Homemade peanut butter cups are super easy to throw together and perfect for days when you’re craving something sweet but have an empty baking cupboard. These can be made with just three ingredients and 15 minutes.
Hey, you ever have one of those lazy afternoons where you’re CRAVING sugar but there’s nothing sweet in your entire house/apartment/illegally zoned yurt except a half-full bag of chocolate chips, and you’re not quite that desperate—yet?
The next time that happens, I have a solution for you. Make a batch of these four-ingredient peanut butter cups. They use ingredients you probably have in your cupboard, don’t require you to turn on the oven or stove, and are way, way more fun/more delicious/less sad to eat than a handful of chocolate chips.
What You Need For Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
These homemade peanut butter cups need just four ingredients: chocolate, coconut oil, peanut butter, and powdered sugar, and two of those ingredients are negotiable.
The coconut oil can be omitted, but it makes for smoother melted chocolate which is easier to work with (so if you have it, use it). And if you don’t have powdered sugar in your cupboard, brown or regular granulated can be substituted. Your peanut butter layer will just be a little grainy.
You will also need some freezer space (for chilling between layers), a muffin tin (I like using my 6-cup muffin tin because it requires less freezer space, but full-size works just fine), and paper liners. (Don’t try to make these without liners. They would be a pain to get out of the pan.)
How to Make Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
To make the peanut butter cups, you just layer melted chocolate and coconut oil, melted peanut butter plus powdered sugar, and more melted chocolate, chilling in between each layer for a couple of minutes. The whole process will take about 15 minutes to assemble the candies and another 10 minutes or so for them to chill enough to eat.
I like to use the downtime between layers to scrub counters, put away dishes, or rearrange my junk drawer, so at the end of the chilling time, I have delicious candy AND a super clean kitchen.
This recipe will make six regular-size peanut butter cups or twelve minis. Once they have solidified, I transfer them (with wrappers still on) to an airtight freezer bag or container and store in the refrigerator or freezer.
Homemade Peanut Butter Cup Substitutions
You can customize these in a ton of ways, but here are a couple of recommendations to get you started:
- White chocolate peanut butter cups – You can use good-quality white chocolate to make peanut butter cups, but heads up: white chocolate is a little more finicky to melt in the microwave, so watch it closely and make sure not to overheat it.
- Nutella – Nutella can be substituted for peanut butter and does not need any additional sugar. Just melt for 15 seconds in the microwave until easily spreadable.
- Sprinkles – Nonpareils sprinkled over the top chocolate layer before it sets make cuter cups and add a nice crunch.
Recipe Notes
- This recipe calls for refined coconut oil. You can use unrefined, but it will make your chocolate taste slightly of coconut.
- If it’s cool in your kitchen and your coconut oil is in its solid state, don’t worry too much about getting exactly one/one-and-a-quarter teaspoons of oil. A little more or less won’t negatively affect your chocolate.
- My favorite way of measuring peanut butter and other sticky substances is to measure it by weight using a kitchen scale so you’re not continuously trying to scrape it out of measuring spoons.
Looking for more easy desserts? Try my Small-batch Chocolate Chip Cookies , Peanut Butter Bars , and 30-Second Easy Chocolate Sauce .
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ Muffin tin OR
- ▢ Mini muffin tin
- ▢ Cupcake liners
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
- ▢ 2/3 heaping cup ( 4.5oz ) chocolate chips divided
- ▢ 2 1/4 teaspoons refined coconut oil divided (optional)
- ▢ 3 tablespoons ( 48g ) peanut butter (not natural peanut butter)
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 8g ) powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
- Clear space in your freezer for a muffin tin. Line tin with 6 liners ( 12 if making minis).
- Place 3 small microwave-safe bowls on the counter. To the first, add 1/3 cup chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon coconut oil. To the second, add 1/3 heaping cup of chocolate chips and 1 1/4 teaspoon coconut oil. To the third, 3 tablespoons of peanut butter.
- Melt the chocolate in the first bowl by microwaving for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave for an additional 15 seconds if necessary, until you are able to stir the chocolate smooth. Add 1 heaping teaspoon of chocolate to each prepared muffin cup, smoothing the chocolate out into an even layer so it covers the entire bottom. If there is any chocolate left in the bowl, divide it evenly(ish) between the cups. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes or until chocolate is hardened.
- Place the bowl with peanut butter in the microwave and heat for 20 seconds. Stir and heat for an additional 10 seconds if the peanut butter is not smooth and pourable. Stir in powdered sugar and drop a teaspoon of peanut butter onto the center of each muffin cup. The peanut butter should spread to almost the edges but not touch. If there is any leftover peanut butter, divide it between the cups. Freeze for 5 minutes.
