Peanut Butter Cup Shortbread

I pulled this recipe out of one of my cooking magazines a few years ago, and it's been sitting around in my "recipes I'd really like to try" stack for a while. (It may have been
a Better Homes & Gardens holiday special, but I can't be sure.) Anyway, my holdup was that it looked pretty labor intensive, and I couldn't find a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter anywhere.

Four years later, I still haven't had much luck on the cookie cutter front. But a few weeks ago, I was at a craft store and I wandered into the clay aisle. I had never before been to the clay aisle. I'm still not even sure what it's for. But they DID have a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter.

It's a flower. But flowers can be holiday-ish, too, right? If they're drizzled in chocolate?

Peanut Butter Cup Shortbread
Makes 3-4 dozen

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for rolling
3 ounces finely chopped peanut butter cups
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon shortening

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat until combined, and then beat in flour.

3. Add peanut butter cups, and gently knead the dough until it clings together.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Using a floured 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out pieces and place them 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.

5. Bake about 20 minutes, or until bottoms are just starting to brown. Cool completely on cooling racks placed over waxed paper.

6. Combine chocolate chips and shortening in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook and stir until chocolate melts.

7. Drizzle shortbread with chocolate, or use a pastry bag. (Or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, in my case.)

8. Let chocolate harden before serving.

Peanut Butter Swirl Fudge

The hubby loves fudge at Christmas, and he loves chocolate and peanut butter (you know, like most normal people), so it should stand to reason that he should love chocolate and peanut butter swirled together in fudge, right? Right.

There's no surprise twist to this story. The hubby does like peanut butter swirl fudge.

Okay, there's a bit of a twist. This Hershey's recipe was supposed to be two-tone fudge -- peanut butter on the bottom and chocolate on top. But even though I actually followed the recipe to the letter, there was no way this recipe was going to work without the peanut butter layer setting up first. And by then, the chocolate layer would have been too set up to spread out. So, I attempted to save face by swirling them.

And I think it's purty.

Peanut Butter Swirl Fudge
Makes 25 pieces

1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 7-ounce jar marshmallow creme
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil, extending the foil over the edges of the pan. In a medium bowl, place peanut butter chips. Add chocolate chips to a second medium bowl.

2. In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, marshmallow creme, evaporated milk, and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

My saucepan seemed a wee bit too small, and my mixture almost boiled over. That would have been quite messy.

3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

4. Divide the mixture among the medium bowls with the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

5. Stir peanut butter chips until creamy.

6. Pour into prepared pan.

7. Stir chocolate chips until creamy.

8. Pour over the peanut butter layer.

9. Swirl mixture with a knife.

10. Cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate until firm. Use foil to lift fudge out of pan, and cut into squares.

Caramel-Pretzel Truffles

These truffles could be one of my favorite recipes ever. And I don't say that lightly.

I must've seen a recipe like this at some point that registered in my brain on some level, because I recently had a dream about these (and they just sounded kind of familiar). Caramels wrapped around pretzels and dipped in dark chocolate. YUM. These are tough to beat.

In fact, just yesterday I visited a local candy shop and sampled a dark chocolate-covered caramel. It was good. But too simple. I longed for the missing pretzels inside it. (Maybe I should have said something?)

In my dream, I sprinkled these truffles with sea salt. In reality, I sprinkled a few of the truffles with sea salt, but I thought it took away from the appearance of the truffles. And because the pretzels have enough of their own salt, it didn't really add anything. You know, in case you were wondering.

Caramel-Pretzel Truffles
Makes about 4 dozen

1 package caramels (about 4 dozen), unwrapped
4 dozen pretzel sticks
10 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 teaspoon canola oil
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon shortening

1. Using a rolling pin, roll caramels into large, flat squares, just a fraction of an inch thick (and a few inches square).

This is a great stress reliever. It's also hard work. My shoulders, arms, and hands ached for days. I'm clearly out of shape and need to make these truffles more often. I could have flexor carpi ulnaris of steel!

2. Break pretzel sticks into four pieces, and stack them in the middle of the flattened caramel.

It's a bit like stacking firewood. And you don't have to be terribly precise.

3. Seal caramel around pretzels, and roll into balls.

The caramel is terribly sturdy, so these can hang around for a while. They're not like most truffles, where they have to stay cool or they'll turn to mush. (This also makes them much easier to dip.)

4. Heat dark chocolate and canola oil over low heat until smooth. Dip truffles in chocolate and let set on waxed paper.

5. Heat milk chocolate chips and shortening until smooth. Add mixture to a zip-top bag, snip off a small corner, and drizzle milk chocolate over the truffles.

6. Let set until chocolate is firm.

Saltine Toffee

This was one of my favorites treats when I was growing up, and it's perfect if you're starting to crave some holiday treats but you're not quite ready to dive into your holiday baking just yet.

