Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

6 Comments

5 from 3 votes
12 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Chilling Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
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These Homemade Peanut Butter Cups are rich, creamy no-bake treats that come together fast with minimal effort and easy cleanup. Try it today!

Easy Candy Recipes like Salted Caramels and Chocolate Fudge are great for snacking, gifting, and baking. Try this chocolatey treat today!

Sabrina’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups Recipe

Homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are a quick 20-minute treat that taste better than store bought. They have a creamy peanut butter center, a rich chocolate coating, and no unnecessary additives. You control the ingredients, the size, and the sweetness. Make full size cups or mini bites for parties. Freeze them to enjoy chocolate peanut butter treats anytime.

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups Recipe

These Homemade Peanut Butter Cups are rich, creamy no-bake treats that come together fast with minimal effort and easy cleanup. Try it today!
Yield 12 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Brownish candy in stack with the top one cut in half
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar , sifted
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter , room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Place 12 cupcake liners in a muffin tin.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together peanut butter and powdered sugar until well combined.
  • Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring each time, until melted.
  • Put 1 tablespoon of the melted chocolate evenly over the bottom of each muffin cup.
  • Take 1 tablespoon of peanut butter mixture and form it into a disk slightly smaller than the cupcake liner.
  • Press the peanut butter disk gently into each cupcake liner on top of the chocolate. Don’t smush.
  • Spoon an additional 1 tablespoon of chocolate over the peanut butter in each liner and smooth over the tops.
  • Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to cool.

Nutrition

Calories: 270kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 267mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 11IU | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 2mg

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About this Recipe

What sets these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups apart is their simplicity, just three ingredients and the freedom to use any creamy peanut butter you love, even all natural varieties that make the filling extra smooth. You can choose any chocolate, including dark or dairy free, without changing a thing, making them an effortless option for vegan treats. They’re also a fun, hands on project for kids since the peanut butter filling is safe to taste as they mix and shape it, turning candy making into an easy, mess friendly activity.

Baking Tips & Tricks

To make a large batch, melt your chocolate in a slow cooker. It keeps the chocolate warm and smooth without burning. Just place chocolate chips in mason jars, set them in a slow cooker filled about a third with water, and turn it to low. Stir occasionally, and in about an hour you’ll have perfectly melted chocolate ready for all your candy recipes.

How to Store

  • Serve: Keep in the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes until set. Once set, you can serve peanut butter cups at room temperature or chilled.
  • Store: Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 1 month. You can keep at room temperature for about 2-3 weeks, depending on the air temperature.
  • Freeze: Once they are set, you can freeze in a sealed freezer safe bag for up to 6 months. Eat frozen or soften at room temperature before enjoying!

Ideas to Serve Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

These Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups make great holiday gifts, and you can easily tailor their look by using seasonal molds or adding a light drizzle of chocolate on top. They also work well chopped into brownies or sprinkled over ice cream, adding a nice touch of flavor without much effort.

Variations

  • Dark Chocolate: Make Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups by swapping in dark chocolate chips for the semisweet chocolate. You can use white chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips, or add a ½ cup butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, or caramel chips for extra flavor.
  • Almond Butter: Instead of creamy peanut butter, you can use almond butter, other nut butters, or chunky peanut butter. Use sunflower butter or cookie butter for a nut-free peanut butter cup. Try half hazelnut spread and half peanut butter for a truly decadent peanut butter treat!
  • Pumpkin Filling: Add ⅓ cup pumpkin puree to the smooth peanut butter and swap the confectioner’s sugar with ¼ cup maple syrup for a fun, fall-flavored peanut butter cup. Use sugar-free chocolate for a healthy peanut butter cup!
  • Mix-Ins: Fold in a couple heaping spoonful’s of mini Reese’s Pieces, M&Ms, chopped peanuts, crushed cookie pieces, or mini chocolate chips to the peanut butter mixture.
  • Flavoring: You can a ½ teaspoon of flavoring like vanilla extract to the peanut butter filling or melted chocolate. Don’t more than a teaspoon or your filling or chocolate will be too liquidy. Add orange extract and sea salt for a fancy peanut butter cup!
  • Cookies: Give your Peanut Butter Cups a crispy cookie layer with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, or Oreo cookies (just the cookie part), under the peanut butter layer.
  • Snowman Jars: Make easy Snowman gift jars for the holidays. Use white chocolate chips to make White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. Fill a mason jar with peanut butter cups. Glue 2 or 3 black felt “coal buttons” on the front of the jar and tie a flannel “scarf” around the rim of the lid. The easiest cute edible holiday gift!

More No Bake Chcolate Desserts

Collage of chocolate desserts filled with peanut butter stacked on top of each other.

Photos used in previous version of this post

brown desserts in stack with a bite taken out of the top one.
halved brownish desserts in stack
desserts being prepared in cupcake tin

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Thank you so much for posting this amazing recipe. My family and friends absolutely love these peanut butter cups. It’s delicious and also easy to make.Cannot wait to try other recipes from your page!

    Reply

  2. These were incredible, so delicious and peanut buttery. I made the batch and they were gone within the hour, I’m planning on making more tomorrow. You have us hooked 🙂

    Reply

  3. Oh. My. Goodness. These are SO good! Wow. I’m going to have to put them up on a high shelf where I can’t reach because otherwise I will EAT THEM ALL!!

    Reply