Killer Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

Dusty&Sarah's Note:

from have cake, will travel blog *a*mazing PB cups way better than grocery store ones, especially if you are prone to dark chocolate like me. *can successfully substitute carob chips*

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 12

Yield: 12.0 cups

• 12 cupcake liners
• ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup natural-style peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pinch fine sea salt (if your PB is already salted, it's optional to add more)

Directions:

1. melt the chips in your microwave, keeping a close eye on them and stirring often to make sure they don’t burn. it should take between 1-2 minutes. add the 2 generous T and stir to incorporate.
2. give it about 5 minutes to cool down a bit, it’s easier to spread around when not lava-hot.
3. place a heaping teaspoon of melted chocolate in each mini cupcake liner and spread it all over the place with the back of a spoon. repeat with all 12 liners.
4. place the chocolate-covered liners onto a plate, into your fridge, to let it all harden.
5. meanwhile, stir together peanut butter, vanilla, salt, and sugar. if your peanut butter is anything like mine, it should form a sort of paste that you can start kneading to make sure all gets incorporated really well.
6. the chocolate should be hard by now, so divide peanut butter paste into all 12 liners, pressing down gently to make sure the paste goes everywhere.
7. top with heaping teaspoon of chocolate [melt it again if needed], spreading carefully so that none of the PB paste can be seen.
8. chill in fridge for at least one hour, until ready to devour.