Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups

I've been wanting to make homemade peanut butter cups for some time now. That sweet & creamy peanut butter filling and the way that soft chocolate melts all over my hands is something I am borderline addicted to. Around Christmas, Halloween, and Easter, peanut butter cups are a must at our house. Never, though, have I had the guts to make them at home... let alone shove a giant slice of Fall right into the filling... 

Pumpkin peanut butter cups. 

Guys. 

But really. 

And they were super easy. EASY. 

Can I say E.A.S.Y enough?? And PUMPKIN? I mean, this is a win-win for everyone. Whenever Fall rolls around, I try my best to somehow shove pumpkin into all of my desserts. September-November is when I try to embrace the Fall flavors as much as I can, and finding new ways to sneak in that pumpkin flavor is always something I look forward to. This is definitely one of those recipe I'd knew would work right away, and embraced every last morsel with my husband within only 12 hours of making them. They were just too yummy! The filling is very simple to make (with only a few ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry) and the outside of the cup is just the traditional chocolate. I bet this would be AMAZING with dark chocolate, too. These melted perfectly in our mouths, and teased us with the promise of even more peanut butter cup variations. The sky is the limit with these little beauties! 

I was kind of nervous to make these at first. But I received an amazing little treat in the mail from Rizzi at The New York Baking Company, and it was just the push I needed to jump on the homemade peanut butter cup train. You see, I was always worried that whenever I made the cups, that the chocolate would stick to the paper liners, and I'd have a giant mess on my hands (and not the chocolately one - the paper-stuck all over everything kind). But for these gorgeous BPA free silicone cups, after making and freezing these little peanut butter pumpkin beauties, they CAME RIGHT OUT PERFECTLY! I couldn't believe it! I was so pleased and excited to start another batch right away. It was super awesome. I imagine these would be perfect for muffins, cupcakes, school lunch partitions, as well, but I wanted to think a little outside the box. And from there, the view was downright tasty. 

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups

makes 12 cups

ingredients:

2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 T vegetable oil

1/2 C smooth peanut butter 

5 T pumpkin puree 

1 T light brown sugar

3/4 t pumpkin pie spice

pinch of cinnamon

1/2 t vanilla extract

method:

1. Stir together the chocolate and vegetable oil in a microwave safe bowl. In 20 second increments, until the chocolate is melted completely. 

2. While it's melting, stir together the peanut butter, pumpkin puree, light brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and vanilla. If it looks too wet, add in some more pumpkin puree. If it's too dry, add pumpkin puree. Adjust the consistency to be what you want. You can't really go too wrong here. 

3. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners, and spoon in about a tablespoon of melted chocolate. Hit the bottom of the muffin tin gently on the counter until the chocolate is flat in each tin. Freeze for 5 minutes. 

4. After the bottoms are set, roll a little bit of the filling into about a tablespoon ball, and flatten one in each of the melted chocolate circles. Make sure it's flattened, but not all the way to the edges. Pour melted chocolate over the filling until it's the same level covering the filling. Tap muffin tin pan on the counter again. Freeze for 5-10 minutes until firm. Store in the fridge.

idea & recipe adapted from: chocolate covered katie & diethood 

*Although I was gifted silicone cups from New York Baking Company, all opinions and thoughts are my own.