Summer in Provincetown.
To many people, “summer in Provincetown” conjures imagines of men clad in speedos. Disco tea dances. Nighttime streets swarming with people. Beach time. Wild parties. Parades. Sun-tanned diners on piers, porches, and patios. Languorous late-morning porch breakfasts with a glimpse of the sparkling bay. Sun, fun, repeat.
But none of this for me. Summer in Provincetown meant but one thing: Homemade Peanut Butter Cups. My best friend Michael and I would drive the 4 1/2-hour slog from Albany, New York, through summer traffic to the tip of Cape Cod, listening to music and drinking Diet Pepsi. It was a very free time. (Note: I drank Diet Pepsi only with Michael. It was our thing.)
Our first stop every visit: the Provincetown Fudge Factory. While Provincetown is well known for its fudge and salt water taffy, we eschewed those standard treats and went straight for the Homemade Peanut Butter Cups. I never gobbled so many as to get sick, but I got close!
This year, as Provincetown is almost a 3,000-mile drive (and I don’t drink Diet Pepsi any longer), I can’t just pick up and go like I used to. So I brought a touch of a Provincetown summer to us, and made Homemade Peanut Butter Cups. They taste like long-ago summers. And they would make a wonderful treat for your Valentine!
~ David
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
To print this recipe, please click the tiny printer icon below.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, plus extra
- 3 tablespoons softened butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 11.5 ounces milk chocolate (I used Belgian chocolate)
- 4.5 ounces semisweet (I used Belgian 56% cacao chocolate)
- 24 mini cupcake liners, preferably wax-coated (see note)
Instructions
- Mix together the peanut butter, sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth and homogeneous. It should add up to about 12 ounces. Make 24 peanut butter balls (1/2 ounce each) and use extra confectioners sugar to keep them from sticking to your hands; flatten them to make a disk a little less than the diameter of your mini-muffing tin liners. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate them until ready to use.
- Place the 24 liners into mini-muffin tins and set aside.
- In a double boiler over simmering water — not boiling — melt the two chocolates together. When very smooth and runny, use a teaspoon to add a dollop of chocolate to each of 6 liners (about 3/4 teaspoon each). Using a very small spatula, paint the chocolate up the sides of the liners until coated. (I used the handle end of a mini spatula.) After you have coated the six, do another six, then repeat till all the liners are coated. Place them in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Turn down the heat on the chocolate.
- After 10 minutes, the chocolate in the liners should have hardened. Raise the heat again on the chocolate in the double boiler. Remove the coated liners from the fridge, and then put a disc of peanut butter in each, pressing gently to mold to the bottom.
- Stir the chocolate well and, when runny again, gently spoon some onto each peanut butter disk enough chocolate to coat the top — make sure you spread it well to connect to the sides. Smooth out the tops. When all 24 are done, place them in the fridge to cool.
- Keep them refrigerated until ready to eat. Let them come to room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving. They will be much easier to take out of the liners when they aren’t so cold. Extras (if there are any!) can be stored in their liners in a sealed container in the fridge.
- Makes 24.
- Note: The candy sticks to standard liners. Seek out waxed liners specifically for candy. That will make them easier to peel. I saw some recipes online that had you spray the liners with cooking spray, but that didn’t appeal to me, so I haven’t tried it.
© 2024 Copyright Cocoa & Lavender
Mad Dog
February 10, 2024 at 6:50 amYou could put Reese’s out of business with these!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 10, 2024 at 7:12 amThanks, Mad Dog — I am sure they are threatened by me!
Nancy
February 10, 2024 at 7:02 amThis sounds like a must try! But David, promise me it will taste as good as Reese’s. (Just kidding, I have no doubt in my mind it will leave Reese’s in the dust.)
Cocoa & Lavender
February 10, 2024 at 7:13 amWell, Nancy, they are just like the ones I got in Provincetown, which was my goal! You will have to make them and let me know! (I think they are better — the chocolate alone was much better quality!)
Melissa
February 10, 2024 at 9:32 amThese would be cool to make, but I have two questions for you. First, I don’t have mini muffin tins; do you think the liners would support the weight of the candies if they’re just on a baking sheet? Second, since we’re much fonder of dark chocolate than milk chocolate, do you think it would work to switch the ratios of the two chocolates? Oh, and a third question: about how long did it take you to make them?
Cocoa & Lavender
February 10, 2024 at 9:45 amHi Missy — so, my two cents: if your liners are pretty stiff (mine were) I think you can do this without the tin. I just found it so much easier to transport them with the tin. Also, some liners are flimsy. The stiffer liners tend to be regular paper inside so make sure you spray or brush the insides of the liners with some oil. As for the chocolate blend, I am sure it would work but I might add a teaspoon or so of butter, oil, or coconut oil to the mixture as reversing the proportions will change the fat content. As for the time? Well, trying to remember what I did in July is like trying to remember what I did yesterday… close to impossible! The first part (peanut butter balls) took about 20 minutes. The painting of the liners took a bit more time — maybe 45 minutes? And topping them took 10-15 minutes. Not a huge amount of time but not a snap of the fingers!
