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Homemade Peanut Butter Cups are simple to make and use only 4 ingredients. This easy recipe creates smooth, chocolate-covered peanut butter treats that taste better than store-bought. Perfect for gifting or snacking!
Quick Recipe Overview
WHAT: Homemade version of the popular candy using only chocolate, peanut butter, a bit of powdered sugar, and salt.
WHY: I tend to think homemade is always better because it usually has fewer “bad” ingredients + it’s a bit cheaper!
HOW: Mix the PB filling, melt the chocolate, and layer in paper liners in a muffin pan and chill.
Table of Contents
- Quick Recipe Overview
- Why I Love Making Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
- Ingredient Notes
- Homemade Peanut Butter Cups Recipe
- How To Make Peanut Butter Cups
- Recipe Variations
- FAQs for Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
- My Best Tips for Making Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
- Storage & Serving Suggestions
- More Delectable Candy Recipes To Try
Why I Love Making Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are the perfect copycat to an ultimate favorite. They are fun and easy to make while satisfying all of your chocolate + peanut butter cravings.
These candy cups are actually super easy to make and can be a fun project with the kids! I like making homemade candy with simple ingredients for holidays to cut back on store-bought treats and to get in some quality time in the kitchen, with or without the kiddos.
🩷 Melissa
You are probably wondering why anyone would take the time to make peanut butter cups at home when you can just swing by the local grocery store to buy some.
Well, let me tell you that this homemade version is where it’s at.
When you make these at home you can control what goes into the peanut butter cup and you can use the best tasting chocolate. You’ll never go back!
Ingredient Notes
- Powdered Sugar: We are going to add just a little to the peanut butter to help sweeten it and thicken it up just a bit.
- Peanut Butter: What would a peanut butter cup be with the peanut butter? I’ve tried both regular and natural peanut butters and found that both have worked well.
- Chocolate: You can use chocolate chips here which I love because I always have them! You can also use a traditional melting chocolate or something like the Ghirardelli melting wafers for this recipe, too.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups smooth peanut butter
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 3 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt, optional
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the peanut butter and powdered sugar until smooth and homogenous.
- In a separate bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on 20-second intervals until the chocolate is completely melted. Be sure to stir the chocolate after each interval.
- Line a muffin tin with disposable liners and place a generous spoonful of melted chocolate in each liner.
- Use a piping bag or Ziploc bag with a hole cut in the corner to pipe a small disc of peanut butter filling on top of the chocolate layer.
- Spoon the remaining chocolate over each cup to cover the peanut butter and tap the tray on a table or counter to even out the layers.
- Place the tray in the fridge for six hours, or until the chocolate has completely set.
Notes
- You can store these peanut butter cups in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 3 months in an airtight container.
- You will want to let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes, so it isn’t too hard to combine the filling ingredients.
Nutrition
How To Make Peanut Butter Cups
- Mix your peanut butter and powdered sugar together in a bowl.
- Melt the chocolate using a double boiler (preferred) or in small bursts in the microwave (don’t let that chocolate burn!).
- Line a muffin tin with paper wrappers and put a little chocolate in the bottom of each one.
- Put some of the peanut butter mixture into the muffin tins and then top with more chocolate to cover. You can add a little sea salt to the tops if you’d like (I love it!).
- Let the chocolate cool until set then enjoy.
Recipe Variations
The beauty of this recipe is that once you master the basic technique, you can customize it endlessly. Here a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
Try a Different Chocolate
I use semi-sweet usually because those are the chocolate chips I usually keep in the pantry. But other chocolates can be used to change up the flavor, such as:
- Milk chocolate
- Dark chocolate
- White chocolate
- Or a combo of any of these!
Swap Out the Peanut Butter
Of course peanut butter cups are made with peanut butter, but you can sub in another nut or nut-free butter to get variations that are just as delicious!
🥜 Regular Peanut Butter vs Natural: I’ve tested this with both natural and regular peanut butter, and both work beautifully.
🥜 Smooth or Crunchy: For smooth peanut butter cups rivaling Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, you’ll want to use smooth. Crunchy peanut butter adds a nice texture to the filling. Just keep in mind that it won’t pipe quite as smoothly, so you might need to spoon it onto the chocolate base instead.
🥜 Use a Nut-Free Butter: Almond butter, sunflower butter, and cashew butter are all great options. If you’re a regular connoisseur of these butters, then I recommend trying your favorite!
Add Crunch
Mix crushed pretzels or rice cereal into the peanut butter filling for extra texture. You can also use seeds such as chia or flaxseeds if you want a bit of crunch with some extra wholesomeness.
Make a Fancy Easy Decorative Topping
- Melt white chocolate and drizzle over the tops for an elegant finish for darker chocolate cups and melt darker chocolate to use on white chocolate peanut butter cups.
- Dust small nut pieces over the top of the PB cups before they harden in the fridge.
- Use a complementary hard candy chopped into small pieces as a topping. Toffee, butterscotch, and caramel-flavored candies are all lovely toppings.
FAQs for Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
Since these peanut butter cups don’t have any preservatives they need to be stored in the fridge or the freezer if you aren’t going to eat them (or gift them) right away.
I normally use a creamy peanut butter for a smooth finish. Something like Skippy or JIF will work. I’ve also had success with using natural peanut butter. You can use crunchy PB if you want crunch and don’t mind the uneven appearance from the nuts.
Yes! It will change the texture a bit but if you have a peanut allergy feel free to use sunflower butter, almond butter, or cashew butter.
My Best Tips for Making Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
A key aspect in making really good homemade peanut butter cups is using high quality chocolate. I highly recommend Guittard brand and you can find that online or even at Target.
If you are struggling to find that brand then Ghirardelli would work as well. Trader Joe’s also carries a half pound European chocolate bar that’s not very expensive. I’ve melted that for this recipe before too, it worked great.
The quality of chocolate really can make or break the peanut butter cups!
Use a brand of chocolate chips that you like to eat on their own, I tend to like a little higher quality chocolate chip for this recipe.
Storage & Serving Suggestions
Store these homemade treats in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container with parchment paper between layers to prevent sticking.
I let them sit at room temperature a bit before serving and then just stick them back in the fridge for later.
They’re perfect for:
- Holiday gift boxes
- Party dessert tables
- After-dinner treats
- Lunch box surprises
- Movie night snacks
I love making a double batch and keeping them in the freezer for whenever a chocolate craving hits. Trust me, having homemade peanut butter cups on hand makes you very popular with friends and family!
More Delectable Candy Recipes To Try
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
This recipe was easy to put together and looks perfect, but once you take a bite of it the peanut butter filling
Oozes out on all sides. I froze mine
Overnight and let sit out on counter less than 5 minutes before trying. Any ideas what went wrong? My peanut butter filling doesn’t look thick like your photo. I used Skippy creamy peanut butter.