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
