Home-made peanutbuttercups

Nederlands: https://demaanboom.org/2019/11/30/huisgemaakte-pindakaascups/

As you’ve maybe already read in another blogpost, I try to eat taking in account the Chrononutrition diet, as my boyfriend does too. The hardest part is not eating any candy or other sugary stuff during the day. I have an absolute weakness for sugar and any kind of dessert. Usually, I’d eat a cookie after my meal, but it wouldn’t be so strange for me to quickly dig into some chocolate pudding or anything else before having a meal.

The best way to avoid this behaviour is not buying it at al (because if I do, I’d eat it all in one trip). But I don’t believe it to be reasonable to ban it all from my life. Luckily the Chrononutrition permits sugar between the noon and the evening meal. A snack so to say, but the sweet kind of snack (don’t come to me with raw carrots!!!)

When my boyfriend is at home, he often cuts a delicious, juicy mango in pieces and we devour it with some pieces of chocolate. It is a very cosy event. Fruit and great chocolate, good and all, but it doesn’t always give me the kick I’m longing after. When, on a day like that, I pas by in a shop where the racks are filled until the ceiling with thousands of varieties and still unknown secrets look me with shiny hearts in the eyes, then I just fall on my knees and I concede. So, recently, when I was in the shop Action, I put my hands on Reeses’ Cups. I made it into a sneaky ritual: walk trough all the corridors, look at everything and touch al the fancy stuff they have and then at the end of the shop: the great apotheosis: buying a Reeses’Cup which I munched up on my way to home. There goes nothing beyond the taste of secretly eaten desserts (I’ll write about it when I’ll talk about cream puffs).

One day I told my boyfriend in all details, the smells, the colours and the taste of that joyful dessert. He found the situation obviously hilarious. At that moment, I didn’t had the idea to make them myself, but I got the “eureka”-feeling when we were at our snack-meal later. The same day, I looked up a recipe on Pinterest and it was stuffed of it.

The versions I found were unfortunately often wit milk chocolate (of which my boyfriend isn’t really a big fan) and also bought peanutbutter. Not long before that day, I dared to make some almond milk, so it didn’t seem that hard to me to make my own peanut butter. I was correct. Soon, I did my groceries and everything was ready to make the peanut-buttercups at home the next day.

It was an absolute success. As well with me as with my boyfriend, and he didn’t stop himself to taste another one, two, three, five. He wasn’t completely certain if they would all be that good 😉 The day after he sent me this heartbreaking message: “Je suis très très triste, ma belle.” (I am very, very sad, my beauty) I asked him why, but I hoped secretly it would be a joke (these days he has a big stock of harissa at my home which he had no access to at his place, because he forgot to take them with him). And he replied: “Parce qu’il n’y aura pas de peanutbutter cups pour moi, aujourd’hui.” (because there are no peanutbutter cups for me, today). Okay, I dare to believe I know him quite well.

I wish you lots of joy with the baking and tasting of this delicacy! (on your own risk for a sad partner)

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• big bag roasted peanuts in their pod
• 2 tablespoons honey if you like
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 300 gram black chocolate (Belgian, yes pleassse)

First make the peanutbutter

Take the peanuts (I buy a big bag roasted ones) out of their pod and put them in a pot. You can of course already prepared peanuts, as long as they aren’t salted or got another taste (with spices).

Mix them with a blender. I had this “kitchenaidkind” of mixing bowl, but it didn’t work as good as an external mixer. After about five to six minutes, you’ll get a paste. This is your peanutbutter, hooray!

I choose to add two spoons of honey, but if you don’t like that, without is very good too.

Don’t forget to put the remains in a closed jar in the fridge, because this can be conserved up to six months.

2 heat two spoons of heavy cream in a pan. Take the pan of the stove. Add 300 gram black chocolate (chopped or pearls) and let the sit for a moment without stirring. After a minute, everything will be molten and you can blend. Pour (or use a spoon) a thin layer (3 mm should suffice) in a paper or silicone mould (you can reuse silicone mould, so they’re kind of more sustainable then the paper version, but personally, I find it easier to take out the peanutbutter cups from a paper mould).

Take a well filled coffee spoon of peanutbutter and knead to a little ball, then gently flatten it. Put it on the base of chocolate and cover it completely with melted chocolate (don’t forget the sides of your mould). Let cool in the refrigerator (or in a freezer if quickly need your dose).

Check after a while if the chocolate is already hard enough to take out of the mould and to eat the cups. Only take them out when you’ll eat them. Don’t forget to prepare some tissues.

Licking your chocolate fingers is a part of the pleasure!!

(you can also conserve the cups in the freezer, for urgent matters, but they are the best served fresh)