Good and tasty awesomeness: PB cups

Yeah, yeah, I’m not a foodie, not crafty and not a canner. BUT, people change, right?

What, they don’t change? Crap. Um, Adonis, honey? We’re gonna have to train the toddler to pick up your underwear in the bathroom or hire a cleaning lady.

Wait, that wasn’t where I was going with this.

If you haven’t met the amazing Jessica who blogs over at http://smedette.wordpress.com/ You MUST go see her. She’s been posting about all sorts of homemade goodies: Limoncello, donuts (DONUTS PEOPLE!), amaretto cranberry sauce. SIGH. She also is a globe trotting fiend! I have a big fat crush on her and yeah, I’m insanely jealous of her life.

ANYWHO, she asked ME for my peanut butter cup recipe. (She took my word on their yumminess!) And you all know I can’t say no.

So now you might be wondering, who the hell makes peanut butter cups and where the hell did you find the recipe. Well that brings up another favorite crafty canning maniac that I adore: my sweet and dear Mandy at In Mandyland. Of course I’m still waiting on a batch of her home canned jam but whatev. To make a long story short, I was out shopping for cookbooks, desperate to try my hand at jamming after reading some of Mandy’s posts and found one at Crate and Barrel called: jam it, pickle it, cure it. I know, doesn’t sound that exciting. The pic of a pantry on the front didn’t do that much for me either but when I turned it over to check the price, there was game changer: a photo of peanut butter cups. Yeah, that’ll do.

Take about 2 teaspoons of the peanut butter into your clean hands, roll into a ball, and flatten into a disk that will fit into the center of the cupcake liner but not touch the sides. Shape the remaining 11 centers.

To prepare the coating, in a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate on high for 1 minute, and stir well with a fork to distribute the heat. Heat for 1 minute more, and stir again. Heat for an additional 30 to 60 seconds, stirring thoroughly. The chocolate should be melted and quite satiny.

To assemble the cups, working quickly, spoon about 2 teaspoons of melted chocolate into the bottom of each liner, being careful to coat the bottom in a complete, thin layer, and to coat the side about halfway up. Gently drop each of the pb disks into the center of a cup,  and give it a gentle tap to secure it in the chocolate (but don’t push it all the way through to the bottom). Cover each center with an additional teaspoon of chocolate, covering the top completely and allowing it to surround the sides of the peanut butter, enclosing it completely. Gently smooth out the tops with the back of the spoon. Let sit, undisturbed, for at least 4 hours.

To store: Devour immediately, or store up to two weeks in an airtight container. Do not refrigerate.

 *proof that I made these!

Now, so I don’t get in trouble: GO BUY THIS COOKBOOK! It’s all sorts of awesome and no, I won’t share any more recipes…but shhh, the website has 3 for free!

And because I can’t have enough links in my post, I thought I’d add this little beauty: