my husband was exhibiting symptoms of peanut butter cup withdrawal, so I put on my superhero suit apron and came to the rescue.
I started improvising as I went along, only to find out that “my” recipe is 99% similar to the one on VegWeb.
oops! my bad.
I’m posting it anyway, since there’s still that 1% that makes the whole difference. (ahem.)

quick note: be sure to leave your cups in the fridge until ready to eat, as they have a tendency to soften up rather quickly. gotta love summertime…

update: apparently, bona fide Reese’s peanut butter cups have peanut butter added to the chocolate part, so I’m definitely trying this the next time I make these. I’m thinking 2-3 T to begin with.
update on the update: adding PB directly to the chocolate = awesome! also, the cups taste great straight out of the freezer.

Peanut Butter Cups

12 mini cupcake liners
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips update: better to chop your own bittersweet or dark vegan chocolate, the PB cups will keep better at room temp
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter + 2 generous T to add to the melted chocolate
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
pinch fine sea salt [if your PB is already salted, it's optional to add more]

melt the chips in your microwave, keeping a close eye on them and stirring often to make sure they don’t burn. it should take between 1-2 minutes. add the 2 generous T and stir to incorporate.
give it about 5 minutes to cool down a bit, it’s easier to spread around when not lava-hot.

place a heaping teaspoon of melted chocolate in each mini cupcake liner and spread it all over the place with the back of a spoon. repeat with all 12 liners.

place the chocolate-covered liners onto a plate, into your fridge, to let it all harden.

meanwhile, stir together peanut butter, vanilla, salt, and sugar. if your peanut butter is anything like mine, it should form a sort of paste that you can start kneading to make sure all gets incorporated really well.

the chocolate should be hard by now, so divide peanut butter paste into all 12 liners, pressing down gently to make sure the paste goes everywhere.

top with heaping teaspoon of chocolate [melt it again if needed], spreading carefully so that none of the PB paste can be seen.

chill in fridge for at least one hour, until ready to devour.

yield: 12 “small” cups