these salted peanut butter cups are where it's at
Thursday 01.26.12 
it's not all kale and cucumbers around here my friends, these *vegan* peanut butter cups have also become a staple in this house. they win every contest my mouth has ever held, hands down. sweet, salty, peanut butter & chocolately goodness, a batch of these cures my sweet tooth for weeks days. the recipe was adapted from one in alicia silverstone's book the kind diet. i'm on a dessert kick my friends, let's enjoy it! i'll be back with some meals to balance these out with soon, i promise.
the what:
1/2 cup earth balance vegan butter
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter (organic, unsalted, no added sugar)
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (i found an organic, naturally sweetened kind at whole foods that did the trick)
1/4 cup turbinado raw sugar or other granulated sweetener
1 cup vegan chocolate chips (preferably the kind that are naturally sweetened)
1/4 cup rice, soy or nut milk
sea salt to sprinkle on top
the how:
- line a muffin tin with papers. i used a mini-muffin tin and filled it up twice- 24 cups of heaven!
-melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and then stir in the peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs and sugar. when it's melted/mixed, spoon the mixture into the muffin tins. you can play around with the peanut butter to chocolate ratio. i prefer more peanut butter with a thin layer of chocolate, and lou prefers them to be equally peanut butter and chocolate. we're so complex.
-in a separate pan combine the chocolate and milk. stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted.
-spoon the chocolate over the peanut butter, filling the papers almost to the top.
-sprinkle with sea salt and then refrigerate *if you are using the mini muffin tin, i recommend sticking the first batch into the freezer for 10 minutes or so to get them to harden up so that you can remove them and make another batch. i also melted a little more chocolate/milk to satisfy lou's ratio preference. ok, i doubled the chocolate. he made me.
-there are two schools of thought on how these are best eaten: 1. taken from the refrigerator one at a time, thawed and savored- a classy approach 2. eaten straight from the freezer by the handful, with the occassional bit of wrapper stuck to the cup {mine}.
bon appetit my friends!