Home-made Peanut Butter Cups

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I decided to attempt my husband's absolute favorite candy- the peanut butter cup...

So I based my attempt off this Martha Stewart recipe.

I didn't want to make quite as many, so I halved the recipe.

Here's what I needed:

 

1 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
2 to 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate because that is what I had)
small baking cups (paper or foil: the paper cups were a little tough to remove)
about 2 Tablespoons Gulf Wax*

* This is a little trick I learned from my mom when we would make Buckeye candy...you add a little of the Gulf Wax to help give the cups some shine and also to help to keep them from melting quickly at room temperature. I said 2 Tablespoons in the recipe, but I usually just eyeball it... You can find the wax in the canning section of the grocery store.

The cut portion is the amount I used: about a half inch to 3/4 inch thick

First, combine the butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar in an electric mixer and mix until smooth.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and wax in either a double boiler, or in a microwave-safe container.

Place 24 paper baking cups into the mini-muffin tins. Use a brush or spoon to coat the bottoms and sides of the cups. Place in the freezer until set- approximately 5-10 minutes.

After removing from the freezer, roll some of the peanut butter mix into balls and flatten them into the bottom of the cups.

Pour about a Tablespoon of the chocolate on top of the peanut butter and smooth to the edges.

Place back in the freezer until set.

Keep frozen until ready to serve:)

*To be honest, now that I think about it- these kinda taste like buckeyes, they're just in a different shape! But they got the husband's approval and they are way cheaper than the store-bought kind!