Peanut Butter Cups

I have had a bad craving for peanut butter covered in chocolate. Seriously guys, it has been unbearable. I went so far as to buy a peanut butter Twix at a gas station late at night but it didn't satisfy the craving. Because it was gross. 

Yesterday, we decided to go to the store to try to get some good chocolate (in particular, I had tried a piece of Lake Champlain's peanut butter filled milk chocolate a few days ago, and I figured no imitation would do to fill the hole in my soul left by not eating more of that bar). And of course, the store was closed by the time we got there. So I finally took matters into my own hands and put this together.

My soul is whole once again. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 5 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp unsweetened peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp butter
• pinch of kosher or coarse sea salt

Procedure

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and (5 tablespoons) of butter together. (See link for more fun with dipping chocolate.) 

Meanwhile, combine the other ingredients (peanut butter, powdered sugar, and 1 tablespoon of butter) in a cup and microwave until soft but not liquidy (took about 50 seconds for me; check the cup after every 20 seconds). 

Prepare something to make the peanut butter cups in. I lined a mini muffin tin with foil, which is convenient because you can pop the foil cups out after you form them. 

Pour in a bit of chocolate to each cup and let it set (about 2-3 minutes in the freezer). Add in about a teaspoon of peanut butter filling, and top with another layer of chocolate. 

Sprinkle just a pinch of salt on top, and put the cups into the fridge to set. They'll be ready in about 15 minutes. If you're in a big hurry, toss them in the freezer for about 5 minutes. 

Note:

How much peanut butter or chocolate goes into each layer is up to you -- if you want a thin layer of chocolate, add only a bit and spread it around evenly. If you want lots of chocolate surrounding the peanut butter, thicken the chocolate layers accordingly. 

  

Coconut Fudge Truffles

The brigadeiros were a big hit -- but I feel like I'm going into a diabetic coma just eating one (or maybe two... or three). So we were thinking about how to make a slightly less sweet variety. The main idea was using evaporated milk instead of condensed milk and adding in sugar ourselves (condensed milk is about 4 parts evaporated milk to 5 parts sugar, which is crazy -- we wanted to try 2 parts evaporated milk to 1 part sugar and see how it went). Well, we got a little carried away... but the truffles turned out so delicious!

So here it is -- a pretty crazy spin on Brazilian truffles.

[Makes 30-35 candies.]
Ingredients
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. instant coffee
2-3 Tbsp. tasty flour

Directions
Bring the first seven ingredients to a rapid boil over medium heat. Lower heat and simmer mixture, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking. If it still seems too liquid after about 10 minutes, add in a bit of the flour. It took us about 20-25 minutes of simmering to decide to add in flour, after which point the mixture still didn't seem thick enough, but we took a chance and put it in the fridge. It came out fine. Keep it in the fridge until it's completely cold (we just left it overnight because we got tired, but an hour or two should do the trick).

Meanwhile, chop up nuts, toast some coconut flakes, and prepare whatever other toppings you want to use. This time, I used pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds, and toasted coconut. Take 1 teaspoon at a time of the fudge and roll into a ball over the topping(s) of your choice -- if the topping is some kind of nut, try putting a whole one in the middle. Place the candies on parchment or wax paper. If storing or giving as gifts, try wrapping them in wax paper (as shown here).



Tip: Get your hands wet with warm water -- this will keep the fudge from sticking to your hands while you're trying to roll it. Wash your hands after every four or five truffles you roll, or whenever they start to get dirty -- if the chocolate mixture starts to accumulate on your hands, the truffles will stick more, creating a frustrating mess.

Variation: Try dipping them in chocolate.

How to make dipping chocolate

This might seem silly, because chocolate is an easy thing to melt. And in the technical sense, I agree -- it's easy to turn solid chocolate into liquid chocolate. But depending on your intended use, you can use the melting process to bring out all the delicious hidden flavors lurking behind that rich chocolatey goodness...

