It’s not often I make something sweet, I usually opt for a savoury  snack over a sweet one, having said that, I do love chocolate. My mum likes to recall a story from when I was little about finding in the living room hidden under the Christmas tree having eaten all the chocolates that were hung on it. Sounds great, though it wasn’t much fun having a reaction and developing a rash because of it! Thankfully chocolate doesn’t affect me like that anymore, though I tend not to eat a whole Christmases worth of treats in ten minutes anymore!

Anyway, one of my favourite sweet treats are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I’ve seen recipes online for how to make them over the last couple of years and I tried some great homemade ones in Leeds last year with my best friend. So today I found some bits of dark chocolate hiding in the back of the fridge, I finally decided to have a go at making some. It’s pretty easy to be honest. I mean I know it’s only chocolate and peanut butter but I always thought they’d be a bit of a faff to make, not so. I even did the recipe measurements in cups, doesn’t get much simpler! Here’s how I made them…

Ingredients…
1 cup dark chocolate broken into equal sized pieces
1 tsp coconut oil
1/2 cup of peanut butter
2 tbsp maple syrup, agave nectar or icing sugar would work too

You’ll need some paper muffin cases, or silicone ones. I made about 10, it’ll depend on how big your cases are and how full you fill each as to how many you get.

First off, make sure there’s room in your fridge for these to chill between adding the next layer. Get your muffin cases laid out in a muffin tray or on a plate. Put a pan of water on a medium heat to simmer and place a bowl over the top to melt the chocolate in.

Now put the chocolate and the oil in the bowl to melt, keep stirring to help it all melt. Once it’s melted, you’ll need to spoon half of it into the muffin cases and move it up the sides slightly to create the bottom of the cup shape. Turn the heat off the pan and leave the rest of the chocolate in the bowl above the pan to stay warm. Put the cups into the fridge to cool for ten minutes.

While the chocolate is in the fridge mix the peanut butter with the syrup or sugar, depending on which you’re using, give the mix a taste and add more if you need to. It depends on how sweet your peanut butter was to start with and how much of a sweet tooth you have!

Get the cups out of the fridge and fill each with a small spoonful of the peanut butter mix, once you’ve evenly portioned this out into the cups wet the back of a teaspoon and use it to flatten out the mix. Wetting the spoon stops the mix from sticking all over it and makes it easier to flatten. Pour the rest of the chocolate evenly over the filled cups. Put them back in the fridge until they’ve set.

That isn’t too hard is it!? Actually waiting for them to set was a drag when all you want to do is try them!

Unlike Reese’s, the chocolate might not be beautifully tempered and they might be a bit wonky but they still taste great and what’s more you know that there’s only four things gone into making them, plus they’re vegan too!