I chose to make homemade chocolates to pair with “Bros” because they have a key place in the movie’s plot.

These chocolates are vegan and gluten-free, making approximately 48 chocolates (this really depends on the size of your molds). You can decide how many “servings” that is.

Chocolate Base
2 10-ounce bags vegan chocolate chips, melted

Toppings/Fillings (optional)
1 8-ounce jar raspberry jam
1 cup peanut butter, melted

Instructions
Before we get started, please know you do not need special pans or molds to make chocolate! I used a silicone mini muffin pan, silicone cupcake liners and silicone ice cube trays to mold my chocolates. You could even use a large silicone mold to make one big chocolate for a decadent treat.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate. Heat it for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each round to move the melting process along.

If you only want to make plain chocolates, pour the melted chocolate into your mold(s) and place it flat in the refrigerator or freezer to solidify. For my plain chocolates, I just partially filled the some holes in my silicone mini muffin pan so they wouldn’t be too thick and entirely filled some of the slots in one ice cube tray.

For the extra flavor versions, put a thick base layer of the melted chocolate into your mold(s) and spread it up the sides of the molds, keeping in mind you will still need room for your filling(s) and a top layer of chocolate.

Place your molds with the base layer in the freezer. Keep it there for at least 4 hours, making sure it has solidified enough to not melt when adding warm peanut butter.

Depending on the type of peanut butter you have, it might need to be heated in the microwave for 30 seconds then stirred to make it extra creamy.

What kind of chocolates you make depend on the molds you have. Since I have cupcake liners, I decided to make peanut butter cups, raspberry cups and peanut butter and jelly cups.

And I used my mini muffin tin to make circular chocolates that were plain, in addition to some filled with raspberry jam, peanut butter or both.

I also used my long ice cube trays to make some raspberry-filled and peanut butter-filled batons (or a combo of the two), in addition to some plain chocolates like I mentioned earlier.

Spread a thin layer of your filling(s) over the top of your solidified base layer of chocolate, not going all the way to the edge so the top layer of melted chocolate can envelop the filling.

Put the chocolates back in the freezer for a few hours so they cool down before you pour the melted chocolate over the top. This prevents the filling and chocolate from melting together and messing up the consistency of your chocolates.

Before you pull the partially formed chocolates out of the freezer, make sure your liquefied chocolate is the right consistency and microwave it for 30 seconds (or more), as needed.

Spoon more chocolate over the top of the fillings so they’re completely covered.

Put them back in the freezer for at least 2 hours. This was about right for the cups I made in my cupcake liners, but the other chocolates did best when I let them freeze overnight.

I decided to do a little something extra once the batons were fully solidified: I placed them on parchment paper and drizzled some of the excess melted peanut butter over the top. I then carefully put them back in the freezer for further solidification.

Please note that you can reheat your melted chocolate and melted peanut butter as needed if it starts to stiffen between steps.

Serve and enjoy with your favorite beverage (I recommend wine or milk) while you watch “Bros!”

The Easy Route
You might be able to find a chocolate sauce that is already melted down to start your chocolates instead of melting chocolate yourself.

Of course, you can also track down some premade tasty chocolate treats online or at a store.

The Pairing
I absolutely adored “Bros” the first time I saw it, and it held up on second viewing.

Comedian Billy Eichner plays Bobby, a popular podcaster and executive director of a LGBTQ+ museum that’s about to open up in New York City.

He seems to be pretty content with his life of Grindr hookups and judging everyone and everything around him, much like Eichner’s comedy routines. Which makes sense, because he also co-wrote the screenplay for “Bros.”

I will say if you don’t like Eichner, you probably won’t like this movie, since he is in almost every scene and also wrote it.

The nonstop cultural references he puts in the dialogue might be too much for some, but I absolutely loved it. Debra Messing memorably has a couple key sequences as an alternate version of herself.

Towards the beginning of the film, Bobby meets Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) at a club. They hit it off, but they have a bunch of awkward encounters and go back and forth about whether or not they really want to be together.

There is some great character development for both Bobby and Aaron, showing them in their jobs and with their families and friends.

As much as I can relate to Bobby and his constant pop culture references, I also found Aaron to be very relatable. Through Aaron’s character, the movie explores a bit of the imposter syndrome LGBTQ+ folks can feel if they don’t think they’re “gay enough” and also the dichotomy between that and feeling a need to tone down your queerness to make the people around you more comfortable.

“Bros” goes a lot deeper than the typical romcom, and I love it for that, too.

If you decide to make chocolates and/or watch “Bros,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, threads, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes