 |
I am extra proud of these, not only for pulling them off in less than half an hour, but because I improvised the recipe. You see, I am an exact baker. I follow the recipe, exactly. I measure the ingredients, exactly. I want my creation to look just like the picture, exactly. My mom is one of the best cooks I know and she frustrates me so much when I try to pin her down for a recipe… “oh you know, some of this, a little of that”. No! I don’t have a measuring cup for “some’!
I took a few days off from the computer for Christmas… and now I am [hiding] in the office to escape the very same Christmas that has since exploded into every room of my house. (Minimally in here… just the cat, Meow Meow, new toys. Which BTW do you know what Catnip is??? Only after I saw Meow Meow going nuts over her new toys did I find out that Catnip, or Nepeta cataria, is like marijuana for cats! A “recreational substance for cat’s enjoyment” according to Wikipedia. Oh great, dealing to the cat, in front of the child, and on Christmas no less.)
 |
| Meow Meow |
Christmas was so fun this year. BellaRoos is finally of age where she can really get in to and understand what is going on. I love when she comes home from preschool telling me about Jesus’ birthday or singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. More than anything, I think she most enjoyed looking at the Christmas lights. Definitely had a good “Mom Cry Moment” when ‘The One” took us to see lights and they started singing Christmas songs together.
Speaking of The One… as we are sitting on the couch playing Super Mario for Wii like two kids at 11:30pm (bound and determined to beat this level before bed) he says “Hey babe, weren’t you going to make something to take to my Dad’s tomorrow? They’ve been reading your blog [Hi Paula] and noticed you said you like to make pretty food”. Oh great. Here it is thirty minutes to midnight on Christmas and there’s not a stick of butter in my house to be found! Quick, what can I make without butter? To the cookbooks! Skimming…skimming… Ah-ha!
I found a recipe for peanut butter cups—only four ingredients—perfect!! Quick, easy, and pretty! Well, small problem, I am dangerously low on one of the key ingredients… peanut butter. Now this is a real shocker because PB&J’s are the base of BellaRoos food pyramid.
Peeking out in the back of the pantry I see a jar of Honey Roasted Peanuts… well, peanut butter is made out of peanuts right? I have a fleeting notion to Google ‘how to make peanut butter out of peanuts’ ha-ha, but decided there was no time. Instead I am going to improvise, and dumped a handful of peanuts into my small food processor. (Which, BTW, seems 4x as loud when it’s midnight and you have a sleeping child in the next room).
I rationed half of what little peanut butter we had (about 2 large spoonfuls) into a saucepan with about 8oz of white almond bark. I mixed in the finely chopped nuts and stirred constantly over medium heat until smooth.
 |
| I didn’t think to take a picture until I tasted it and decided this was going to work |
I filled two mini muffin pans ½ to ¾ full with the peanut butter/ white chocolate. Looking good! I popped them into the freezer for about 10 minutes while I prepared the milk chocolate mixture.
This time I didn’t add any chopped nuts; I wanted the tops to be smooth. I mixed 8oz chocolate almond bark and another 2 large spoonfuls of peanut butter (desperately scraping the sides just to get that much) into another saucepan over medium heat. I took the first batch out of the freezer and spooned the chocolate over the top, filling the cups.
Put them back into the freezer for about 10 more minutes, before moving them into the refrigerator to chill overnight. They are delish!! Even better than Reese’s!
What an excellent idea! I love anything that use peanut butter and chocolate!
My cat loves playing with his cat nip toy that he got for Christmas too!
Thanks for following me. I am following you now too.