sweetgreenkitchen

Happy Valentine’s Day

Chocolate Raspberry and Peanut Butter Cups

Author: Sweet Green Kitchen’s Jen Jones

This is one for all the fans of chocolate and peanut butter (and isn’t almost everyone a fan of that perfect combo).  This recipe is inspired by and adapted from Sprouted Kitchen’s (www.sproutedkitchen.com) Sara Forte (her blog is one of my favorites, creative, healthy and deliciously inventive recipes).  I started making her chocolate peanut butter cups with just a few minor changes and they were absolutely spectacular, but then a little blue birdie I know politely requested, “I WANT JELLY CUPS!”, so a little raspberry jam was added to the mix and we haven’t looked back since.  These are so simple to make, but oh so sinfully delicious.  Your friends will be amazed that you made them from scratch and thank you profusely for sharing this delightful treat.

I originally made these with semi sweet chocolate, but then I tried a version with milk chocolate (really good milk chocolate) and my die hard dark chocolate loving family all preferred the milk chocolate version.  But then…I went really wild and layered them with dark chocolate as the bottom and milk chocolate on top, it’s the best of both worlds and they look like they were purchased from an expensive chocolatier.

It’s important to use Natural Peanut Butter without any added sugar or hydrogenated oils and of course really good quality chocolate.  I like Ghiradelli 60% cocoa for the semi sweet and Lindt milk chocolate, Ghiradelli milk is an acceptable substitute.  Of course, you’ll use what you want, but this is what I suggest.

Makes 24, using mini muffin tins

Ingredients:  

1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips or 2 Semi Sweet Chocolate Bars (about 7 – 8 ounces)

1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips or 2 Milk Chocolate Bars (about 7 – 8 ounces total)

Or use 2 cups of either Milk or Semi Sweet Chocolate only, if you prefer

½ cup Natural Peanut Butter without any added sugar

2 Tablespoons Honey (I use Raw Honey)

1 Tablespoon Powdered Sugar

½ teaspoon real Vanilla Extract

¼ teaspoon fine grain Sea Salt

Raspberry Jam (I don’t know the exact amount, I spoon it straight from the jar)

Plus extra flaked Sea Salt or Pink Sea Salt for sprinkling on top

Prepare 24 mini muffin cups with paper liners.

Prepare 2 double boilers for melting chocolate.  Add about 1 inch of water to each of two small pots and place on stove over medium to low heat.  Place a bowl on top of each pot, being sure that the bottom of the bowl does not come in contact with the water.  Add Milk Chocolate to one bowl and Dark Chocolate to the other bowl, occasionally stirring with a silicone spatula or other heat proof spoon, until the chocolate has melted.  The Milk Chocolate will take a little longer to melt down completely. 

In another bowl, add the Peanut Butter, Honey, Powdered Sugar, Vanilla Extract and Fine Sea Salt.  Stir to combine. 

Now it’s time to assemble.

Spoon 1 teaspoon of melted Dark Chocolate into the bottom of each paper lined cup.  When all cups are filled, tap and shake the pan a bit to evenly distribute the chocolate.

Next, scoop a rounded/heaping ½ teaspoon of peanut butter and roll it into a ball and place on top of the chocolate in each cup.

Third, Spoon a ¼ teaspoon of Raspberry Preserves into each cup.

Lastly, top each cup with 1 teaspoon of melted Milk Chocolate.  You may need a little more than the 1 teaspoon each to fully cover the Peanut Butter and Jam.  Again, tap and shake the pan to evenly distribute and smooth out the chocolate.

If you like, top each Chocolate PB and Jam cup with a sprinkle of flaked Sea Salt or Pink Salt. 

Place the muffin tins in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to set up.

One more thing, once the chocolate has set, to give your treats that final gourmet touch, I like to take the tip of a butter knife and dip it into a little of the leftover melted Dark Chocolate and add a little swirl on top of each cup.  Completely unnecessary, but it adds a little something extra special to the final product.  Enjoy!

Note: As I stated earlier, these are delicious with or without the jam, I just think the jam takes it to another level, but if jam doesn’t suit you, by all means make them without or make some of each.  Also, we’re definitely partial to Raspberry here and I do think Raspberry and Chocolate is one of the most perfect combinations, but again if Raspberry is not your thing, I don’t doubt that these would be delicious with Strawberry or Apricot or even Blackberry Jam.

To make larger versions, use about 1 ½ times each ingredients, like I did in my Valentine’s Day version featured at the top here.  For these, I used a silicone heart shaped muffin mold.  I didn’t use paper liners or even spray the mold and they came out of the silicone perfectly.