Ever think “I’d like to combine my favorite school lunch with my favorite halloween candy?” Well neither had I – until Jeanine (this is Jack, by the way) came up with this crazy and amazing snack idea. And she even put some salt on top, just to cement it as the best peanut-butter cup idea ever.
I’m sorry that this post is a bit light on the photos – I kind of… ate… the subjects before we could take more follow up shots. Sorry about that. Just make your own – you won’t regret it.
These are also vegan and gluten free, so here’s a bonus healthy Halloween tip from Jack: Make these little guys, eat them, then buy some apples to hand out to children.
chocolate pb&j cups
Author: Jeanine Donofrio
Serves: approx. 16 pieces
Ingredients
- 9 oz. 65% cacao chocolate chips or baking chocolate (see note below)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter
- 1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar (just enough to make it less oily)
- scant ¼ cup strawberry jelly
Instructions
- Over a double boiler (or in the microwave), melt chocolate chips and coconut oil together.
- Line a mini muffin tin with (about 16) mini cupcake liners and fill each with a small spoonful of melted chocolate, just enough to coat the bottom and sides. You can use a small brush (or a knife) to carefully nudge the chocolate up the sides of the liners. Pop in the freezer until the chocolate is completely hardened.
- Mix peanut butter and powdered sugar. Spoon a bit of peanut butter into each cup and a tiny bit of jelly.
- Spoon more melted chocolate on top to cover. Pop in the freezer. Once they chocolate on top begins to set, sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Freeze again (or refrigerate) until set.
- Store pb&j cups in the fridge or at room temp.
Notes
For the chocolate, I used SunSpire Organic 65% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips. You can also use baking chocolate that's around 50-65% Cacao. (not unsweetened).
these would be gone in 10 seconds flat at my house. Omg chocolate peanut butter jelly. I don’t have words. Yum!
I am totally cracking up about the last line. That is the perfect plan for Halloween this year!! Love these PB+J cups and they certainly would be hard to part with!
Yum! I’m wondering if it might work to make these in ice trays, in lieu of a mini muffin pan?
Maybe? Since the muffin pan isn’t doing any heat transference or anything it should be ok. As long as you have paper wrappers in the ice tray. Prying them out would be a problem otherwise.
you could also make these in a regular muffin tin with regular sized muffin liners. You’ll just have to carefully spread the chocolate and peanut butter more evenly to cover a bigger space. (the mini muffin cups are pretty forgiving).
oh my…these look so delish <3
would love to have them as a midnight snack now 🙂
best wishes from berlin,
laura & nora
Of course my favorite combination! And I have a tendency on eating my subjects as well before they get photographed. Gorgeous photos anyways 🙂
These are adorable and I bet they taste amazing!
These have my name written all over them. Love the addition of the salt!
HAHA, so funny! It happens so often in my home that my husband gets his hands on my food before I get a chance to take more photos. The other day I made fluffernutters and I have zero pictures to show for it. I’ll have to remake (which I’m not entirely unhappy about because, come on, they are fluffernutters, but I pretend to be crappy so maybe he gets the hint).
errr, crabby*
These sound like the perfect little snack! Love!
These look great!
Anything salted has my approval. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve photographed and eaten my “subjects” at the same time. Your photos still look beautiful, though!
This sounds delicious. I was wondering, is the powdered sugar necessary?
you can skip it if you want, I just found that it helped things set better since natural peanut butter is really oily.
all of my favorite things combined into a great snack!
Now we know what Jack will be making for Halloween and the children will NOT be getting. Love the addition of strawberry jelly. These would not last very long in my house either!
oulalala, it look so delicious !
I never get tired of pb&j’s. This looks super easy and delicious. It will definitely be part of a Fun Food Friday very soon.
Thanks!
Carly
http://www.playingforeats.com
My two favorite things to eat: dark chocolate and peanut butter. I grew up having a PB&J every day and still crave those…thanks for the lovely idea of bringing these together! Also, loved your cameo, Jack!
AAHHH! Want, now, STAT. Gorgeous!
ha, thanks Dana 🙂
Fantastic!
Love it! The salt on top just makes it!
What if I use pumpkin butter instead of strawberry jelly to make them a little more fall-ish?
Sounds fun – let us know how it works out!
This looks amazing!! I love peanut butter and jelly, but it never occurred to me to mix it with chocolate. This sounds like the best combo EVER!
Adorable– love this idea! 🙂
Ahhh… excellent. I will send my kids straight to your house, ok? Just run for your life- they will destroy these 😉 Beautiful recipe Jeanine!
These look amazing!! Cannot wait to make them.
XO,
http://almosttheredc.wordpress.com
These little pb&J cups are one of my favorite things to make (and eat!). I have a recipe on my site, I use a little honey mixed with the peanut butter and use raspberry jam in the middle. So yummy!
Yuuummm!! Ohh, there’s nothing like peanut butter and chocolate 🙂
These look delicious! I love peanut butter cups and these have the added bonus of being gluten (and guilt!) free. I will definitely be making these – but I can’t guarantee that they will be around long enough for anyone else to taste.
http://www.livinginsteil.com
These look absolutely amazing! I love peanut butter cups so much and I bet the jelly makes them taste even better 🙂 Thanks for the recipe! I’ll definitely be trying these out! XO Kelly
I just love chocolate treats! my kids love sweets so this a great mini snack!
Thank you so much. I made these for v day and they were a hit!
These look amazing! Wow, would be a great easy quick snack! Especially because I love sweets!
I had no idea peanut butter cups were so easy to make! Made these with my 3 year old and they were a HUGE hit. I found the wrappers very difficult to peel off though…any ideas of what might be causing that?
I’m so glad they were a hit! Hmm, I’m not sure, you could try spraying them lightly with cooking spray? Although that might make it harder to assemble them.
Good idea! I may also try not filling them to the top. I see now in your photo there is a little more room to grab the paper than I had left. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to keep making them until I get it right 😉
made these tonight and WOW! I did half with just peanut butter and sea salt – half peanut butter, current jam (the only kind of jelly i had in the fridge) and sprinkled some freeze dried strawberries on top on a whim after seeing another one of your posts that reminded me of them! Loved both versions – one classic intense peanut butter and the other fun pb&j flavor with a kick!
Can’t wait to experiment with other fun sweet flavor combos – thanks for one of the easiest dessert/snack ideas ever!