Anti-Valentine's-Day Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

White chocolate and "dirty tuxedo" peanut butter cups

This year, I'm boycotting Valentine's Day. I'm not in the spirit. The only thing I will miss is all the chocolate, even though I'm not generally the one receiving it. So, not being one to deprive myself, I decided to make some chocolate. And not just any chocolate, but chocolate peanut butter cups. 

Beginning the tempering process

Last time I tried to make chocolate peanut butter cups, they came out like a chocolate cow turd. I didn't temper the chocolate properly and used a mold that was way too big. So, as always, I started researching the chocolate making process, endeavoring to find what I had done (or not done) wrong. As it turned out, my mistakes were pretty small, but made a huge impact on the final product.

I went to a local restaurant/bakers' supply and picked up a candy thermometer, along with a smaller mold. You see, the trick to making chocolate "snap" when broken and hold its shape is called "tempering."

Beautifully tempered chocolate

For an in-depth breakdown on what tempering is or how it's done, click here. Long story short, you slowly heat the chocolate in a double-boiler until it reaches about 110-115 degrees. You then cool it to around 95-100 degrees. Never EVER should your chocolate be heated above 130 degrees, which causes scorching and disgusting tasting mucky chocolate. Trust me, I know first hand. You'll note the thermometer in the photo above-- very necessary item.

I also picked up a piping bag, commonly used to apply frosting to cakes and such. I set one bag up with my tempered chocolate and the other with some peanut butter. Simple enough, right?

So here's how it went down:

Peanut butter added to mold

1. Temper chocolate
2. Pipe small amount of chocolate into the base of each mold
3. Allow it to set in the freezer for about 5-10 mins
4. Pipe in peanut butter, making sure it stayed relatively flat and in the center of the mold
5. Pipe chocolate on top
6. Allow it to set in the freezer for 10 minutes

The first batch came out terrific and I was feeling motivated, so I decided to make a couple of other kinds: white chocolate with semi-sweet drizzle and "dirty tuxedo." The dirty tuxedo consisted of a dark chocolate base, white chocolate top, and a butterscotch drizzle. 

Needless to say, I was feeling pretty accomplished! I mean really, how many guys do you know who actually make (not "buy" but "make") chocolate for you on Valentine's Day?! 

Answer:  None. They're not for Valentine's Day and they're not for you! They're Anti-Valentine's chocolates!  ;)