"Kitchen Sink" Peanut Butter Fudge Cups

"Kitchen Sink" Peanut Butter Fudge Cups

Do you ever find yourself with an overabundance of candy and an underabundance of willpower or storage space? Whether you have too much leftover Halloween candy, you just gave up sweets for Lent (join the club!), or you're simply trying to eat healthier, often times you would like to have a little less chocolate, cookies, marshmallows, etc. in your life.

Usually, one of the best ways to get rid of these excess sweets is to give them to somebody who WILL eat them. Not only is it less wasteful than throwing the sweets out, but it also brings a smile to the face of the recipient. However, it might not always be easy to go up to somebody and say, "Here's a half bag of marshmallows, two Reese's Santa Clauses, some Hershey's kisses, a granola bar, and a brownie I had lying around." However, you absolutely can give these all away to somebody else and think nothing of it (and they'll be none the wiser). How?

By cleverly disguising all of these sweets as a decadent fudge cup whose delicious, rich flavor rivals any Reese's. Seriously, your friends will never know. (And they're just so cute!)

A couple of days into Lent, I decided to purge my pantry of all of the things that I could not eat in order to reduce any temptation. I rounded up quite the obscure collection of chocolates and cookies and candies, and I separated them into "crunchy" ingredients (cookies, brownies, granola bars, cereal, etc.) and "melty" ingredients (M&Ms, Hershey's Kisses, truffles, chocolate bars, marshmallows). The other sweets (such as my gummies) are now hidden safely away, but I took these crunchy and melty ingredients and turned them into bliss :) So, round up your crunchies and your melties, and follow these steps to make some awesome fudge cups of your own! (Note: you do not have to have random leftovers to make these! Just grab some chocolate chips and graham crackers and you'll be ready to go!)

"Kitchen Sink" Peanut Butter Fudge Cups:

Ingredients:
"Melties": Leftover Chocolate candies (see picture below for what I used)
"Crunchies": Leftover Crunchy ingredients (Think cookies, cereal, graham crackers, granola, brownies, etc.)
7-8 Marshmallows
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream (you could also use light cream or condensed milk--anything creamy but not too too light)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1 stick butter (1/4 cup)
Peanut butter for drizzling

1. Place "Melties" and marshmallows in large saucepan. Add 1 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter, powdered sugar, and cream. Cook over medium-low heat until melted and almost boiling. Reduce heat to low and stir occasionally to keep warm.

My melties

After adding chocolate chips

2. In a large mixing bowl, break apart and add all crunchy ingredients. Crush these ingredients as finely as possible using a mallet or can, and mix  to create crushed dry mixture.





3. Melt stick of butter and pour into crushed crunchies. Mix well to create crust "dough". Spoon a bit of crust dough into each paper-lined mini cupcake tin and press flat to create crust. Create however many you can until you run out of mixture (I made around 40).

4. Make sure chocolate fudge mixture is glossy, melted, and warm. Spoon some into each cup to fill to around top of paper.



5. Next, microwave about 1/3 cup peanut butter until very melted and drizzly (about 15-20 seconds). Pour peanut butter into ziploc bag and cut off a small tip of on bottom corner. Drizzle warm peanut butter over each cup in a snaking fashion.

My super-professional piping bag



6. Place in freezer or refigerator until set (cups will have fudge-like consistency). Pop out of tray and indulge! (or, have somebody else indulge!)

Leftovers never looked so pretty! Everyone raved about these and told me that they were "like a Reese's, but better!". I hope they go over as well for you as they did for me! The great thing is that they will never be the same twice, and you can control the flavor by controlling the ingredients. Who could ask for a better treat? :)

<3 Lauren