Giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

 My supervisor loves Reese's peanut butter cups above anything else, so rather than making a traditional cake for his birthday, I opted to create a giant Reese's. I used a large, deep tart pan with a removable bottom for this creation. The link is to the exact tart pan that I used. First, I covered the circular removable bottom with foil. I probably would have used wax paper instead if I had any in the house, but foil worked just as well. I sprayed the entire pan with nonstick cooking spray to ensure an easy removal.

First, I whipped up the peanut butter filling. I mixed together an entire 16 oz jar of Jif peanut butter, 1/4 cup of softened butter, about 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, and a little bit of salt to taste. You could easily add a little more or less sugar and salt. I pressed this all into the pan to achieve the correct size and shape for the layer, and threw it all in the freezer for a little while, until it was fairly solid. Once it was solid enough to remove from the pan and retain the same shape, I removed the peanut butter layer from the tart pan, but stored it in the freezer while I completed the additional steps.

Then, I melted chocolate candy melts and liberally coated the outside and bottom of the tart pan with the melted chocolate using a spoon. I used candy melts rather than chocolate chips, because they do not contain cocoa butter, and solidify quicker and more thoroughly for the purposes of this creation. I don't have an exact amount of chocolate that I used, but I bought two bags of candy melts and used all of them to make the Reese's cup. I probably used a bag and a half for the bottom and sides, and then reserved the rest of the chocolate to melt later for the top.

I allowed the chocolate to set completely in the fridge in between each step. I wanted to make this Reese's even more next level than any over-sized Reese's already inherently is, so I decided it needed a brownie layer too. I baked brownies in a 9 in round pan ahead of time and threw them in the freezer, so before I constructed this monstrosity I just made sure that the brownies were thawed out. Once the chocolate shell had set, I added the layer of brownie, then the round of peanut butter filling. Then, I melted the rest of the chocolate candy melts, and smoothed them over the top using a spoon. I refrigerated everything until it was completely set, and was able to smoothly pop my Giant Reese's out of the tart pan to serve and enjoy!