Whether you're dipping strawberries, truffles, biscotti, or just your fingers, the basics for making good dipping chocolate are:

1. Chocolate, and
2. Butter
   

Some recipes call for using shortening instead of butter, but I haven't seen any advantage to doing so. I prefer butter because it's something I always have on hand, whereas shortening might require a trek so deep into the back of the pantry that I may never find my way out again. So here's what you do:

Use about a tablespoon of butter for every half cup of chocolate. Melt everything in a double boiler, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. [By the way, a double boiler is a bona fide uni-tasker. You don't need to go out and buy a double boiler -- just take a metal mixing bowl or any small saucepan, put it on top of a bigger saucepan which has some water in it, and bring the water to a boil. Then put all whatever you're melting into the mixing bowl or small saucepan on top.]

1. Chocolate-dipped fruit
   If you're making chocolate-dipped strawberries or whatever other fruit has caught your fancy (have you tried chocolate-dipped prunes? no, seriously -- apparently that's a thing that some people love), you probably want to keep the dipping chocolate as simple as possible. For this, just butter and chocolate will do.
   
   
2. Dipping something nutty
   Maybe you're trying to add a chocolate layer to some biscotti, or maybe you're dipping truffles. Maybe you're just dipping nuts themselves for a quick & easy but still somewhat decadent dessert. Either way, the chocolate can be much richer this way. Exciting! So here are the ingredients for melting in the double boiler.

1/2 cup dark chocolate*
1/2 tsp. instant coffee
1-2 Tbsp. butter
pinch of salt

* Sometimes I use unsweetened baking chocolate and sometimes a dark chocolate bar, whichever is on hand. Taste the chocolate mixture when it melts and add sweetener and whatever else until it suits you.

Cleaning tip
When everything in sight is chocolate-dipped and you have produced delicious dessert to your heart's content, you might notice the gross sticky mess you've created in your double boiler. Scrape off any remaining bits of chocolate from the bottom of the bowl (though why would there be any chocolate left?!) and fill dirty bowl with water. Heat up the water (may as well use the saucepan/mixing bowl as a double boiler again), which will liquefy the left-over chocolate gunk and make it much easier to clean up.

Chocolate Truffles - Brazilian style

I read about brigadeiros somewhere on Smitten Kitchen a little while ago and have been wanting to try them. Her recipe is more "advanced" than I felt up for tonight. Not really, but it involves coconut milk and a longer cooking time than I was willing to commit to. So I decided to stick with the basics: cocoa powder, condensed milk, and butter. That's it. At least until I decided to roll them in stuff after being inspired by their Wikipedia page. ;)

[Makes about 20 brigadeiros.]
Ingredients
3-4 Tbsp (unsweetened) cocoa powder
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 Tbsp butter

Directions
Heat ingredients together in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Chill in the fridge or freezer until the mixture is pretty firm -- malleable, but not too sticky.

Meanwhile, chop up some things to roll the candies in. I chopped up some hazelnuts, white chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips. If I'd had some coconut flakes, I'd have tried that too!

Spread each topping in an even layer on a cutting board. When the mixture is sufficiently chilled, roll into balls with your hands (about 1-2 teaspoons' worth for each candy) and roll the balls in the desired toppings.

I think they taste delicious at room temperature, but keep them in the fridge until you're ready to eat them.

Storage idea
Wrap truffles individually in wax paper. I cut the wax paper into strips, rolled each strip over a truffle so that it formed a cylinder, and twisted the ends.



Variations:
1) Put a whole nut (e.g. hazelnut) into a truffle with the same topping.

2) If you like Lindor truffles, try dipping the brigadeiros in melted chocolate after doing the procedure described above and let the truffles cool. You'll end up with a hard(er) chocolate shell and soft truffle inside.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

8 oz chocolate
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. hot brewed coffee
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 c. cocoa

Preheat oven to 375. In a double boiler, melt chocolate, butter, coffee, and vanilla. Remove from heat. Whisk in sugar. Whisk in eggs until well blended. Fold in cocoa (until just mixed). Butter round 8" cake pan and pour in batter. Bake ~25 minutes (until very thin crust forms on top of cake). Let cool for a couple of minutes before eating. (Especially good with vanilla gelato!)

Variation: Sliced almonds on top.