Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Deciding on a Valentine's Day gift for my boyfriend can be too difficult these days, especially because my boyfriend has a very small and picky sweet tooth...in our case, opposites do attract. You can imagine how overjoyed I was when I watched a big, satisfying smile appear on his face as he bit into (well, more like popped a whole one into his mouth) one of these and deemed it "perfect".

Not that I could say I was surprised, I already knew since the night before how perfect they were. I had worked on these until 2 a.m. on the morning of Valentine's Day and had one (well two, for quality assurance) of the chocolates to give me the sugar-driven motivation needed to press on into the wee hours of the morning. The ratio of chocolate to peanut butter was perfect for both our tastes, just enough chocolate to encase the just-sweet-enough peanut butter filling without being too rich and thirst-inducing.

To add to my personal triumph, the chocolates were also well received by my family and his co-workers, although I can't deny that I was happy to hear him proudly claim the rest for himself, seeing as I did put my heart into each and every one of them.

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (adapted from Pete Bakes)

12 oz milk chocolate *see Note

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (I added a couple more tablespoons to suit my preference)

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tsp salt (not in the original recipe, but you can omit it, or add more or less depending on your taste)

1/4 cup crushed graham crackers

*I actually ended up with a lot of chocolate left over, so for easy storage I poured the chocolate into the molds I used and let them set up so that I could have solid, portionable pieces. If you want to avoid this problem, and don't feel too lazy, melt a little bit of chocolate at a time, so as not to waste any.

1. in a bowl, mix together the peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar and graham crackers. set aside.

2. in a double boiler, carefully melt the chocolate (set a metal bowl on top of a saucepan with boiling water). alternatively, you can microwave the chocolate in short bursts.

3. using a pastry brush or a clean paintbrush, brush the melted chocolate on the bottom and sides of mini cupcake liners. it’s helpful to stack some the liners together to give more support. when in doubt, add more chocolate, since this will be the base for your candy. place the cupcake liners on a plate or in a cupcake tin and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

4. remove the liners from the freezer, and place about one teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture in each cup. press down a bit with a spoon to spread. spoon more melted chocolate on top of each cup.

5. place the peanut butter cups back in the freezer for another 15 minutes to set. eat cold or let warm to room temperature before serving.