these salted peanut butter cups are where it’s at

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!