I have another confession to make, I don’t particularly like peanut butter. GASP! I know! And even more outrageous, I am even less fond of peanut butter when combined with chocolate 😱. My husband on the other hand, LOVES chocolate and peanut butter! When I heard that national peanut butter lover’s day was coming up I knew I wanted to make a more sophisticated peanut butter cup that I would also enjoy. Enter my peanut butter mousse cups!
What do you need to make peanut butter mousse cups?
- Oreo cookie crumbs
- Melted butter
- Peanut butter chips
- Heavy whipping cream
- Smooth peanut butter
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
Optional Toppings
- Chocolate
- Peanut butter
- Chopped peanuts
Start with the crust
I recommend using a well greased silicon muffin pan for this recipe. A silicon pan will allow the set peanut butter mousse cups to pop out easier. If you do not have a silicon pan, line a regular muffin pan with paper liners then spray well with cooking spray.
The crust is super easy to make! All you need to do is mix the Oreo crumbs with the melted butter, then press the mixture into your prepared muffin pan. Be sure to firmly press the mixture into the pan so that it doesn’t crumble when taken out. I like to use a narrow heavy bottomed glass to really make sure the crust is packed in. Place the muffin pan in the fridge while you make the mousse.
I used (12) cookies for this crust, which is one full row of a standard sized packet. This gave a nice 1/4″ base for the mousse to sit on. If you are not sure how to make the crumbs for a cookie base check out my tips in my Apricot Magic Bar recipe.
Making the peanut butter mousse
The mousse recipe is adapted from Epicurious black bottom peanut mousse pie. It is made by folding peanut butter ganache into whipped cream. This step can be a little tricky and requires just the right consistency of both the ganache and whipped cream. It took me a couple of attempts to get my mousse right. Despite it being geared towards chocolate mousse, I found this article helpful in trouble shooting my second attempt.
The peanut butter ganache is made by microwaving peanut butter chips and heavy cream. The same way a chocolate ganache can be made. You want to let the ganache cool before combining with the whipped cream so that it does not melt. However if you let it cool too much you will get a grainy mousse as the peanut butter chips will harden before they are incorporated into the cream. This is where I went wrong on my first attempt as you can see from the photo.
Thankfully I found the Valrhona article and was able to troubleshoot the issues. My next batch of mousse was much more successful and came together well.
Once the mousse is made, pipe or spoon it onto the prepared crusts. Place the muffin pan back in the fridge to set. This will take at least two hours.
The finishing touches
Once the mousse cups are set drizzle them with melted chocolate, melted peanut butter chips and sprinkle with chopped peanuts! If you are going to skip the drizzles and just add chopped peanuts you will want to do this before the mousse sets so they have something to stick to.
I like using a small sandwich bag to create my drizzles. Add the melted chocolate to the bag and cut a small amount off one of the corners. This allows a more consistent stream of chocolate than using a spoon.
If you make this recipe let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Don’t forget to tag us in photos of your bakes (or no bakes in the case) on instagram!
Peanut Butter Mousse Cups
Description
Creamy peanut butter mousse adorns a chocolate cookie crust to create these bite size delights. Drizzle with chocolate and more peanut butter to pump up the decadence.