Melissa
February 10, 2024 at 12:07 pmThanks. I think I’ll give them a try for my next group event and I will let you know how it goes.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 10, 2024 at 4:24 pmThanks — I hope you and your guests enjoy them!
Ronit
February 10, 2024 at 11:19 amThese look dangerously tasty!
Love the combination of milk and semi-sweet chocolate. 🙂
Cocoa & Lavender
February 10, 2024 at 2:58 pmI like adding the dark chocolate so they aren’t so sweet. And they are dangerously tasty!
angiesrecipes
February 10, 2024 at 12:18 pmGosh, they are a HUGE favourite. I simply can’t resist anything with peanut butter.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 10, 2024 at 2:59 pmThanks, Angie — I definitely love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate!
Carolyne
February 10, 2024 at 2:02 pmI’ve only been to Provincetown once, but I wish that I had discovered the peanut butter cups!
Thanks for sharing the story and recipe.
Happy Valentines!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 10, 2024 at 2:59 pmI miss going there — but it’s so far… maybe someday.
Eha Carr
February 10, 2024 at 3:31 pmAbsolutely beautiful photos and a great Sunday morning story! These do look absolutely professional! I eata fair amount of absolutely naturally made chunky peanut butter . . . well, perchance in Asian recipes and on seedy bread 🙂 !!!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 11, 2024 at 12:36 pmThanks, Eha — it was one of those fortuitous moments that I didn’t expect— the reflection on the table made these so beautiful!
sherry
February 10, 2024 at 6:41 pmi love peanut butter and chocolate together David! I have to confess I always melt chocolate in the microwave – so easy! and no worries about spilling water into it. (which i have done before!) Eek; such a mess I made of it 🙁
Cocoa & Lavender
February 11, 2024 at 12:37 pmYes, the water in chocolate when tempering is maddening, Sherry! Microwaves are wonderful!
Gerlinde de Broekert
February 11, 2024 at 8:29 pmMy husband would eat them all if I make them. He loves peanut butter .
Cocoa & Lavender
February 11, 2024 at 9:25 pmYou should hide some for yourself!
Frank | Memorie di Angelina
February 14, 2024 at 2:02 pmColor me impressed that you make your own peanut butter cups! You know even as a kid I didn’t have a sweet tooth (saved my parents a ton of money in dentist bills, I imagine) but one of few candies I did crave were Reese’s. I still gobble them up whenever I come across them (usually around Halloween I steal a few before the kids arrive…
Cocoa & Lavender
February 15, 2024 at 9:53 amThe poor children in your neighborhood, Frank. They’ll never know what Reese‘s peanut butter cup taste like! Your story made me laugh… I’m glad you have one sweet weakness. I don’t make these often because, well, I would eat them all! If I make them, it’s for giving away.
Raymund
February 14, 2024 at 3:16 pmDavid, your nostalgic tale of summers in Provincetown and your tradition of indulging in Homemade Peanut Butter Cups from the Fudge Factory is so heartwarming! It’s amazing how certain foods can evoke such vivid memories of special times and places. I love how you’ve brought a touch of Provincetown summer to your present-day life by making these delicious treats. I can only imagine how delightful they must taste and how they bring back all those wonderful memories. Thank you for sharing this sweet story!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 15, 2024 at 9:54 amRaymund, your note reminds me of how many people write about the memories of their summers in childhood. They are very special times, and they stay with us, don’t they?
Christina Conte
February 17, 2024 at 12:23 amI’m now craving these, because I LOVE homemade more than anything else. I hate when there’s too much salt, and I can control that when they’re homemade. I think I’ll have to make some soon! Thanks for the reminder, David!
Cocoa & Lavender
February 17, 2024 at 9:11 amThat is the nice thing about making things yourself — you can control all the ingredients!
Jeff the Chef
February 22, 2024 at 8:00 amNone of that for you? All of that for me, at least in my younger days! Maybe not so much of that for me anymore. Or maybe these days I just like seeing it all happen from a shaded outdoor seating area where I’m having a lovely little breakfast.
I love a really good peanut butter cup, and I’ve never tried making one, so thank you for this recipe.
Cocoa & Lavender
February 22, 2024 at 10:04 amWell, it depends on what you call “younger days.” I was never part of that crowd, and really didn’t fit in. However, watching while sitting at a cafe is pretty perfect and much of what I did. Like a movie with a disco soundtrack!
Make the PB cups — you may regret it but you will enjoy them!
Marcelle
February 28, 2024 at 8:18 amPeanut butter cups are one of my weaknesses lol I LOVE them. These look ah-mazing and perfect… I don’t think I could keep myself out of trouble with these around…that means I’m totally going to make them soon. In fact, I’ve just printed this recipe out. I will search for the non-stick liners! 😄 Delicious work recreating these peanut butter cups, David!!
Cocoa & Lavender
March 9, 2024 at 9:20 amI really had to give them away, because I couldn’t have them around the house. Granted, I made them for someone’s birthday, but I could’ve kept half of them for myself.
2pots2cook
March 8, 2024 at 7:29 amWe discovered peanut butter desserts when started blogging and loved it. As about Provincetown, Portuguese Festival seems to be our thing 🙂
Cocoa & Lavender
March 9, 2024 at 8:53 amThe Portuguese Festival sounds like fun!