Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts

Ah, love is in the air. Or at least, candy is. Any grocery store you step into has been lined with pink, red, and white heart-shaped chocolates, conversation hearts, and more since the end of Christmas. But, yes, it is now officially February. The month of the valentine.

That's not exactly why I chose to make heart-shaped chocolate cookies with little white and pink raspberry HERSHEY'S HUGS in the center. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning on Saturday unable to go back to sleep. So decided to do some 4:00 a.m. baking, the results of which I could bring in to work (I work all day at the public library on Saturdays). I had also bought the HUGS a few weeks ago, waiting until there was enough time for a new baking project that I could share with my coworkers there. It's been a while. Ever since I got my second job at a college library in mid-January, I haven't had as much time to bake for the public library, so maybe this was a little valentine to them, a "hug" with each cookie brought in that Saturday morning and quite gone by Saturday afternoon.

The good thing was, Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts are so easy to make that it wasn't an overwhelming task for a slightly groggy librarian to undertake at 4:00 a.m. I basically enhanced my Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Bites recipe (combining it with my Peanut Butter Thumbprints recipe), pressed the dough into a heart-shaped cookie cutter:

...and then added the HUGS after baking.

To re-create:

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate peanut butter spread (I use Sunland brand)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
16-18 HERSHEY'S HUGS (white chocolate wrapped in milk chocolate--I used the seasonal Valentine's Day "raspberry" flavor)

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the chocolate peanut butter spread, sugar and egg, stirring with a fork until all ingredients are well incorporated.

2.) Use your fingers to keep the dough together and form small 1-inch balls by rolling the dough in the palms of your hands. Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment (NOT wax) paper and press a small, heart-shaped cookie cutter around each ball until they become heart-shaped themselves. Remove excess dough from the sides of the cookie cutter and flatten the hearts slightly before baking.

3.) Bake approximately 10 minutes (keep an eye on them so they don't over bake) until the edges of the cookies just begin to harden. Remove from the oven and immediately press a chocolate HUG into the center of each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 more minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. The hugs might melt a little. That's okay. They taste delicious in "puddle" form too.

Am I cheating by basically remaking the same cookie I've already made and re-blogging the results with only a slight variation? Well, the cookies still received so many compliments, the pictures look awesome (pink and white stripes can be quite fashionable!) and I did promise to blog about something chocolately for Valentine's Day. There will be more chocolate, of course, since Valentine's Day is still over a week away and I'll need to make more treats for my family and friends then. But I'm just grateful that I finally had time to bake something again. Even if it was at 4:00 in the morning. I guess that shows just how much I love to bake, and how much I love the people I'm bake for.

For the Love of Chocolate!

What better time of year to make chocolate treats than during the holidays? (Okay, well Valentine's Day might be a good time to bring this one back, especially considering how I love the whole idea of girls making homemade chocolate for the boys they like as they do in Japan).

But anyway, what I love about making your own chocolate is that you can totally control what goes in it, and (if you use chocolate chips for melting), it's so completely fast and easy!

I actually made these Peanut Butter Cups and S'mores Pops in November (shh, don't tell anyone I'm that behind on my blogging!) but the Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries and the Fun Chocolate Shapes were this month at least! As we reach the end of 2011, it's the perfect time for a few final indulges before January rolls around and we all start dieting again!

Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:

1 bag (about 12 oz.) dark or milk chocolate chips (your preference--I like Ghirardelli 60% Cacao chips since they're easier on my stomach than milk or semisweet chips, plus they have more antioxidants! Note: chocolate over 60% Cacao will be better for you, but taste extremely bitter)
1 jar (about 15 oz.) creamy peanut butter
Mini cupcake liners and a mini cupcake pan


Directions:

1.) Fill a mini cupcake pan with paper liners. Empty the chocolate chips into a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for approximately 90 seconds, stirring after 30 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth.

2.) Immediately pour about 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of chocolate into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Then, using a teaspoon or other small spoon, drop a dollop of peanut butter into the center of each liner (the amount of peanut butter you want is up to you!). Pour another 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of chocolate in each cupcake liner so that the peanut butter is completely covered. Twist your spoon to drizzle the chocolate into swirly designs on the tops. You may end up with extra chocolate and peanut butter leftover to do with as you please--it all depends on how many candies you have the desire (and energy) to make.

