Making a childhood dream come true...a giant "Reese's" Cup

This is a giant "Reese's" cup...

This is what making a childhood dream come true can look...

This was a challenge that I was worried I might fail...

This involved making a mold by cutting and forming aluminum cake pans...

Sometimes life...or you know a co-worker...throws you a challenge.  Sometimes we bring those challenges on ourselves by let's say...

...making our self wake up before the sunrises, because we know catching a shot like this will make it worth it.

...or waking up to run when the tourists aren't up yet means you can catch the Washington monument surrounded by total darkness.

...and have a little alone time with Abe will doing a few stair runs while your at it. (I admit this is a humble brag, but let's not forget that I try everything I bake... A girls got to do, what a girls got to do.)

Sometimes its the challenges brought on by friends in the beginning and then before you know it your the one challenging the friend...

But he did get to do a little horsing around 64 miles in to the ride.

Sometimes we need to think about others challenges that often come daily and take a little time out to help.  Being back in a kitchen serving food for a night was a blast for Share Strength's Chef Behind Bars at The Gryphon and well worth it to help out hungry kids.

But down to the "baking" challenge (I guess technically a confectioner challenge) at hand last week.  The birthday request was a giant "Reese's" cup.  I turned down this challenge last year, but after a little research I was willing to take it on this year.  First was trying to figure out how to make the mold so that this would truly be big!  What I ended up using was two scalloped aluminum cake pans straight from the grocery store.  With the bottom cut out of one and then cut so that it was open on one side.  I made the ring into a zigzag circle so that the peanut butter cup would have the zigzag outside that a Reese's cup has.  I then carefully taped the zigzagged ring with packing tape to the other cake pan.  (The mold can be seen two photos down.)  Then it was time for the chocolate.

This is a two part chocolate melting process here.  

Once you have the bottom layer of chocolate melted and it has hardened, then comes the peanut butter filling.

Then the top.  This has to harden completely, then you can cut away the mold.

Once the mold has been removed it should be stored at room temperature.

An inside view...WARNING this is extremely rich, cut small slices.

Giant "Reese's" Cup:

2 bags semisweet chocolate

2 bags milk chocolate

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

2-3 cups powdered sugar

1.  Make your mold.

2.  Using a double boiler melt 1 bag of semisweet chocolate and 1 bag of milk chocolate together over medium heat stirring occasionally until completely melted.  Pour the chocolate into the mold and using a spatula spread out evenly.  Place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

3.  While the bottom is hardening, prepare the peanut butter filling.  Using a mixer or a whisk, mix together the peanut butter and powdered sugar.  The filling should be just a little bit softer than a frosting, but should hold its shape.  Add more peanut butter or powdered sugar as necessary.  Once the bottom chocolate has hardened, place the peanut butter filling in the center of the bottom, and spread out until it is about an inch from the outside, so there is a border of chocolate.  The peanut butter filling should be about 1 inch tall.  Place in the freezer, while you melt the remainder of the chocolate over the double boiler.

4. Melt the remaining bag of semisweet and milk chocolate together over the double boiler.  Pour the melted chocolate over and around the outside of the peanut butter filling, then using a spatula smooth out the top.  Place back in the freezer for at least two hours or over night.  Remove from the freezer and gently remove the mold by cutting away the mold.

5.  Let sit a room temperature for at least an hour or until ready to serve, so that the chocolate can soften just enough to be able to cut.  Serve with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee and enjoy!