It doesn't take much: coconut milk, Thai chilis, galangal, lemongrass, peanut butter, sugar, lime, and chocolate. Aren't those tiny molds in the lower right adorable?
Chop the lemongrass into two-inch segments.
Amanda used her meat pounder -- probably the most widely adaptable tool in her kitchen! -- to bruise the lemongrass and release its juices.
What a flavor base: Thai chilis, galangal, and lime zest join the bruised lemongrass.
Along with the sugar, it all gets stirred into a pot of coconut milk to simmer and infuse.
Press down on those solids -- you want every last bit of flavor!
The peanut butter goes straight into the cooled and strained coconut milk. Good things are happening.
It doesn't look like much yet, but keep whisking...
...And you'll get this: perfectly creamy and just thick enough to hold its shape.
The filling gets poured into a piping bag, which we'll come back to later.
Meanwhile, Amanda chops up a veritable mountain's worth of chocolate.
The shards and slivers get placed into a microwave-safe bowl for melting.
It's a good idea to melt chocolate slowly to prevent scorching. Almost there!
That's more like it.
Amanda takes on a deep look of concentration as she uses a pastry brush to paint a layer of chocolate inside the candy cups.
Not too thick, not too thin.
Once the chocolate has cooled and hardened, she uses the pastry bag to pipe a spiral of filling into each cup.
A spoonful of chocolate seals in the peanut butter goodness.
Voila! Peanut butter cups with a flavorful secret inside.
Author Notes: Take your favorite spicy Thai peanut butter sauce and put it in a chocolate candy cup and voila: two great tastes that taste *really* great together (to coin a phrase). We make these every year with our collection of holiday confections and they're a big hit with grown ups and kids alike despite the heat and spice. Part of its appeal is the excitement of seeing something that looks familiar, but then being surprised by the decadent, mischievous filling. I admit, it's a little bit of work, but for such tasty results, I think you can make the time.
You'll wind up with more filling than you need for 36 cups, but once you taste the filling, I don't think you'll have trouble thinking of ways to eat it. —vrunka
Food52 Review: WHO: vrunka lives in Portland, OR and blogs at http://www.tinysandwiches.com.
WHAT: Homemade peanut butter cups that put Reese's to shame with a complex base of Thai flavors.
HOW: You infuse coconut milk with all your favorite curry flavors: galangal, lime zest, lemongrass, and Thai chilis. But the similarities end there -- the strained milk is blended with peanut butter and piped into tiny chocolate cups.
WHY WE LOVE IT: These treats are definitely for grown-ups! Not-too-sweet and with a hint of spice, we'll never turn to the storebrought stuff again. —The Editors
Makes: 36 cups
Prep time: 1 hrs
Cook time: 12 min
Ingredients
-
1
cup coconut milk
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1/4
cup sugar
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2
stalks lemon grass, cut into 2-inch segments and bruised with the back of a knife
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4
large coins galangal, bruised with the back of a knife
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3
Thai chilis (up to 5, to taste)
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2
teaspoons lime zest, grated
-
1
cup peanut butter
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1
tablespoon lime juice
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2
pounds bittersweet chocolate
-
36
small candy cups
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36
small strips of candied ginger (optional)
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2
tablespoons roasted peanuts (optional)
Directions
- In a small sauce pan, bring the coconut milk to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the lemon grass, galangal, chilis and lime zest. Muddle the spices with the back of a spoon. Continue to simmer very low for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and strain out the solids.
- In a mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, coconut milk and lime juice. Mix thoroughly and spoon into a piping bag. Place the bag in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until it solidifies slightly.
- Meanwhile, chop the chocolate into chunks. You may temper the chocolate for a nice, finished look. For directions on how to do that, see David Liebowitz’s website. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/08/tempering-choco/ You may also simply melt the chocolate by placing it in a large bowl and microwaving it for 30 seconds at a time. Stir well between each round in the microwave.
- Once the chocolate is ready, prepare your chocolate cups. Keep all the cups in a stack, but loosen the top one. With a pastry brush (silicone works great), coat the inside of the cup with melted chocolate. Set aside and continue doing the same with all of the cups. Whatever chocolate is leftover, set aside and you can retemper (or just remelt) for the topping later.
- Once the chocolate in the cups has hardened, take your peanut butter mixture and pipe it into the cups, leaving about ¼ inch at the top. Remelt or retemper the chocolate and either put it in another piping bag or leave it in the bowl. Top the candy cups by piping the chocolate in a spiral from the outside in. Or you can simply spoon the chocolate from the bowl and gently spread it over the tops of the cups.
- You may optionally top each cup with a roasted peanut and a sliver of candied ginger. Drop them on the top while the chocolate on top is still melted so that they’ll stick.
- These peanut cups are considerably creamier than the store-bought kind so it’s best to eat them in a single bite. They’ll keep for a couple days in a cool, dark place (they’ll last a bit longer in the fridge).
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