I love Sundays. I always get a nice lie in, and even though I clean on Sundays, most of the day is mine to do whatever I want and relax. Today, I used the time to cook a roast for my family and make these yummy peanut butter cups topped with candied pecans.
It was the first time I've ever candied pecans, and I can already tell that I will be doing it a lot in the future. They're very versatile and can be used with anything from salads to crumble to decoration like I did here. Or you could just eat them straight out of the jar. The are seriously yum.
To make the pecans, preheat your oven to 150C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and line out 150g of pecans. Toast in the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, bring 115ml water, 200g caster sugar and 1/2tsp cinnamon to the boil, stirring constantly. Place a lid on the saucepan, and cook for 2 minutes to dissolve sugar crystals on the side of the pan. When you take the lid off, DO NOT stir! Gently place a candy thermometer into the pan, and cook until the sugar reaches 115C, or the soft ball phase. Remove from heat.
Take your pecans out of the oven, and dump them carefully into the saucepan with the sugar syrup. Stir the pecans into the syrup with 1tsp of vanilla extract. Dump out in a single layer on the baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 150C. When you take them out, let them COOL COMPLETELY before you break up. You can store in a jar for a week.
Peanut Butter Cups
Makes 6
20 Minutes
Ingredients:
300g milk chocolate
150g smooth peanut butter
50g icing sugar
Line a muffin tin with 6 paper muffin cups.
Chop 150g of the chocolate, and place in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave the chocolate at 30 second intervals, stirring well with a rubber spatula after each 30 seconds, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Use a table spoon to spoon in a layer of chocolate into the 6 cups. Tap the tin on the counter to level out. Freeze for 5 minutes.
While you're waiting, mix the icing sugar and peanut butter together in a bowl. When the chocolate is set, spoon the peanut butter equally amongst the cups. Level out, and freeze for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop the remaining 150g of chocolate, and microwave at 30 second intervals to melt, stirring with a rubber spatula after each interval. Top the peanut butter with a thin layer of chocolate. Top with a candied pecan. Freeze to set, then store in the fridge.
To serve, take out of the fridge 15 minutes before you're ready to eat them so the chocolate isn't so hard.
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