22 December 2010

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

I love making canapes for parties. I often love it more than the party itself but, not having a sweet tooth, I sometimes feel like I let the side down rather when it comes to the non-savoury goodies. In fact, I never have any. This year whilst making mince pies I decided to push the boat out and attempt a festive sweet treat. I flicked through Nigella's Christmas - which I had been quite dismissive of until recently - and decided on trying out her Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, mostly because Joe was practically licking the picture which is usually a good sign.

They were really easy to make, looked lovely and festive and went down a storm so here it is

NIGELLA LAWSON'S CHOCOLATE PEANUT-BUTTER CUPS
Makes approx 45

For the Base:
50g soft dark brown sugar
200g icing sugar
50g soft butter
200g smooth peanut butter

For the Topping:
200g milk chocolate, chopped
100g dark chocolate, chopped
edible gold buttons or stars (I used little balls that I found in the cook shop in Chiswick)

45-50 petit-four paper cases (I used silver ones, Nigella prefers gold)

1. Mix together the brown sugar, icing sugar, butter and peanut butter - you can either do this by hand, in a freestanding mixer or, like me, in the trusty magimix - until you've got a sandy paste.
The sandy peanut-butter mix

2. Using your hands form small 1 tsp discs to go in the bottom of the petit-four cases. Press the sandy mixture as best you can to form a layer at the bottom of each case. I started off a bit nervously with this and found that I had to go back and re-do some as I was being a bit mean!

3. Melt the chocolates gently in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water). You can do this in a microwave if you are brave but I always burn the chocolate.

4. Stir the melted chocolates together and allow to cool a little and then spoon 1 tsp into each of the petit-four case covering the peanut-butter base. I found that I only just had enough to go round so I made 45 instead of Nigella's 48-50 but you can always whizz up some more chocolate so it's not a disaster if you do runout.

5. Decorate with your edible gold button or star or whatever of choice. Put in the fridge to set for 30 minutes or so before serving.

chocolate peanut butter cups
You can make these two days ahead and keep, loosely covered in a cool place. I made them on the day and although they were still yummy a couple of days after the chocolate was quite hard from being in the fridge. I was surprised at how easy and satisfying these were to make - minimum fuss, maximum result. Highly recommended.
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1 comment

  1. they were still blinding a week later - choc goes hard but the lot still melts in the mouth. yummy

    ReplyDelete

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