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Pumpkin Spice Peanut Butter Cups

A festive fall twist on a candy favorite.

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It’s pretty hard to improve upon one of the most loved candies out there, but sometimes a favorite can do with a little fall twist. While it might seem that there is pumpkin spice flavored everything available these days, we promise that this particular combination is warranted. The pumpkin and the peanut butter go so well together and surrounding them in milk chocolate certainly doesn’t hurt matters. It’s like the peanut butter cup we all know and love… but with a little extra sweetness and a smack of pumpkin spice. They’re easy to love and lucky for all of us, they’re easy to make too.

There’s no baking involved here and the only difficult thing about making these is exercising some patience while the chocolate cools and sets. The first step is to make the pumpkin-peanut butter filling, which comes together quickly on the stovetop. You melt together peanut butter, butter, pumpkin puree, some pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar, and then stir in some powdered sugar before leaving it to cool. It’s a thick mixture, so rather than spooning it into the cups, you roll it into balls and flatten them into disks that are easy to place into each cup.

The chocolate is simply chocolate chips melted with a little bit of vegetable shortening, which makes for a nice, pourable consistency. You spoon enough chocolate to coat the bottom of each mini muffin cup, and set the tin in the fridge to chill while you make the pumpkin-peanut butter disks. After placing a disk in each cup, you top them all with more chocolate and give the whole thing a chance to set up in the fridge again. And that’s it! Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying a delicious autumnal version of the popular peanut butter cup.

Yield(s): Serves 12

15 minutes active, 90 minutes inactive

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Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 cups milk chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
Preparation
  1. Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners, then set aside. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
  2. In a medium pot over medium heat, stir together the pumpkin puree, peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar. Continue stirring until completely melted and starting to bubble slightly. Remove from heat.
  3. Add in powdered sugar a bit at a time, stirring until dissolved. Set aside to cool completely.
  4. Melt the chocolate chips and vegetable shortening together in the microwave on 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted. Spoon the melted chocolate into the bottom and slightly up the sides of each mini muffin liner. (Do not fill.) Place in refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
  5. Scoop out heaping teaspoons of the pumpkin mixture, and roll into balls, then flatten slightly into disks. Place disks onto prepared baking sheet, then move to fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
  6. When pumpkin and chocolate cups have chilled, remove from fridge and place a pumpkin disk in each muffin liner.
  7. Scoop more melted chocolate into each mini muffin liner to cover the pumpkin disk completely. Place muffin tin in fridge to chill for another 30 minutes, then serve. Enjoy!