- Repeat step 3 with remaining bowl of chocolate. Freeze for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
This Small-batch Cookie Dough Frosting tastes just like an extra creamy batch of cookie dough that you happen to get to spread over a cupcake. If you’ve ever made chocolate chip cookies and been tempted to just eat the dough by the spoonful instead of baking it, this is the frosting for you.
Hey, friends, I have another small-batch frosting recipe for you today. I started sharing these frosting recipes alongside my small-batch cupcakes back in August because I wanted you guys to be able to mix and match small-batch cupcakes and frostings to make whatever kinds of cupcake creations you were craving.
And today, we have Small-batch Cookie Dough Frosting! I used this a couple months ago on these Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes , but today I’m sharing just the frosting as a stand-alone recipe.
And if you haven’t tried it yet, this frosting is crazy good. If you’ve ever made chocolate chip cookies (these Small-batch Chocolate Chip Cookies perhaps?) and been tempted to just eat the dough by the spoonful instead of baking it, this is the frosting for you. It tastes just like an extra creamy batch of cookie dough that you happen to get to spread over a cupcake.
And I mean, that’s the dream, right?
Like my other small-batch frosting recipes, this Cookie Dough Frosting makes about one cup of frosting and is enough to generously top four to six cupcakes with a piping bag or about eight cookies or cupcakes when spread on with a knife. It’s fabulous over cupcakes, but I’m currently dreaming of spreading it over brownies , or maybe even sugar cookies …
How to Make Cookie Dough Frosting
The reason this Cookie Dough Frosting tastes like cookie dough because it is essentially cookie dough, minus the eggs and leaveners and with slightly different ingredient ratios. It’s even made the same way. Just like with cookie dough, you start by creaming softened butter and brown sugar, adding vanilla, and then beating in the flour and salt. But then instead of putting that mixture into the oven, you drizzle in some milk or cream and beat the frosting until it is light and fluffy before folding in lots of chocolate chips.
It’s sooooo good.
If you’re reading this thinking that flour seems like an odd ingredient for frosting, 1) it’s actually really important to the flavor. Part of the cookie dough taste is the flour taste. You might not think of flour as tasting like anything, but it absolutely does. And 2) flour is used in frosting all the time. There’s actually an entire category of frosting called Flour Buttercream or Ermine Frosting made with flour, so it’s way less strange than you might think.
How to Cook Flour for Cookie Dough Frosting
As with under-cooked eggs, consuming raw flour does run the very slight risk of food poisoning , so if you’re concerned about that, you can absolutely cook your flour before adding it to your frosting. I do find that cooking the flour removes the raw flour taste which is part of the cookie dough flavor (I know, who knew there were so many facets to the taste of flour), but your frosting will still be excellent.
To cook your flour, simply line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread your flour out over the top. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes and then allow the flour to cool completely. Baked flour has a tendency to clump together, so you’ll need to sift it to get rid of any lumps, but after that, you’re just a few minutes and a few ingredients from the Cookie Dough Frosting of your dreams.
Small-batch Cookie Dough Frosting Recipe Tips
- Properly softened butter is a MUST for the frosting recipe. If your butter is not soft enough, the ingredients will not mix completely and you will end up with little flour lumps in your frosting. You want butter that is not melted but soft enough to easily squish with a finger. This shouldn’t be a problem during the summer, but in cold kitchens during the winter, you might need to cut the butter into cubes and place somewhere warm for a couple minutes.
- Finally, I recommend using a handheld electric mixer for the frosting. Small-batch frostings can usually be made by hand in a pinch, but I suspect you’ll have a hard time getting the flour to mix completely in this recipe if doing it by hand.
Looking for more small-batch frostings, try my Vanilla Frosting , Chocolate Frosting , Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and Cream Cheese Frosting .
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ Handheld electric mixer
- ▢ Fine-mesh strainer or sifter for sifting cooked flour
Cookie Dough Frosting
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 60g ) all-purpose flour measured by weight or using the spoon and sweep method*
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 2oz ) unsalted butter softened (very soft but not melted)
- ▢ 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons ( 75g ) brown sugar
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 2 tablespoons milk plus more to taste
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 42g ) semi-sweet miniature chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle flour over the parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.
- In a medium bowl, use a handheld electric mixer to cream well-softened butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add vanilla and beat until well-combined.
- Sift flour and salt over the top, and with your mixer on medium, mix until flour is completely mixed in, 1 to 2 minutes. The frosting will look like course crumbs.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the milk and beat, starting on low working up to high until frosting is smooth and fluffy.
- If frosting is too stiff, add milk by the 1/2 teaspoon until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.
- Fold in your chocolate chips.
- Use frosting to frost cupcakes, brownies, or cookies, and enjoy!
Notes
Frosting Adapted From I Am Baker
This Easy Homemade Strawberry Milk for One or Two, made with just four ingredients, is fruity, creamy, subtly sweet, and pretty much all your strawberries and cream dreams come to life.