3.) Refrigerate approximately 30-45 minutes, then remove from fridge and let come to room temperature. Congratulations, you now have delicious homemade "Reese's"! Remove the paper liners and eat the cups up or share them with friends and loved ones! There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's so there's certainly no wrong way to nibble, bite, inhale, and devour these babies!

 

S'mores Pops


Ingredients:
1 bag (about 12 oz.) chocolate chips
1 bag (about 16 oz.) marshmallows (regular or large, not the minis)
Graham crackers of your choice
Bamboo sticks or other small wooden skewers

Directions:

1.) Crush as many graham crackers as you like into small pieces using a food processor or by sealing them in a plastic baggie and running a rolling pin (or a mallet) over them. Place into a bowl and set aside. Empty the chocolate chips into a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for approximately 90 seconds, stirring after 30 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth.

2.) Skewer marshmallows at the end of your wooden sticks and dip immediately into the chocolate until the marshmallows are thoroughly coated. Quickly dip into the bowl of graham cracker crumbs. Let the pops sit out at room temperature until the chocolate has hardened (I found this worked easiest by pushing the skewers through the bottom of a paper cup turned upside-down, and taping the cup to the countertop so it wouldn't topple over).

3.) Eat plain, or light on fire first for a true campfire S'more experience! (Please do not eat while the fire is still going--wait until it burns itself out or else blow out the flame before consumption!) There's nothing quite like the taste of charred marshmallow (I'm serious here--it's SO good!

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

Ingredients:
1 bag (about 12 oz.) dark or white chocolate chips
1 container large strawberries (I found long-stem strawberries at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market).
Parchment paper


Directions:

1.) Empty the chocolate chips into a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for approximately 90 seconds, stirring after 30 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth. Immediately dip the strawberries deep into the bowl until thoroughly coated. Remove from the chocolate and let sit on the parchment paper until the chocolate hardens.

2.) Eat immediately, or refrigerate to eat later! With luck these will last in the fridge at least a few days, though they taste best (obviously) when they're fresh!

Fun Chocolate Shapes!

Ingredients:
 
1 bag (about 12 oz.) chocolate chips
Maldon sea salt (a nice flaky salt, or a nice sea salt works best, though any salt will do. For a good explanation of salts, check out this blog!)
Small cookie cutters of your choice
Parchment paper



Directions:

1.) Place cookie cutters upside-down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Empty the chocolate chips into a large, microwave-safe bowl and microwave for approximately 90 seconds, stirring after 30 second intervals until the chips are melted and smooth.

2.) Immediately pour the chocolate into the cookie cutter molds and let sit. Sprinkle with salt (this makes for such a nice salty-sweet contrast!). As carefully as you can (the chocolate will want to escape the molds) transfer the baking sheet to the fridge and let the candies completely harden.

3). When ready to eat, remove the chocolates from the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature before attempting to push them out of the cookie cutter molds. Some will pop out easily while others may require a little more pushing. Yes, you will get chocolate on your fingers. It's delicious.

That's all there is to it! Now you can have your own homemade chocolates any time you want! Even though it's still technically December (for one more day) I've noticed that all the grocery stores are already decked in Valentine's Day displays....  So I guess it's not too early to start practicing your chocolatier skills too. It's certainly never too early for chocolate. So with that, I wish you a happy end to 2011, and a very sweet New Year! More treats to come in 2012!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Bites

Need a tasty cookie in a hurry? Want something both different and familiar? Love the whole, "You got chocolate in my peanut butter" flavor combination? Look no further than these quick and easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Bites! Adapted from my traditional Peanut Butter Thumbprints recipe, this one's even easier. I just put it together last night in a (successful) experiment to be brought to my coworkers this morning. The peanut butter I used is Sunland brand, bought at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and has the chocolate already inside it! (Sunland also makes a variety of other flavored peanut butters that I love, including Banana. Check out their website home page and you'll be greeted by an entertaining Valencia peanut song as well). Or you could always try with Nutella. But to keep the flavors as simple and clean as possible, I stuck with tradition. ("You got peanut butter in my chocolate!')

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate peanut butter spread
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg


Directions:


1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter sugar and egg, stirring with a fork until all ingredients are well incorporated.

2.) Use your fingers to keep the dough together and form small 1-inch balls by rolling the dough in the palms of your hands. Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment (NOT wax) paper, and flatten slightly to form small discs (or what I like to call "buttons").

