We love chocolate year round, but it holds a special place in our hearts (and cupboards!) during these cozy winter months. Perfect timing for a new product launch from Adirondack favorite, Barkeater Chocolates, in the form of three amazing new varieties of peanut butter cups! We chatted with founder Deb Morris to get the scoop on the new flavors, and brainstorm how best to enjoy them this season.

On sweet beginnings

Deb and her husband Jim decided to make their way into the chocolate industry in 2008 after seeing a need for a tasty, high quality chocolate product that was made locally. Why chocolate? “I love chocolate,” says Deb. “You have to enjoy the product”.

Jim and Deb are both from downstate, and have worked their way progressively north since they met in their 20’s. They landed in North Creek in the mid-2000’s and found themselves enamored with all things Adirondack. When it came to naming the chocolate business, they looked no further than the literal meaning of the word Adirondack: Barkeater.

With a background in television and video production and just a few brief classes in desserts and chocolate under her belt, Deb is mostly self-taught in chocolate making and has seen the best results through trial and error. And side note, while she didn’t have a “chocolate mentor” per se while she learned the craft, she’s about to be one herself, having just announced she’ll be teaching a course on Chocolate and Confections at SUNY Adirondack this spring!

On Peanut Butter Cups

From their beginnings with truffles in ’08, they’ve continued to experiment and expand to chocolate bars, bark, caramels, peanut butter cups, and so much more, all the while taking strides to stand out from the crowd of other chocolate brands that have popped up. The one thing they’ve realized in their nearly 13 years? “Everyone’s done everything…but there’s one thing that people are sticking to the basics on, and that’s peanut butter cups. There’s a whole category here that no one is playing with.”

If you’ve ever tried a Barkeater Peanut Butter Cup, first, you know how addicting they are. But you’ve likely also noticed how unique they are, which is no mistake! “Our peanut butter cups are different to begin with - it’s crunchy peanut butter, which nobody else does, and it’s natural peanut butter, and it’s real peanut butter,” Deb notes. This in contrast to commercial peanut butter cups, which are made with peanut flour and constituted to make them shelf stable for a long time. Not sure about you, but we’ll take the fresh peanut butter cup, please!

They’ve got three wildly successful flavors already - the milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate salt. So, with only a few other artisan peanut butter cup lines out there in the chocolate world (and with the popularity of their current peanut butter cups!), they knew this was the category to expand on. And we’re so glad they did, because the new flavors are so good.

On New Taste Experiences

Here they are…

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup w/ Sea Salt: With the popularity of their milk and sea salt peanut butter cup, and separately, the popularity of their dark chocolate and sea salt bar, they figured a dark chocolate peanut butter cup + sea salt was a sure win. We’d have to agree!

Dark Chocolate Toffee Peanut Butter Cup: Toffee is one of the most popular barks that they make in house, so why not? “It has dark chocolate of course, a touch of toffee oil, and bits of toffee on top,” says Deb. Home run.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Honey Cup: Dark, but darker - this cup is 72% dark chocolate (and dairy free), and instead of the peanut butter being sweetened with their sugar, it’s sweetened with granulated honey, topped with bee pollen sprinkles. That sounds healthy to us, which just means we can eat a few more, right?!

On Enhancing the Experience

There’s nothing wrong with savoring a peanut butter cup on it’s own, but we couldn’t help but bounce around some ideas for some other ways we can enjoy these. Here’s what we came up with:

With Wine: You can’t go wrong with chocolate and wine! Deb’s tip: “The key is to balance it out - you don’t want two bitters. A dark or dry wine would pair best with a sweeter chocolate, and a darker chocolate would pair well with a sweeter wine.” Sold!

Over Ice Cream: “If you need to spread your peanut butter cup joy out, I’d say put it over ice cream,” she suggested. Pass the vanilla, please!

In a S’more: We went there. This is definitely overboard, but is it?! You may need to run an extra mile or two afterwards, but this is taste tested and approved for cozy nights in by the fire.

On the Launch

But where can we get them, you ask?! Head up to the Barkeater Chocolates Factory Store in North Creek on Saturday from 11-5 for free samples of the full size peanut butter cups in store (while supplies last!) and, of course, grab some to bring home.

A few stores that are carrying the new flavors immediately are Fred the Butcher in Halfmoon, Honest Weight in Albany, Pellegrino in Rensselaer and a few others scattered around the state.