So, one day when I was shopping at my mothership, the restaurant supply store, I saw this candy mold and knew that filled chocolates would be in my future. I only just now bought it and last night I made a test batch – because I have to learn to temper the chocolate, too, and I was made to understand there is a learning curve there – and this is the result. Guittard bittersweet couverture on the outside, San Francisco Chocolate Co milk chocolate ganache on the inside with a few drops of orange oil. The coating has the gloss and snap I was looking for which means my tempering was a success (at least on the top, I think I let it get too cool when I was doing the feet) but my ganache didn’t set up quite the way I would have liked, it was a bit too soft so when you bite into them, the shell snaps as it should but the ganache won’t support it so it just sort of squishes out.  Gonna have to use less cream next time.  Anyway, I am not proficient enough for a full report so I’ll just say I love the way these look and taste and I am looking forward to trying all sorts of variations.

(slightly unrelated note: the next batch of posts are not being posted in the order in which they were created; I have a bunch of backlogged photos and mini-posts from Facebook of all places that I’m transporting here. )

Just look at those things. When I ran across Bakerella’s blog for the first time I sat and stared in awe at the completely adorable treats she manages to produce time and time again. In fact, you should go there right now and look at these Snow Globe Coca-Cola Cupcakes. As someone who consistently fails at cupcakes (I don’t know why, I really don’t) I just love looking at the edible art other people seem to be capable of creating.

Anyway, I believe it’s reasonable to say that her Cake Pops and subsequent Cake Bites have earned her a special place in the dessert world and the recipe is so easy it’s almost ridiculous, so I tried them out to give to friends who were gathering shortly before Valentine’s Day. What I greatly underestimated was the volume and the time involved in their creation.

There are three basic ingredients:

1 box of cake mix

1 tin of frosting

Candy melts and/or chocolate/almond bark

And one very useful tool:

Mini peanut butter cup candy mold

In my case, I had a box of white cake mix leftover from my when my Dad made my wedding cake, and I thought some cherry frosting would be festive considering the upcoming holiday. The trick to the cake balls is using the right ratio of cake to frosting, and I did it wrong. First you bake the cake and let it cool. Then you crumble it all up in a bowl, and add the frosting. It makes like a dough, but it’s cooked. Well, you should really add the frosting in segments and keep checking the texture, because I just dumped the whole tin in and I had a sticky, gloppy mess. I managed to make it work anyway by chucking it in the fridge for a few hours, because you have to roll the mixture into little balls and I am not kidding about the sticky, gloppy mess part.  Anyway.

Once mine were all rolled, I stuck them in the freezer while I melted the chocolate bark in the microwave. When it had melted, I used a spoon to transfer some into each cup mold – enough to hold the cake ball in place and take the shape of the cup. Once the cake balls were in, they went back into the freezer for a few minutes to set. 5 minutes or so later, I took them out of the freezer, gently wiggled them out of the molds, and repeated the process what felt like a million times.

Next up, I melted the white almond bark – I thought it would be cheaper than candy melts but it actually wasn’t, they are priced roughly the same. Holding the cake ball by the candy bottom, I dipped the tops into the bark and used a small spoon to fill in any missing spots

I only topped 6 at a time so that I could get the decorations on before the bark set. If you manage more than that, you are more awesome than I am.  Also, it should be noted that this recipe makes A METRIC BUTTLOAD so I hope you have an event or a lot of friends to give these to. Think I’m kidding? Let me show you another picture.

Yeah, I wasn’t. I think I had something like 55 of them. You may also notice that the Hershey’s Kissables I used as decoration on some of them, particularly the pale pink ones, make these look alarmingly breast-like. Now, there’s nothing wrong with boobs but I’ve never particularly wanted to eat one. Luckily Warren came home from work and pointed this out to me so that I could place the remainder at an angle instead.

Overall, I’m really happy with how they turned out and the idea is absolute genius, because they are so cute I could just hug them. I will say, whether it’s the cake balls themselves or the combination with the candy or the frosting I used, they were painfully sweet to me. The flavor under the sugar was nice, but I absolutely could not get beyond the sweetness. Can someone who has made them using the red velvet cake with the cream cheese frosting verify whether this is the expected result or if mine were just the wrong combo?

Warren, my husband, really likes Reese’s Cups. He will stick a bag of the miniatures in the freezer and only have one or two at a time, so it lasts him about a hundred years. I have no idea how he can do this, as I would eat one or two every 12 minutes or so, give or take a few seconds. So anyway, with the economy being as it is and some adjustments to our budget and another baby on the way, we opted not to do any Valentine’s Day presents this year, and instead of paying the babysitter and going to dinner and a movie, we ordered a pizza and watched a movie we already had instead.

Unfortunately, I am unable to not give presents of some sort on holidays. It’s necessary that I find some way to show my appreciation or else SOMETHING TERRIBLE WILL HAPPEN, I am sure of it. So, I thought, I have a cup candy mold from making Cupcake Bites (a post yet to be written), I have a toddler so there’s bound to be peanut butter, what on earth should I do? I know, I’ll make peanut butter cups! Genius, I tell you, sheer genius.

Guys, this turned out to be the easiest thing in the world. I looked at a few online recipes, decided none of them really worked for me and I might as well improvise, so I did and I call it a success. My success, let me share it with you.

