Frozen Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie

Ladies, does this situation sound familiar to you?  You've baked something for an event, a potluck, or a friend or relative, and your fella asks you where that's going or says he would have liked some?  When Joe saw the heart-shaped cookie cutters and ate some of the chocolate cutouts from the Two-tone Linzer Hearts I made for my sister, he was a bit envious.  I had something different in mind for him though.  Since he liked the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups that I made for Valentine's Day last year so much, this Frozen Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie sounded like a winner.

People with Celiac will rejoice to hear this pie is gluten-free.  For the base, I used storebought gluten-free cookies that I had intended for a different purpose and recipient but never got around to.  But the Pamela's brand cookies were surprisingly delicious, so I used them.

I also made the recipe into four small pies, and you won't finish even one pie in a single sitting because they're so rich.  Two were made in 5-inch pie plates, and two in mini-springform pans that showcase the beautiful sides and base of the pies.

Joe was impressed with the beautiful pies, plus he went back for seconds.  I think I came out on top because my gift was a heart pendant, plus some of you might recall I'm no fan of mixing chocolate and PB.  And, I just might make those Linzer Hearts again.

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Tea Party Tuesday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Sweet Treats Thursday
Sweets for a Saturday
Themed Baker's Sunday

Valentine's Peanut Butter Cups

Confession: I don't like chocolate with peanut butter.  To which my friend Jacob would always respond, "I don't understand you, and I don't think I want to."  I don't even like PB&Js.  Give me a PB or give me a J, but not together.

But these chocolate peanut butter cups aren't for me, they're my Valentine's treat to Joe.  He likes Reese's peanut butter cups, but he loved these far more.  (I promise not to make any sickening Valentine's lovey-dovey talk.)  They're hand-made with quality ingredients, see, not some cheap factory-plunked creation.  They'd also make a great gluten-free treat.

These confections are easy to make but require a bit of care.  I combined two recipes I had found.  Melted bittersweet chocolate is brushed on the inside of paper mini-muffin cups, refrigerated, a second layer is brushed on, and they are refrigerated again.  At this point one recipe says to peel off the paper, but this resulted in breakage because the unfilled cups are too fragile.  So I piped the peanut butter mixture into them and froze them briefly, and then removing the paper was easier.

Be quick (the chocolate melts on your fingers), but very gentle when removing the papers.  Expect some breakage and plan on making extras.  Normally I'd console myself over breakage by eating the pieces, but like I said this isn't my kind of treat.  Then hide the broken pieces somewhere and present the prettiest cups to your lucky Valentine.