H.B. Reese was born in 1879 on a farm in Frosty Hill, Penn., and worked for the Hershey's Food Corp. Inspired by the success of his employer as well as by his distaste for farming, Reese decided to give the candy industry a shot. By the mid-1950s, his peanut butter cups were so popular they needed their own factory. By the 1960s, Hershey had bought him out.

The marriage of mood-enhancing chocolate with healthful peanut butter was clearly a match made in heaven. Indeed, it's already lasted more than three-quarters of a century and, according to Hershey's, it's the top-selling candy in America.

And while Hershey's has been messing around with the recipe lately -- coating some cups in white chocolate, adding caramel to others -- as usual, simplicity is beauty. White chocolate and caramel both deserve attention, but not here. Not now. Please, not in our peanut butter cups.

Because peanut butter and chocolate belong together like -- well, like moms and their kids. Think about it: Peanut butter cups start with what many tired moms consider a staple food -- chocolate. This is then used to surround -- to hug, if you will -- the most ubiquitous children's food of our times. Best of all, they're easy enough for kids to make by themselves (or maybe with one helpful adult sous chef nearby), thereby completing the mother-child circle of love.