Peanut Butter Cups From A Galaxy Far, Far, Away
With today being Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!) I figured it was as good a time as any to put my Darth Vader ice cube tray to use. After a hard day working on your uncle’s moisture farm on Tatooine there’s nothing more relaxing than sitting back with a chocolate treat and . Instead of being part man, part machine, these Darth Vaders are part chocolate, part peanut butter.
I wonder what a food blog would look like in the Star Wars universe. It would hopefully have recipes like ‘Hoth Eternal Winter Stew’ with sustainably raised Tauntaun (don’t support Tauntaun factory farms!). I feel like Alderaan would have lots of vegetarian dishes, and the elite on Coruscant would post about their rooftop city gardens. Buzzfeed type sites would probably advertise things like ‘You won’t believe this secret that Tusken Raiders have been using for years to get perfect Bantha steaks!’ or ‘Make the most of your Midichlorian count with these 3 easy steps!’.
Would Tusken Raiders eat Bantha though? Bantha are their main mode of transportation. I suppose they might eat older ones given that Tatooine is a desert and you wouldn’t want to be wasteful. On that note, making fake Star Wars PSA posters about eating local could be a fun Photoshop project (Not from your system? Not on your plate!). But I’m getting off track, back to these peanut butter cups.
Chocolate and peanut butter, what’s not to like? These are exceptionally simple to make and if you have some fun silicone molds or ice cube trays (if you prefer zombies to Star Wars, we also have brain ones!) you can make them a bit more special. The peanut butter is whipped together with butter and powdered sugar to prevent it from being too runny. I did not mix the chocolate with anything although looking back wish I had.
Because the ice cube tray is taller than your average peanut butter cup there was more hardened chocolate to bite through. Had I mixed the chocolate with some cream (not as much as you would use to make ganache, but just a bit) I would have gotten a softer finished product. As is I just need to let them soften a bit before eating, otherwise it is too hard to bite into. If you make them in the traditional shape in small baking cups, I don’t think you would have this problem with a thin layer of chocolate. , I hope you’ll enjoy these peanut butter cups!
- 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ C peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- Set out silicone baking molds OR line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- Melt half a 12 oz bag of chocolate either in a double boiler or by microwaving in short increments, stirring after 30 seconds, for about 2 minutes.
- While the chocolate is hot use a spoon or scoop to evenly distribute the chocolate into each mold. Tap the molds on a counter top to help smooth out the chocolate and eliminate air bubbles.
- Place in freezer for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl combine peanut butter, powdered sugar and butter. Whip together with a fork.
- Remove pan from freezer and place small spoonfuls of peanut butter mixture on top of each chocolate layer. Tap pan on the counter again, to help flatten peanut butter layer. Freeze whole pan for 15 minutes.
- Melt the remaining 6 oz of chocolate. Portion small spoonfuls of chocolate into each mold and tap on the counter. Freeze whole pan for 15 minutes to set the top layer of chocolate.
- For a peanut butter cup with a firmer texture, serve chilled. For a softer, creamier texture, serve at room temperature. Store refrigerated in an airtight container up to 5 days.
