Daring Bakers Challenge: Peanut Butter Cups

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

You win some, you lose some. The old adage holds just as true in the kitchen as it does on the sports field. In a two-part challenge this month, my record was 1-1. That may not be a winning record but as batting averages go, .500 is nothing to sniff at. And in the kitchen, there’s always the luxury of going back for a do-over. At least I now know what DOESN’T work.

In southern California, August is not the best month to learn the process of tempering chocolate. Tempering gives chocolate that gorgeous smooth, shiny finish and renders it less likely to melt in your fingers. Both desirable features of a peanut butter cup. Tempering involves heating and cooling chocolate to specific temperatures in a specific order. It works by rearranging the crystals in the chocolate so that it will set uniformly.

With outside temperatures climbing to the upper 90s and beyond, “room temperature” inside my house varies between 80 and 83 degrees on most days (with the AC on). In order to temper the chocolate, it must be heated, brought down to 80.6 degrees, and heated again. The chocolate never cooled to 80.6 degrees, though the recipe said that dark chocolate may be brought to 80-82 degrees. The lowest I could get my chocolate was 82 degrees, and it doesn’t look very shiny to me so I assume that something went wrong during the tempering process. I can assure you that despite my tempering troubles, the taste of the chocolate was not affected!

These peanut butter cups are rich and flavorful, really no contest with the store-bought version. Roasted peanuts sweetened with honey and enrobed with high-quality chocolate, what’s not to love?

I wanted to pair these with grape paté de fruit (jelly candy), for a dessert version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Fresh, homemade grape juice would have made a lovely jelly candy, don’t you think? But I have yet to master the correct proportions of pectin to juice. The jelly candy turned out to be a consistency slightly firmer than jam, a more free-form candy that required a spoon to eat. I will be revisiting this recipe, as I will be revisiting tempered chocolate in the cooler months. Even if you’re not up to the challenge of tempering chocolate, just make these peanut butter cups with simple melted chocolate. You’ll never look at a packaged peanut butter cup with the same amount of desire.

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at Chocoley offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Tempered Chocolate

Tempering range for dark chocolate:
113°-122°F -> 80-82°F -> 89.6°F

When tempering chocolate, it’s important to use a high-quality chocolate that contains a large percentage of cocoa butter. This type of chocolate is referred to as couverture chocolate. If you can’t find couverture chocolate, use the highest-quality chocolate you can find. Make sure that the chocolate has cocoa butter, not a bunch of funky oils.

If your chocolate is a bar or slab, chop it into small pieces about the size of almonds. Place 2/3 of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl (I used a glass bowl in hopes of maintaining a constant temperature for longer). Place the bowl in a double boiler or over a saucepan of simmering water. If you are using a saucepan of water, make sure that the bowl fits snugly into the saucepan without touching the surface of the water. If any steam escapes and drips back into the chocolate, the chocolate will seize.

Heat the chocolate, stirring with a rubber spatula to ensure even melting, until it is melted and reaches 113-122°F. As soon as it reaches the correct temperature, remove the bowl from the heat. Add small amounts of the reserved unmelted chocolate, stirring to melt. Adding the unmelted chocolate should cool the mixture as you stir. Continue to add chocolate until the temperature has been brought down to 80-82°F.

Place the bowl back over the saucepan and heat until it reaches its working temperature, 89.6°F. It is very important to keep an eye on the chocolate so that it doesn’t go over this temperature. The chocolate is now ready to use. If it drops too far below the working temperature and starts to solidify, gently heat it back up to (but NOT over) the working temperature.

Peanut Butter Cups
From Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects
Yield: 12 peanut butter cups

1 1/3 cups fresh roasted and salted peanuts
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups (about 10.5 ounces) chocolate

Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

Puree the peanuts with a food processor until smooth, or leave slightly chunky if desired. Add the honey, oil, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Continue to puree until well blended and smooth. Scrape down the sides as necessary.

Scoop about 2 teaspoons of the peanut mixture, roll it into a ball and flatten it into a disk that will fit into a muffin tin without touching the sides. Place the peanut butter patty into a small bowl. Continue to make patties with the remainder of the peanut mixture. You should end up with 12 peanut butter centers.

If you would like to temper the chocolate for the coating, do so now. Otherwise, melt the chocolate over a double boiler or a saucepan of simmering water.

Working quickly, spoon about 2 teaspoons of chocolate into each paper liner. Make sure to cover the bottom completely and coat the sides about halfway up. Gently place a peanut butter center into each cup, pressing gently but not so much that the peanut butter touches the bottom. Drizzle chocolate over each peanut butter center, ensuring that the entire center is covered on the top and sides.

Let the peanut butter cups sit undisturbed until the chocolate hardens completely. Devour!

Store at room temperature, not in the fridge.