One of my favorite things is finding or creating thoughtful gifts. Recently I had the chance to shop at Consumer Crafts and focused on items I could use to make homemade gifts. The site has so many options it was tough to choose, but with the holidays approaching I decided to practice candy-making. I made homemade chocolate peanut butter cups and packaged them in cute boxes. Here are a few items that ended up in my cart:
Chocomaker Candy Melter
Bon Bon Cups
Cake and candy box
(I used a mini muffin tin I already had)
Other items used:
parchment paper
Avery labels
twine
And the peanut butter cup ingredients listed below.
I’m not a big chocolate fan, but my family is, so I decided to give candy-making a try. I purchased the Chocomaker candy melter to simplify the process — it keeps chocolate warm for hours and makes dipping and filling much easier. I found it effortless to use and appreciated not having to reheat hardened chocolate repeatedly.
Here’s how I made the chocolate peanut butter cups:
I adapted a recipe for homemade chocolate peanut butter cups and used the candy melter to speed up the process.
Homemade Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cups
20 mins
1 hr
1 hr
1 hr 20 mins
Ingredients
- 1 c creamy peanut butter
- ¼ c unsalted butter
- ¼ c light brown sugar
- 1¼ c powdered sugar
- 3 c milk chocolate chips
- 1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
-
Line a mini-muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
-
In a medium saucepan, combine peanut butter, butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Stir constantly until melted and slightly bubbling.
-
Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time, stirring until fully combined after each addition. Set aside to cool.
-
Melt the chocolate chips in the candy melter or slowly in the microwave at 50% power.
-
Use a small cookie scoop to spoon melted chocolate into the bottom of each lined muffin cup.
-
Spoon the cooled peanut butter mixture with a teaspoon, roll into balls, then flatten slightly into disks.
-
Place the peanut butter disks on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate both the muffin tin and the peanut butter patties for 30 minutes.
-
Place a peanut butter disk on top of each chocolate-lined cup.
-
Add more melted chocolate on top and around each peanut butter disk to seal.
-
Refrigerate again for 30 minutes, then serve and enjoy.
Nutrition
After making the cups, I placed them in a small treat box, tied twine around it, and added a sticker I designed sized for 2″x4″ Avery labels. You can download and print the labels for personal use.
Make sure to check Consumer Crafts on social channels and their blog for more craft and gift ideas.
Disclosure: This post was compensated by Consumer Crafts. All opinions are my own. I feature products I enjoy and think readers will like.