Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

For all of my preaching about a clean-eating lifestyle, one full of whole foods and few (if any) processed ingredients, I won't deny that I occasionally frequently purchase Reese's peanut butter cups.  I can't help it, I love them.  They're my weakness, especially the Reese's Dark Chocolate cups and the seasonal Reese's - you know the ones:  the hearts, eggs, Christmas Trees, pumpkins that come out at each holiday.  For some reason those taste different - better, fresher!

Unfortunately, Reese's doesn't make their seasonal peanut butter cups in dark chocolate.  So the only way to have the dark chocolate and the fresh taste of the seasonal Reese's is to make them yourself.  Bonus points if you can find one of those silicon molds in the shape of hearts or other fun shapes to really take them to the next level.  I just used pink and red mini cupcake liners for mine and sprinkled a few with some pink and purple dots and I think they looked really cute, and tasted WAY better than Reese's.  The ones that didn't get sprinkles got sea salt.  That's definitely the way to go, in my opinion.

You could double the recipe but just be warned:  it may be dangerous to have too many of these sitting around.  Make sure you have plenty of Valentines to share them with.  I highly recommend the sea salt on top, it's divine.

The starting lineup...

(Ghirardelli 72% cacao bar not shown)

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
makes 10-12 mini peanut butter cups

6 oz good quality dark chocolate (I used one Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet baking bar and one Ghirardelli 72% chocolate bar)
1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter (well-stirred, this is the variety with no added sugar!  decrease sugar if using a sweetened peanut butter)
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar

sea salt, sprinkles (optional, for decoration)

In a small bowl, mix together the peanut butter and confectioners sugar until well combined.  Set aside.

Break up the chocolate and put into a microwave-safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until fully melted, stopping every 30 seconds to stir and check and see if it is melted.  Be careful not to burn chocolate.

Once chocolate is melted, drizzle a little into the bottom of each paper mini muffin liner and use a small basting brush, knife or spoon to coat the sides of each cup with the chocolate.  Place chocolate-coated liners into a mini-muffin pan (to help hold their shape) and place in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden.

Once hard, remove the chocolate-coated paper liners.  Place a small ball (about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon worth) of the peanut butter mixture into the center of each chocolate-coated cup.  Then drizzle more melted chocolate over until the peanut butter is covered.  Repeat for all of the remaining peanut butter cups.  Use a small offset spatula or knife to smooth out the tops.

If desired, sprinkle a tiny pinch of sea salt or some colored sprinkles on top.  

Place chocolate peanut butter cups back into the freezer for 10-15 minutes to harden, then transfer into the refrigerator until ready to serve.  Serve cold or at room temperature.