3.) Bake for approximately 8 minutes until the edges of the cookies just begin to harden. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

That's it! You're done! Wasn't that easy? Next time I might try pressing some kind of white chocolate or other candy in the center to make a "thumbprint." Or see how the recipe turns out with that banana peanut butter....

Peanut Butter Thumbprints

 
Bake Sale recipe #1! I call these cookies "thumbprints" because traditional recipes involve pressing your thumb into the center of each ball of dough in order to make a spot for your filling (chocolate, jam, etc). In my simple recipe, however, you need only press your chocolate into the center of each baked cookie while they're still warm. Saves you time. Saves your thumbs. All you need to remember is the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly!), with a pile of handy HERSHEY'S KISSES.

The first three steps in this recipe can also be used for plain peanut butter cookies without the chocolate KISSES. I first learned it from my aunt/Godmother when she found out I liked to bake. It's a quick peanut butter cookie recipe that only requires three ingredients, and not even any flour! So when I'm not in the mood for chocolate, I just take a fork sprayed with a touch of nonstick cooking spray and make a criss-cross pattern on the top of each ball of dough to flatten it. The finished cookies instead will look like the ones below.

For Peanut Butter Thumbprint cookies, however, you can get a great presentation without that much extra work. So for a bake sale that requires a lot of product to sell, I knew this would be the perfect recipe to utilize.

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (I use Skippy Natural (Creamy) as it doesn't have hydrogenated oils but is still nice and smooth).
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
12-18 chocolate KISSES (for the bake sale I went with milk chocolate, but previous batches I've made using dark chocolate--see the picture above "About Me and This Blog"--since it's healthier and also better on my stomach).

Yes, that's really all you need!

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, sugar, and egg. Stir well until the egg is no longer visible.

2.) Form the dough into 1-inch balls (you can vary the size, going a little bit smaller if you want the cookies to match the size of the KISSES or larger if you prefer big cookies). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten just slightly with your hand.

3.) Bake approximately 10 minutes (keep an eye on them so they don't over bake).

4.) Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate KISS into the center of each cookie. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 more minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and allow the chocolate to harden again. You want the bottom of the KISS to melt into the cookie just a bit while the tip keeps its pointy shape. Or, if you prefer traditional "thumbprint" cookies, you can press the kisses flat and have a little pool of chocolate in the center of each cookie instead.

And that's all there is to it! Simple, quick, pretty, and delicious! My older brother is a big fan of this cookie because he loves peanut butter, and apparently it was a hit at the bake sale too--my boxes of thumbprints disappeared before the end of the first sale day, so I made more to bring for day two.

Bake Sale!

I feel like it's been far too long since I've blogged. Fortunately, this isn't because I haven't been baking. Quite the contrary--I've been too busy baking! As recently as Friday and Saturday I faced one of my biggest experiments yet that I was all too eager to take on: a bake sale! Not only was this my first bake sale ever (so excited, so excited!), but the money raised is being donated to the library district where I work through the Henderson Libraries Foundation! Books and baking? Definitely a fundraiser I can get behind!

The biggest challenge was deciding just what I was going to bring to the table, and when I'd have the time to bake it all. My final menu ended up being: 15 Caramel Apples, 48 Peanut Butter Thumbprint cookies, 12 Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes, and 3 good old fashioned Pumpkin Pies! These sounded like perfect fall treats, were a great mix of successfully tested recipes and recipes I'd been wanting to try, and were easy enough to make in the short period of time I had free after work Thursday evening (four hours of baking from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.) and on Saturday morning (another hour and a half before work).

I wasn't the only one baking, of course. Our talented library staff pulled out all the stops with a variety of goods that included cupcakes, muffins, cookies, brownies, cereal bars, lemon bars, sheet cakes, cake pops, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, breads, Buckeyes and more! Tomorrow I'll learn the grand total amount of just how much we raised together. I couldn't be more proud. And more inspired to bake than ever.

I don't know if I'll ever own my own bake shop (maaaybe one day...) but I can go all out with any bake sale I encounter, having a blast baking up big batches of treats for the members of my community and wrapping them in eye-catching adornment from craft shops like Michael's for the perfect presentation. I live for this kind of thing.

My experiences with each bake sale recipe, and my personal twists on those recipes, coming soon!