Halloween Peanut Butter Cups

Halloween Peanut Butter Cups — Learn how to make white chocolate peanut butter cups with this NO-BAKE 5-INGREDIENT RECIPE! With festive Halloween colors, they’re sure to be a hit with everyone from kids to adults alike! They keep perfectly for weeks so feel free to make them in advance and pass them out at your Halloween parties and festivities!

Easy No-Bake Halloween Treat

I’ve been making homemade peanut butter cups since before food blogs were even a thing!

For a vintage look at bad photos and my then-toddler turned current high schooler, feel free to check out these 2009 era Peanut Butter Cups, these 2010 Tuxedo Cups, then again in 2013 with Ritz-Stuffed Peanut Butter Cups. 

However, peanut butter cups don’t change. They are always fabulous, delicious, and now we have the Halloween edition.

Easy to make, ready in an hour, with just 5 main ingredients.

Everyone at your adult Halloween party will smile and enjoy these delectable festive little bites. Or, if you’re going to a celebration for Halloween, bring them as a hostess gift.

I realize no one passes out homemade candy to kids going trick or treating or likely in any preschool or young kid classroom Halloween parties, but we can dream peanut butter cup gifting thoughts.

Ingredients in White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

For this fun and festive no-bake Halloween treats, you’ll only need three main ingredients, plus some food dye. So get ready and take out the following items:

• White chocolate chips
• Creamy peanut butter
• Confectioners’ sugar
• Orange food dye
• Black food dye

A Note About the Food Dye 

You must use an oil-based food dye for the white chocolate peanut butter cups. If you use a water-based dye, it will seize the chocolate and it won’t be usable meaning you’ll have to start over, which is definitely a buzz kill.

I use these oil-based gel food colors for the peanut butter cups in orange and black.

It’s probably easiest to just order them on Amazon rather than running around to a variety of baking specialty stores or hunting and pecking in regular grocery stores.

How to Make Halloween Peanut Butter Cups

Step 1: Line a mini muffin pan with mini liners.

Step 2: Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, add the orange food dye, and stir until no streaks are visible.

Step 3: Add about 1 teaspoon to the base of each liner and smooth them.

Step 4: To a separate bowl, add the peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, mix until combined, and then add the black food dye.

Mix until the color is uniform and sufficiently black. Add more dye if your mixture looks on the gray or green side.

Step 5: Add a small dollop. about half a teaspoon, of the peanut butter mixture on top of the first layer of orange chocolate.

Step 6: Use the remaining orange chocolate to cover over the top and then place in the fridge to set, about an hour or until hardened. After that, you can store the peanut butter cups at room temp.

What Type of Peanut Butter Is Best? 

The brand and type of peanut butter you use shouldn’t matter. I have used JIF and whatever store brand that’s similar to JIF that I had on hand.

I don’t tend to keep natural-style peanut butters on hand, meaning the kind that you have to stir and  that separates. In general, I find baking with natural peanut butter to be iffy and I never can predict if things will turn out or not.

Therefore I resort to classic, processed peanut butters like JIF or Skippy. However, being that you’re not baking these homemade peanut butter cups, if you want to use natural peanut butter, that should be fine.

However, I do recommend a smooth or creamy peanut butter rather than chunky.

What Size Peanut Butter Cups Can I Make?

As shown in the photos and the way the recipe is written, I made mini peanut butter cups using a mini muffin pan and mini liners. A small bite-sized peanut butter cup that is easy to eat — one after the other if I’m telling the truth!

However, you can make bigger peanut butter cups, similar in size to a classic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. 

If you plan on making a thicker or bigger cup, I suggest using a regular-sized standard muffin pan and liners.

Additionally, you’ll have to adjust the amount of chocolate you use of course since a regular cup is roughly twice the size of a mini cup, or possibly even slightly larger.

Tips for Making This Cute Halloween Dessert

In terms of the brand of white chocolate chips, I love the way Trader Joe’s white chocolate chips melt. They are less resistant to actually melting because I think they have less stabilizing agents in them.

If you have a TJ’s in your area, they’re my favorite. However, they can be a seasonal item in many TJ’s and only available in the fall and before the holidays.

If that’s not an option, I recommend Ghirardelli White Chips.

Additionally, you can also try Nestle Tollhouse White Chocolate Chips.

When you’re assembling this Halloween themed dessert, don’t add too much peanut butter to the middle or it will be hard to cover up with the amount of orange chocolate remaining. You can always melt and mix more but you may not get the shade of orange exactly the same as before.

If your peanut butter and sugar mixture looks greyish, simply add a bit more dye until the desired color is reached

You do not have to wait for the bottom layer of chocolate to dry before adding the peanut butter. In fact, it’s almost easier to add it when it’s not dry already.

If you like salty-sweet treats and desserts, before the chocolate sets up, sprinkle some Maldon Sea Salt Flakes over the top or another type of coarse salt or sea salt.

For another flavor twist to make the peanut butter that you use in these homemade peanut butter cups to taste more like the peanut butter filling in Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, add a pinch of Nutritional Yeast Flakes to the peanut butter and confectioners’ sugar mixture.

That’s a trick that I learned back in 2009 when I first posted Peanut Butter Cups, 2010 Tuxedo Cups, then again in 2013 when I made Ritz Stuffed Peanut Butter Cups. 

These posts were before the days of Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and it was just such an innocent time in blog life and real life — I had a toddler, and now I have a high schooler!

More Cute Halloween Desserts: 

ALL OF MY HALLOWEEN RECIPES HERE! 

Chocolate Chip M&M’s Halloween Cookies — Super soft, perfectly chewy, BROWNED BUTTER cookies that are LOADED with M&M’s and chocolate chips!! An EASY one-bowl, no-mixer recipe that’ll put everyone in the Halloween spirit!!

Candy Corn and White Chocolate Chip Softbatch Cookies – A must make, at least once a year! My most popular Halloween cookie especially for those who love both white chocolate and candy corn in every bite! 

Candy Corn and White Chocolate Blondies — Wondering what to do with your candy corn? Bake it into soft, easy blondies! Best.Use.Ever.

Loaded Halloween Cream Cheese Brownies – Ultra fudgy, rich brownies topped with a layer of orange cream cheese, sandwich cookies, and chocolate chips!! The perfect EASY Halloween treat that everyone will love!!

Candy Corn White Chocolate M&M’s Blondies — Fast, easy, one-bowl no mixer recipe! So butter and delish!

Chocolate Chip Snickers Cookie Bars — Soft, chewy, EASY no-mixer bars made in one bowl with chunks of Snickers and chocolate in every bite!! A guaranteed family FAVORITE!!

Lofthouse Soft Sugar Sprinkles Cookies — The texture of these cookies is similar to Lofthouse-Style sugar cookies. They’re buttery soft and light, without being airy or cakey.

Loaded Peanut Butter Cookie Pie — The cookie pie is slightly crisp around the edges and buttery soft and chewy in the center. There’s lots of texture from the sprinkles, the crunchy Reese’s Pieces shells, and it’s exploding with bigtime peanut butter flavor.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Bars — These peanut butter candy bars are no-bake, easy, loaded with bold peanut butter flavor, and plenty of chocolate. They’re super soft, very dense, and chewy!