Cooking With Kiddos: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Made with love by Betsy, Bella and Tata! 

***These are fairly easy to make and super fun to make with kids!  Also using dark chocolate makes these treats fairly low in sugar as the whole recipe has only 1 ¼ cup added sugar.  These are naturally Gluten-free and can easily be made dairy-free if needed.   Enjoy!!

INGREDIENTS

·         30 1-inch paper candy liners or 14 waxy cupcake wrappers

·         1 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (this is a good recipe to use up junky peanut butter i.e. Skippy Jiff etc…or use the good stuff.)

·         1 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar

·         4 tablespoon butter, softened (you can use a vegan butter or coconut oil (the solid stuff—not liquid) if you want to skip the dairy.)

·         3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Dark Chocolate chips

·         2 tablespoons + 1 tsp vegetable shortening (If you can’t do shortening you can add an oil of your choice i.e. avocado oil or canola oil—do not use olive oil or other oils such as peanut that have a strong taste or it will overpower your chocolate.)

·         Coarse sea salt

·         1/3 cup chopped salted peanuts

This is one of my favorite recipes to make with kiddos because they literally get to put their hands in it; the ingredients are simple and these treats are fairly low in sugar.  Be prepared to get covered in peanut butter and chocolate and be prepared to have lots of FUN!!! 

·         INSTRUCTIONS

·         PLACE paper liners on a baking sheet.  COMBINE peanut butter, sugar and butter in mixing bowl until well blended. 

 Expect to get messy and covered in PB and chocolate but this is just part of the FUN.  I tell the kiddos "Don't worry we will lick it off at the end!"  If mixture is very soft, mix in an additional tablespoon of powdered sugar at a time. If mixture is dry add a little more peanut butter at a time.

                                                           

NOTE: The consistency should be that of play dough and should not stick to your hands.  

    Shape peanut butter mixture into 30 1/2- to 3/4-inch balls or 12 to 14  1 inch balls if you are using cupcake wrappers.  flattening slightly. 

      MELT dark chocolate morsels and shortening in a glass or metal bowl in a double boiler.  To double boil: Take a sauce pan and put 2 inches of water in it.  Find a bowl that fits nicely on your sauce pan—so it won’t fall.  Place your shortening and dark chocolate pieces in the bowl and place on top of the sauce pan with water.  

*****Note to kiddos: 

Stir carefully don't touch the glass bowl or pan!  

    

      Turn on to med/high and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.   STIRRING often. TIP:  Do not allow water to touch bottom of bowl or allow water to get into chocolate.

·        *****This step is best done by the adults:  Spoon 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate into each candy cup or 1 ½ TBS into each cupcake wrapper . 

     Then the kiddos can: Place the peanut butter filling onto top of melted morsels.  DON'T press them down just gently set the peanut butter patty on the melted chocolate to ensure you will have a nice chocolate bottom.  

     Top each peanut butter cup with about 2 teaspoons of melted chocolate for candy wrappers or 1 ½ TBS melted chocolate for cupcake wrappers...just enough to cover the whole peanut butter patty.

    While the chocolate is still soft: Sprinkle with a few grains of sea salt on some of them or sprinkle chopped salted peanuts on the others—for decoration.  Or they can be left plain and still taste amazing!!

     Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Enjoy!!
 Love, Betsy, Bella and Tata

Reviews by the cooks:

Betsy age 8: "These are rich in chocolate.  They are the best peanut butter cups I have EVER had!"

Bella age 6: "These are stupendous!!!"  

And the lil taste tester Audrey age 2: 
"For me! For me! Yummy!"

Gramma Lynn: "Better than Reeses!!!"