It’s that time of year again.  Time to bake holiday plates for neighbors and coworkers and teachers.  I somehow adore and dread this time of year.  I love idea of delivering plates full of pretty treats to people I love.  But, I abhor the idea of dirtying my kitchen for hours on end as I mix ingredients, stir, bake, cool, cut, wrap.  The whole thing is exhausting, if entirely worth it.  So, on the scene arrives this ridiculously easy idea for ridiculously delicious homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and suddenly, I couldn’t be more excited to shower neighbors with chocolate bliss.  In fact, we pounded out three batches last night in under 15 minutes, wrapped them and delivered them to favorite families an hour later.  Amazing.

Amazing and totally scrumptious!  This recipe makes enough for 16-18 large peanut butter cups.  They are filled with a creamy, buttery filling (akin to that in the Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups), that required just mixing (no baking! hurray!).  Upon taking her first bite, my daughter yelled, “Oh, man!  These are even better than the stuff you get at the store!”

HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter (softened)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 bags high quality milk chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla.

Pour chocoalte chips into a large, microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 30 seconds, remove and stir.  Microwave again for 30 seconds, remove and stir.  Continue doing this just until the chocolate chips are melted.  You don’t actually want the mixture to become warm or hot to the touch because the chocolate will mottle when it re-hardens.  So, make sure you are microwaving for no more than 30 seconds, then stirring very well just until the chocolate chips a smooth and melted.

Spoon a small amount of melted chocolate into the bottom of a standard-sized foil cupcake wrapper.

Roll a tablespoon sized scoop of the peanut butter mixture into a ball, then flatten slightly.  (I made sure my hands were just a little bit moistened to keep the mixture from sticking to my hands).  Place the peanut butter disc on top of the chocolate layer, patting it gently into place in the center of the cup.  The peanut butter mixture shouldn’t touch the sides of the cupcake wrapper, that way, when you place the next layer of chocolate on top of the candy, it hides the peanut butter layer right in the middle.

Spoon a second scoop of melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer.  Twirl your spoon around the top of the chocolate to create a pretty, swirl design.

Allow peanut butter cups to harden in a cool, dry place for 15-20 minutes.  Don’t place them in the fridge to speed up the cooling time!  Doing so can drop the temperature of the chocolate too quickly, making it dry with little white speckles.  Yuck.

Deliver the peanut butter cups in their cupcakes wrappers, or peel off those wrappers and send them to your neighbors…

In a pretty, little gift box.  Happy Holidays!

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