Incredibly Addicting
Gooey Peanut Butter Cups stemmed from my initial attempt at making Peanut Butter Truffles. To quote Yogi Berra, “It was déjà vu all over again,” because, just as my Gooey Brownie Cups came from a Cookie Dough Truffle mess-up, so too did this Cup recipe.
Weeks ago, my goal was to make Peanut Butter Truffles. Easy enough, or so I thought. I had been making cookie dough truffles recently and figured that the peanut butter ones would be terrific with a cookie dough base. I was wrong.
I realized that I don’t want to crunch sugar when eating a peanut butter truffle. I want to enjoy the creaminess that peanut butter offers when it is surrounded by a delicious robe of chocolate.
So there I was with a batch of crunchy dough and nothing to do with it. What’s a gal to do? Get creative!
I added eggs and peanut butter chips to the dough, which I then scooped into a muffin tin. Out of the oven came 12 tempting Gooey Peanut Butter Cups.
The taste was definitely what I wanted, but I was not thrilled yet with the consistency. Some friends loved them (although one did point out that they were missing chocolate!) while others thought they were too dry.
I do not have the tolerance for a dry peanut butter experience! I decided to melt the butter and sugars together in the microwave and then add the remaining ingredients.
I loved how these Cups turned out. They were gooey on the inside with a perfectly firm crust on the outside. The second round of reviews confirmed that I nailed them…until one friend said, “I would love a little bit of salt on top.”
That light bulb in my head went on very quickly and I couldn’t wait to get back in the kitchen to bake up a batch. I thought the salt would make these cups even better, but it did not. The consistency changed and I was not as happy with them.
So I went back to the second version of Gooey Peanut Butter Cups and passed them around to friends. One friend summed them up beautifully when she said that they are, “Incredibly Addicting.” Good luck eating just one. If you are successful, then I commend you on having more will power than I.
| Gooey Peanut Butter Cups | | Print |
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten, room temperature
- 1¼ cups Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips
- Preheat oven to 350°. Set aside a 12-cup muffin pan.
- Place the butter, sugar and brown sugar into a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave until butter is completely melted. Be sure to use oven mitts when removing from microwave as the bowl will be very hot.
- Whisk to blend ingredients together. Cool for 10 minutes.
- Whisk in peanut butter, followed by vanilla, then flour. Continuously whisk mixture while adding eggs, to prevent cooking the eggs.
- Lastly, use a wooden spoon to mix in peanut butter chips. Some will melt, but most will still hold their shape.
- Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray. Use a large cookie dough scoop or a gravy ladle to evenly transfer batter to muffin cups.
- Bake at 350°, on the middle rack of the oven, for 18 minutes.
- Remove and cool for 10 minutes on cooling rack.
- Use a small metal spatula to go around edges of Gooey Peanut Butter Cups. Remove from pan and serve warm or cool completely before refrigerating.
