this person whipping up Homemade Peanut Butter Cups? Why it’s Inger, Wonder Cook extrodinaire, lol…
Peanut Butter Cups are my absolute downfall! I have given them up for the time being but, I fully intend on celebrating Easter with at least one. I sure wish it could be just one, or two of yours Inger. I’m sure they are the yummiest!
Thank you so much for sharing, Inger…
I wish you could have some of mine too Louise! Someone will just need to figure out that sending food over the internet thing we keep wishing for.
Yum! One of my favorite combinations is chocolate and peanut butter! Can’t wait to make these.
This really was a dangerous one Lisa. Especially because (now that I have the coconut flour), they ingredients are things people may just have around!
This is so cool, and I’m sure I would love them! This recipe is tempting! Why does it look so easy when you do them, Inger? It would be hard for me, I think. One day I just might try them.
Oh Freeda, I laughed. It looks easy because if the recipe turns out to be hard I throw it away and you never see it in a post! I could tell such stories!
Oooh, a healthy version of this Easter classic! Yum!
The only problem is all that repeated testing wasn’t so healthy. But now that I have it down… 😉
These peanut butter cups look so lovely, the chocolate looks so smooth and delicious on top of the creamy filling 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks! Luckily I need save the remaining PB cups for Easter baskets, so I had to stop sampling them 😉