Right off I'm going to say part of me wishes I didn't make these. I have absolutely no self control around the holiday times when Reese's sells their peanut butter eggs, trees, hearts, and pumpkins. It's a problem. So, obviously I am taking a big risk learning how to make them in my own house. But I did. And they taste perfect. And I'm sure I'm going to regret this day!
I found this recipe here and restrained myself as long as I could from giving it a try. They are so simple you may or may not want to make them yourself. It all depends on whether or not YOU have self control to stop at just one, or two, or....you get the idea.
Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Reese's Peanut Butter)
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups of melting chocolate
Mix together the peanut butter, sugar and butter. If the mixture is too thick, add the 1-2 tablespoons of milk. The texture should be stiff but pliable, like Play-Doh. Place the mixture onto a flat surface and spread evenly until is the thickness you desire.
Next, use a cookie cutter or mold your own shapes to dip into chocolate. I did not have a small pumpkin cutter, so I used a small Christmas ornament cutter, which I then shaped into a pumpkin myself. While I was at it, I cut out a few trees to see how they would look.
Also, I could not help but use my small Buffalo cookie cutter to make some Buffalo's. I love representing my home! Once you cut out your shapes (continue remolding the scraps until you have used all of the peanut butter mixture. I also made some ball shapes to make a truffly version.), place them in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes. Use a toothpick stuck in the side of your shape to dip them into melted chocolate. I used Merkins melting milk chocolate wafers. Melt them in a microwaveable bowl for 30 second intervals on Power Level 2 until all chocolate is melted smooth.
After letting the excess chocolate drip off, place the dipped shape onto waxed paper and remove the toothpick. Dab a bit of chocolate onto the hole where the toothpick was. I made the mistake of placing my shapes on a baking rack. I do not advise this, as my shapes stuck to the rack and were not only difficult to remove, but also many of them tore. The ones I placed on waxed paper had excess chocolate melted around the edges, but they came off the paper with no problem and held their shape wonderfully.
How GREAT are these??!! And they taste so, so, so delicious! Really, in a blindfolded taste test I would not be able to tell the difference between these and the real thing. See, this is a problem. Give them a try yourself, you won't regret it. Or, you might!
Love this! I tried making this tonight so yummy! But mine did not hold there shape easily throughout the chocolate dipping process then there was too much extra chocolate to break off without damaging the shape. Any tips?
ReplyDeleteHi, Kate! Thank you so much for letting me know you enjoyed them. This recipe is a bit lethal for me, I hope you have better self control!! As far as your questions, I made these a second time and made a few changes, which I should add to this post. First, the smaller the cutter the better. With the larger shapes it was much more difficult to keep them together. I began using a fork to place the shape in the melted chocolate and then I spooned the chocolate on top to coat it. I used the fork to lift the shape, which was much more stable than the toothpicks. I very lightly tapped the fork on the edge of the bowl to let excess chocolate drip off. Lastly, I used a toothpick to gently coax the chocolate coated shape off of the fork onto the waxed paper. These steps, including the essential freezing before dipping, worked much better. As the chocolate began setting, I used a toothpick to outline the shape (while on the waxed paper)so I could lift it up without having excess to break off. I did this when the chocolate was firm enough to draw a separating line, but not so firm it was difficult to trace the line around the shape. I hope I explained this so it makes sense! If you have further questions about what I wrote, let me know!!
ReplyDeleteI, too, make homemade Reeses. (unfortunately for my hips!) Thought you might try this in your next batch. I use graham cracker crumbs in the mixture which makes it taste like you used crunchy peanut butter-which I sometimes do also! I've found everyone wants to know "What is the crunch? It's soooo good!"
ReplyDeleteI usually just make balls but now I'm going to have to try to do shapes and I have a miniature cookie cutter set just begging to be used. Normally I only do these at Christmas but I don't think I can wait that long!