I Made A Giant Chocolate Nut Butter Cup

Yes, this is exactly what it looks like.

A giant nut butter cup that rivals anything you'd find

in the candy aisle.

I love peanut butter cups so much that when I was a kid

and I had family visiting from America

I would request them to get giant boxes

of peanut butter cups in their luggage,

just for me.

This is my grown up take on my childhood favorite.

All nuts need to be roasted.

Roasting really brings out a very particular flavor.

It kind of caramelizes

from the inside out and it tastes toasty.

It also changes the texture.

Something that is soft and waxy

suddenly becomes crunchy when you toast it.

The pan I'm using here is a nine inch floated tart ring.

We use this pan in professional pastry kitchens

when we make delicate tarts and pies.

The removable bottom makes it easy to just pop out

and of course, it looks exactly

like A Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

I'm using a blend of two chocolates here.

One is slightly darker and the other is milk.

This gives you the perfect balance of sweetness and texture.

With just dark chocolate, it was overpowering.

It was too strong,

it drowned out the filling and it also cracked

because dark chocolate has a high percentage

of cocoa solids.

Chocolate always has to be heated gently.

You can use the microwave or you can use a double boiler.

Make sure that the bottom

of the bowl isn't touching the water in the pan.

I'm wiping the bottom of the bowl to remove any trace

of water because water and chocolate don't get along.

Even a drop of water could seize your chocolate

meaning it can get hard and clumpy.

Take your time, be gentle.

I'm popping this in the freezer to set

while I make the filling.

The hazelnuts are done roasting.

They look evenly golden brown

and they smell buttery and faintly floral.

I'm transferring the hazelnuts to the food processor,

adding a bit of salt.

Quite a lot of salt actually.

I like vanilla bean paste

because it has those little flex of vanilla bean.

It just feels like bougie and special.

Powdered sugar is going to sweeten the filling

and because of its nature

it's going to make it thick and creamy without being gritty.

And here is our surprise guest, most unexpected ingredient

in this recipe.

Crushed ice cream cones are my accessible

and achievable replacement for feuilletine.

Adding this to the filling gives you this crispy

crunchy texture in every single bite.

The filling is ready

and now it's time to put everything together.

The chocolate shell should now be firm and fully set up.

Be gentle

and make sure the filling goes all the way to the sides.

You don't want any gaps between the shell and the filling

or when you go to add the chocolate on top

it'll just pull through.

Now for the top part of the shell,

spooning on the chocolate leftover from before.

I always add flaky salt to my desserts.

I think it adds the right amount

of crunch and just balances the chocolate and the filling.

And now back to the freezer to set the top.

And thanks to all the prep we did

it's going to come right out.

Looking at this tart

it's one of those moments when you're like, oh wow, alright.

I actually can do my job really well.

Just look at that ratio of filling to chocolate.

That's a good one.

Those ridges are super shiny,

that comes from using that non-stick pan

and lightly greasing it.

Courtney is here for our social media.

Courtney is the best and she takes the most enticing videos.

So we're hamming it up for the camera here.

This was one of my favorite recipes to develop

so I hope you try it.

You can find the recipe or and bonappetit.com.