Is there a better salty but sweet treat than a peanut butter cup? East London-based chocolatier Eat Chic certainly doesn’t think so. Here, the artisan brand tells us how to make them, just in time for Christmas

The Resident:

Time: 45 minutes to make peanut butter; 30-40 minutes to temper chocolate and assemble the cups

Equipment needed: mini muffin tin, mini cupcake wrappers, food processor, spatula, wooden spoon, pot and bowl to fit over, medium sized bowl, measuring cups, pastry bag (optional), spoons, fine-mesh sieve, thermometer

Ingredients to make 24 cups:

500g raw or dry roasted unsalted peanuts, or 500 g of natural unsalted peanut butter (stir first to evenly distribute oils)

6 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon finely ground sea salt or himalayan salt

300g high-quality milk, dark or white chocolate, roughly chopped (or use chocolate buttons)

Directions:

1. First, make the peanut butter (skip to step 4 if you are using store bought peanut butter). Preheat the oven to 180C and spread the raw peanuts out on a baking sheet lined with parchment. (Skip to step 3 if you are using roasted peanuts.)

2. Roast the peanuts for 15-20 minutes, keeping an eye on them that they do not burn. Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Rub the peanuts with a paper towel to remove as much of the skin as possible.

3. Add the peanuts to a powerful food processor fitted with an S blade to about 2/3 full, and start blending the peanuts in pulses. This process will take up to 20 minutes, so patience is necessary. Once smooth add the brown sugar, vanilla extract, and sea salt, and blend again.

The Resident:

4. Spoon the peanut butter into a piping bag and cut off the pointy tip to make a hole the size of a five pence coin.

5. Next, temper the chocolate and assemble the cups. Line a mini-muffin tin with paper liners and place 100g of chopped milk chocolate or chocolate buttons in a medium bowl.

6. Melt the remaining 200g of the chocolate in a bowl set over simmering water on the stove top.

7. Heat the milk chocolate to 40-45C, making sure the temperature does not exceed the maximum. Remove the bowl and wipe any condensation off the bowl and pour the melted chocolate over the other 100 grams of chocolate. Stir gently and bring the temperature down to 30-31C.

8. Place about a teaspoon of chocolate in the bottom of a liner and use the spoon or a clean finger to spread the chocolate up the walls of the liner. Leave to set for five minutes.

9. Pipe or spoon about a teaspoon of peanut butter into the center of each cup, so that it does not rise above the top of the liners, then lift and gently drop the tin to flatten out the peanut butter.

10. Top the peanut butter with another spoonful of chocolate for each cup, then again lift and gently drop the tin once or twice to flatten out the chocolate, then sprinkle with a bit of Maldon sea salt.

11. Let the chocolate set for at least 10 minutes, then enjoy.

Eat Chic will be holding a pop-up shop at Old Street Underground Station between the 30 November – 14 December and will be exhibiting at BBC Good Food Show on 13 – 15 November, Foodies Festival on 27 – 29 November and The Chocolate Show on 4 – 6 December.

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