Chocolate Bourbon Cups

Let's chat bourbon. Better yet, let's chat about putting bourbon in your baked goods. 

For reals though -- you can't go wrong.

What can I say? I love booze with my sweets. 

On Super Bowl Sunday, I made my first batch of these bad boys inspired by the ones that Minimalist Baker made a few days before. This week, I made a few tweaks and gave them as gifts to my preceptor and the other student I was on rotation with. Often I go a little overboard with the alcohol/sweet combo (evidence = Car Bomb Cupcakes), but with these I stayed a little more reserved since they're a tad on the rich side. Feel free to modify the filling as you see fit.

Chocolate Bourbon Cups

What You'll Need (for ~18 large cups)

• 16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (I have baking squares and Trader Joe's Semi-Sweet Chips -- I prefer TJ's chips because they melt faster and are pretty inexpensive. I keep a couple bags on hand)
• 1/2 C unsalted, raw almond butter (I use Woodstock -Foods' All Natural Raw Almond Butter, unsalted)
• 1/4 C creamy peanut butter (I use Jif's Natural Creamy Peanut Butter)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tbsp. bourbon (I use Bulleit Bourbon)
• Sea salt or kosher salt for garnish
• Cupcake liners and cupcake pans
• Melon ball scoop and measuring spoons

How To Make Them

• Line your cupcake tins with liners and set aside.
• Combine almond butter, peanut butter, maple syrup, salt, and bourbon with a rubber spatula or whisk in a medium-size mixing bowl and set aside.
• Melt your chocolate using a double boiler or the microwave method (in 20-30 second increments). 
• Spoon 1 and 1/2 tsp. of chocolate into each cupcake liner. Place your tins on top of a towel and tap on the counter a few times to ensure the chocolate is evenly distributed. 
• Place your tins in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes, allowing the chocolate to set up.
• Next, using your melon ball scoop or 1/2 tbsp. measuring spoon, place 1 scoop of nut butter mixture onto each chocolate disc. Using the back of a spoon, spread out nut butter mixture almost to the edge of your liner.
• Pop in the fridge for another 10 minutes -- during this time, make sure your chocolate has not hardened. If so, pop back in the microwave and melt. If your chocolate is looking a little low, add a little more to it and melt.
• Now you're ready for your last layer of chocolate! Spoon 1 and 1/2 tsp. of chocolate over your nut butter mixture or enough to cover the nut butter. Tap on counter to evenly distribute chocolate and sprinkle a little kosher salt on each cup.
• Place tins back in the fridge for 15 minutes, allowing the chocolate to set. 
• Remove from fridge and store in wide-mouth jars or in a tupperware container!

Feel free to change up the chocolate based on preference (dark, milk, white, etc.). You can also modify the filling and the type of bourbon you use. A lot of fillings use a peanut butter, confectioners sugar, softened butter combo -- I wanted to keep them as 'clean' as possible, so I opted for the method above.

I was able to fit five cups in a wide-mouth pint jar, made a simple tag for the top, and gave them as gifts! You can download the jar topper here.

Enjoy!

-Sue