Missing the Holidays

Happy New Year to everyone! I started a post about the New Year and my goals for 2011, but got Writer's Block since I wasn't very inspired by the topic. This morning, as I was driving into work, I suddenly realized how much I missed the holidays and how fast that time of the year seems to go. I have a feeling my January blogs will mostly be about December. Maybe I'll be ready to talk about 2011 next month. LOL.

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is bake. I bake goodies for my office, my mom's staff, the rest of my family, some of my friends, and potluck/holiday parties. When T.J. was still in school, I would bake for his class too. Usually, it's the funfetti cupcakes for whatever holiday (they sell them for July 4th, Halloween, and Christmas). This year, I've been adding to my baking repertoire (e.g. Red Velvet Cake Pops/Truffles, Cookies & Cream Cupcakes) and have been adding the new items to the funfetti cupcakes.

For the holidays, my mom asked me to try a "new" recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Pops/Truffles. I was game since I was somewhat familiar with the process and wanted to see if I can handle the Pop/Truffles a little better the second time around.

If you want the full recipe, let me know and I can email it to you. Otherwise, I'm giving you the abridged version. The filling for these pops is peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter, and rice crispies. Once you mix all that up, shape into balls the size of walnuts, then let them set in the fridge for at least an hour. You want the peanut butter to be hard enough to withstand a coating of melted chocolate, so I recommend having them sit in the fridge overnight if possible. If you have lollipop sticks, then stick those in before putting the batch into the fridge. If you don't have the sticks, you can just leave them as is (that's how you get truffles).

I haven't seen an actual walnut since I was little, so these turned out a bit bigger than they're supposed to. But, yeah, these are the peanut butter balls that are being "set" in the fridge.

After the peanut butter balls have set or hardened, you can start coating them in chocolate (I used a mixture of milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate morsels). Take the ball, coat in chocolate, let the excess chocolate drip off, then coat in crushed peanuts.

Again, let the coated Pops/Truffles set, either in the fridge or at room temp. If you're leaving them out at room temp, do so overnight. And....ta-da...Chocolate Peanut Butter Pops/Truffles!

Lots o' Pops

Pretty Truffles :)

I don't know if it's because it's the peanut butter or the fact that I've already tried to make this type of treat before, but it was A LOT easier making these Pop/Truffles. I still ran into problems with mixing the inner ingredients and properly coating everything, but it's more so because of the lack of tools than anything else. Also, I've been trying cake balls from other places (both homemade and from a bakery) and the cake filling has been too moist for my liking. So the Peanut Butter filling is the kind of texture I prefer...until I find a cake ball that isn't all mushy.

For the most part, everyone that tried them liked them. Then again, I doubt people would tell me they tasted like shit to my face. I tried a couple and they were pretty good, especially with hot unsweetened/unflavored tea. If you want me to make some for the next time we get together or want the recipe to try on your own, holla at your girl :)

Holiday Treats 2010