Hey, it’s strawberry season! My very favorite fruit season (except for maybe sweet cherry season), and the time when strawberries are so good and SO cheap (at least here in California) that I always end up buying way too many.
Then I just have a pounds and pounds of strawberries sitting in my fridge or on my counter smelling amazing while I try to eat my way through them before they rot.
And since I figure that I’m probably not the only one with an overabundance of strawberries right about now, I thought that I’d share something to make with some of those extras:
Easy Homemade Strawberry Milk (for One or Two)!
Who doesn’t love strawberry milk?
And if you think you don’t love strawberry milk, maybe you just don’t like the stuff that comes powdered in a can or lukewarm on lunch trays.
Because this strawberry milk? This strawberry milk is a GD delight.
Fruity, creamy, subtly sweet, it’s pretty much all your strawberries and cream dreams come to life.
And it’s made entirely from scratch. No pink powder required.
The ingredients are simple: strawberries, sugar, a bit of water, and a tall, cold glass of milk. The strawberries, sugar, and water simmer together to make strawberry syrup, and then you stir that into your milk, and you’re done.
Unlike my (crazy popular) Chocolate Milk for One , which makes exactly one cup of milk, this recipe makes a little over two cups of strawberry milk, enough for one big glass or two smaller cups.
It also easily doubles or triples for times when you feel like leftovers.
And if you went extra crazy at the farmers market and have way, way too many strawberries, stay tuned, I’ll be sharing a larger version of this recipe in the next few weeks.
Homemade Strawberry Milk for One or Two Recipe Notes
- This recipe calls for a fine mesh strainer to strain out seeds and strawberry pieces from the strawberry syrup. If you don’t own one, they are cheap on Amazon and can be found in the baking aisle at most grocery stores, or you can simply use a slotted spoon to remove strawberries. You’ll just have some seeds and pulp at the bottom of your glass, which doesn’t hurt anything.
- This strawberry milk ends up a lovely pale pink, but if making for kids (or childlike adults), feel free to add a couple drops of red food coloring for a more vibrant pink color. I used two drops for the milk you see in the photos.
- You can make your strawberry milk with whatever milk you have in the fridge, but whole milk makes the richest, tastiest drink. If you have heavy cream or half and half on hand, you can also add a splash of that to the mix for a richer end product (highly recommended).
- Looking for more strawberry recipes? Try my Strawberry Shortcake Sundaes , Easy Strawberry Sauce for Pancakes and Ice Cream , and Strawberry Syrup .
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ Fine mesh strainer
Strawberry Milk
- ▢ 2 cups milk preferably whole milk
- ▢ 1/2 cup hulled and chopped strawberries frozen is fine
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50g ) granulated sugar
- ▢ 1/4 cup water
- ▢ A couple drops of red food coloring optional
Instructions
- Pour 2 cups of whole milk into a large glass and place in the freezer so milk becomes very cold. (Skip this step if making the syrup ahead of time.)
- In a small pot, combine strawberries, sugar, and water. Bring to a low boil and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until fragrant and reduced.
- Use a fine mesh strainer to strain syrup into a small bowl or cup. Discard strawberries. Mix 3 tablespoons or about 2/3 of the syrup into your very cold milk. Stir and then add more syrup to taste. Add food coloring if desired.
- Serve and enjoy!
The Easiest Homemade Peanut Butter Cups (Small-batch)
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- Muffin tin OR
- Mini muffin tin
- Cupcake liners
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
- 2/3 heaping cup ( 4.5oz ) chocolate chips divided
- 2 1/4 teaspoons refined coconut oil divided (optional)
- 3 tablespoons ( 48g ) peanut butter (not natural peanut butter)
- 1 tablespoon ( 8g ) powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
- Clear space in your freezer for a muffin tin. Line tin with 6 liners ( 12 if making minis).
- Place 3 small microwave-safe bowls on the counter. To the first, add 1/3 cup chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon coconut oil. To the second, add 1/3 heaping cup of chocolate chips and 1 1/4 teaspoon coconut oil. To the third, 3 tablespoons of peanut butter.
- Melt the chocolate in the first bowl by microwaving for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave for an additional 15 seconds if necessary, until you are able to stir the chocolate smooth. Add 1 heaping teaspoon of chocolate to each prepared muffin cup, smoothing the chocolate out into an even layer so it covers the entire bottom. If there is any chocolate left in the bowl, divide it evenly(ish) between the cups. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes or until chocolate is hardened.
- Place the bowl with peanut butter in the microwave and heat for 20 seconds. Stir and heat for an additional 10 seconds if the peanut butter is not smooth and pourable. Stir in powdered sugar and drop a teaspoon of peanut butter onto the center of each muffin cup. The peanut butter should spread to almost the edges but not touch. If there is any leftover peanut butter, divide it between the cups. Freeze for 5 minutes.
- Repeat step 3 with remaining bowl of chocolate. Freeze for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!