• Ingredients:
• 1/2 bag milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, plus 2 tablespoons
• 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• 1 sheet graham crackers, crushed fine

• Tools:
• A cup candy mold OR
• Paper baking cups OR
• Cupcake liners
• Microwave-safe bowl
• Spoon
• Ziploc sandwich bag

Four ingredients! That’s it! Awesome, I know. Anyway, moving on, I mentioned three potential methods just in case you don’t have a candy mold and don’t want to buy one, and though I made one batch for Warren the day before Valentine’s, I only made twelve so I had quite a bit of the peanut butter mixture left over. Thus, for the purposes of this sharing time, I made another batch today using all three methods. I have to say, the candy mold set me back a whopping $1.50 at a local craft store (Roberts, for you Utahns) and it was significantly easier to use and the end results look much cleaner from it, so if you even think you might enjoy these and make them again it would be worth it to try to locate one of your own. Let’s get started, shall we?

The measurements listed here will net you the following amounts:

• 12 miniature cups (candy mold)
• 10-12 cups (mini muffin cups)
• 6-8 cups (cupcake liners)

First, pour about 1/4 of the bag into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Add one tablespoon of peanut butter and stir to melt and combine. Microwave for another 15 seconds to achieve a slightly runny texture if needed.

Once your chocolate is melted and combined, spoon into molds (cups, etc), roughly 3/4 teaspoon per cup. If it doesn’t look like enough, add more. This will be the sides and the foundation of your cup so too much chocolate is better than not enough.

Once all your cups have chocolate in them, use the back of your spoon to squish it up the sides of the cup, all the way to the top if you’re using a candy mold, about halfway to the top if you’re using mini cups, and about 1/3 of the way up on a regular cupcake liner. Swirl the remaining chocolate around the bottom if any parts look too thin.

If you’re using a mold, chuck it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so or until chocolate is solid. If you’re using paper cups, put them on a plate, tray or baking sheet first or you’ll make an unholy mess in your freezer. While that’s going on, let’s mix your peanut butter filling. Since I already had some made, I didn’t take any pictures, but grab a bowl and put your 1/2 cup of peanut butter in there. To be perfectly honest, I have issues with putting things like peanut butter in measuring cups, so I used the back of a large spoon and just threw what looked to be around 1/2 cup* in there. I really don’t think you need to be too exacting with this.  Once your peanut butter is in the bowl, add your 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar (or powdered sugar if that’s what you know it as) and your graham crackers. I should note I estimated the amount of sugar, too, since I just sprinkled in what looked to be around 1/4 cup*. I also added a pinch of kosher salt, just because I was trying to get something close to Reese’s and they have that faintly salty tang to balance out the sweetness. The graham crackers serve little to not purpose beyond textural -?” again, trying to copy those Reese’s cups. Stir to combine thoroughly, and then check the flavor/texture to see if it’s to your liking. If it is, throw it all in a ziploc sandwich bag and cut off a tip of one corner. Mine was around the size of a dime and worked like a charm. This is an easy, mess-free way of piping your filling into the cups. If you want to be fancy you could use a piping bag and tips but why bother? This way you just throw it away when you’re done.

(*I made a double batch)

By now your cups should be sufficiently chilled for filling. Remove them from the freezer, grab your ziploc and go to town.

You’re probably looking at about 1/2 tablespoon of filling per cup, but if you think that looks like too much, err on the side of caution. Don’t worry if it forms a peak, you’ll squish it down after you’ve got them all filled. This looks vaguely unappealing, doesn’t it? But it’s delicious, I swear, despite looking just a little bit like baby poop.

When your filling is all piped in, grab a spoon and smooth the peaks down, forming as flat a surface as possible. It’s totally fine if there’s a dip in the center, the idea is just to make sure there’s room for more chocolate on the top. If you happen to be like me and have a toddler in your household, no doubt you’ve got one or two plastic baby spoons hanging around. Those are so great for getting the chocolate on the sides of the cup and again for squishing down the peanut butter, they’re just the right size. But a regular spoon will do the job, too. Precision is not mandatory here.

Here’s where we repeat step one. I used the same bowl as before because, well, I’m lazy. Chuck another 1/4 of the bag of chocolate chips in the microwave for 60 seconds, add a tablespoon of peanut butter, stir to combine, give it another 15 if it isn’t runny enough. (an interesting sidenote, because of the oils in the peanut butter, it assists in smoothing and thinning the chocolate for coating. it also tastes amazing.) Now you’re going to spoon at least a teaspoon into each cup, adding more if you think it won’t cover. Err on the side of caution here – you can always add more chocolate if it needs it after you’ve done the smoothing, it’s significantly more difficult to try to remove it if you add too much.  Go ahead and smooth out your chocolate once you’ve added it all, and don’t worry if it’s not perfect. You can’t be expected to compete with a machine whose sole function is to stamp out chocolates. I suppose you could use a ruler or a pastry scraper on the candy molds to make them flat but I don’t actually own either of those things, so mine look homemade. I cry about it at night, I really do.

Now they go back in the freezer for another 15 minutes at the very least. I actually store mine in the freezer because, well, they’re just better when they’re cold, and the chocolate doesn’t melt as fast. Speaking of melting chocolate, we’re doing something of a shortcut here. Chocolate chips are tempered when you buy them, and they can go out of temper if you get them too hot, which won’t allow them to set and you’ll just have a mess of peanut butter and chocolate. When you’re microwaving, you want your chips to hold their shape but melt when stirred. This will keep your chocolate in temper and everyone is happy.  So anyway, once your cups have chilled sufficiently, bite into one and enjoy. You may notice that mine appears to not be filled with peanut butter, and you would get points for being observant. I ran out of peanut butter on the last big cup and threw some marshmallow creme in there instead. I suspect that with a little butter, a little honey and some toasted coconut, that would be something very tasty reminiscent of a Mallo Cup. Mmm. Mallo Cups.

And now this heavily pregnant woman is going to bed. Happy belated Valentine’s Day!