Our family doesn’t eat a lot of candy. I do too much baking at home to bring in any more treats, and over the years I’ve lost interest in milk chocolate. However, every year around Easter time I treat myself to one store-bought peanut butter cup—the ones shaped like an Easter egg that contain more peanut butter than the usual circle-shaped cups. I realized this year it would be a better idea to make them at home; I could use dark chocolate and even sprinkle a little salt on top if I wanted. Sure enough, they were delicious, and quite simple to put together. Our Easter baskets will be full of them this year.

Ingredients

This recipe is adapted from the Sprouted Kitchen. If you’d like to sprinkle the tops with a bit of salt, chill the peanut butter cups for a few minutes, and then sprinkle it on top (otherwise it will melt into the chocolate). You can also add a tablespoon of cacao nibs to the peanut butter mixture, for extra crunch. You can use whatever peanut butter you’d like, but peanut butter with added sugar will make these bars sweeter. You can also make these in a regular-sized muffin tin, but you will need more chocolate and peanut butter per cup.

• 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• A good pinch of salt

Step 1
Line a mini-muffin pan with liners (12-14 liners).

Step 2
Melt the chocolate in a microwave (or melt in a double boiler), stirring occasionally until the chocolate is perfectly smooth.

Step 3
In a small bowl, mix together the peanut butter, honey, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix until the mixture is smooth.

Step 4
Put a teaspoon of the chocolate into the bottom of each liner. Move the liner around so the chocolate covers the sides of the liner.

Step 5
Scoop out teaspoons of the peanut mixture and place it in the liners, on top of the chocolate.

Step 6
Coat the peanut butter with another teaspoon or so of chocolate, and make sure it is covered completely. Chill the peanut butter cups in the fridge to set. They can be kept in a covered container at room temperature or in the fridge.

Enjoy!