This toffee takes about 10 minutes to prepare, and then a half-hour to set, and I think it's about the perfect combination of flavors and textures -- salty, crisp crackers, sweet and chewy toffee, and cool, rich chocolate. I can seriously eat an entire pan in one evening, which is why it's very dangerous for me to make this very often. (And I try to give as much of it away as quickly as possible.)

My mom used to make several pans of this in one sitting when I was in high school. We had a smaller kitchen with very little counter space, so Mom would just plop down onto the then-carpeted kitchen floor, adding crackers to all the pans spread out around her.

This being one of my favorites, imagine my shock when the hubby refused to eat it ... based solely on the presence of the saltines. (He actually referred to it as "white trash candy." Of course, he also won't eat something if it has "bake," "casserole," or "hotdish" in the name.) If you run into a similar marketing issue, just try to think of a more creative name for this toffee. Or try a slightly more exotic-sounding cracker, like a matzo cracker. (I once saw a similar recipe in a cooking magazine.)

Or just save all the toffee for yourself.

Saltine Toffee
Makes 18-24 pieces

1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet or pan with foil, and spray the foil with cooking spray.

2. Spread crackers in even rows, so crackers are touching, but not overlapping. (The number of crackers depends on what size baking pan you’re using. I like a 9" by 13" or 10" by 15" pan).

3. In a small saucepan, heat brown sugar and butter over medium-high heat, stirring, until mixture comes to a rolling boil.

4. Pour mixture over crackers, spreading as evenly as possible.

5. Bake 5 minutes.

6. Let cool 1 minute, and then sprinkle with chocolate chips.

7. Let chocolate chips melt for about 1 minute before spreading evenly over toffee.

You can also sprinkle the toffee with nuts, crushed crackers, or sea salt at this point.

8. Chill 30 minutes to set toffee and chocolate.

9. Peel away foil. Using your hands, break toffee into pieces.

(I like to store my toffee in the refrigerator.)

Caramel-Peanut Bites

I'm hungry for a Snickers, but still have a sick little man and some extremely icy roads. What's a girl to do? Make her own!

I saw an episode of Giada at Home on Food Network last fall that included a recipe for Smoked Almond Turtles that looked fabulous. And while that's still on my list of recipes to try, I decided to adapt the ingredients to make what I was craving. So I used Giada's caramel recipe, but changed, well, everything else. Including the size of the candies. I used mini muffin tins, because muffin-sized turtles sounded like a bit too much of a snack.

I'm speaking calorie-wise here. Appetite-wise, I could totally handle it.

Caramel-Peanut Bites
Makes 24

Cooking spray
1 c. halved or coarsely chopped peanuts
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 c. milk chocolate chips

1. Generously coat 24 mini muffin cups with cooking spray. Sprinkle peanuts in each muffin cup.

2. In a saucepan, combine cream, butter, brown sugar, and water. Stir over medium heat until combined. Then attach a candy thermometer and let mixture boil, without stirring, until it reaches 240 degrees.

3. Let caramel cool for about 30 seconds, and then pour a few teaspoons over the peanuts in each muffin cup. (I had some caramel left over.) Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

4. Melt chocolate chips in microwave or in a saucepan over low heat. Spoon melted chocolate over the top of each candy.

5. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

6. Use a small spatula or knife to remove the candies. Store in the refrigerator if you won't be eating them right away.

Macadamia Nut Chews

This is a new recipe that I decided to try this year. No particular reason, just that the combination of macadamias, homemade caramel, and milk chocolate sounded utterly divine.

This is an Emeril Lagasse recipe, and the only change I made was to drizzle the chews with chocolate rather than coating them. (Our taste-testing panel determined that too much chocolate overwhelms the taste of the caramels.)

On a convenience note, Mauna Loa sells bags of prechopped macadamias, which are a girl's best friend. Keep an eye on the nuts when you toast them; I put mine in for 6 minutes, and they still got a bit brown.

I highly recommend a candy thermometer for this recipe. (I’m too impatient to drop the candy in a glass of water to test it. My father would be so disappointed.) Invest in a decent candy thermometer; the $2 or $3 versions are baiscally a single-use item. (It’s never a good thing when you pull a thermometer out of the drawer and it already reads 130 degrees.) Go to a kitchen supply store and invest in a decent clip-on candy thermometer; it shouldn’t set you back more than $10 or $12. Then, take care of it. Clean it as soon as you can when you’ve finished with it, and avoid putting it in the dishwasher. (I think this has been my primary downfall.) And then, like me, dream of the day when you rise to the ranks of digital thermometer ownership.

But back to the food. I’m not a huge caramel person, but the caramel in this recipe is so good that I licked the pan. When it was still hot. If you’re not a chocolate person, just make the macadamia caramels. If you’re not a macadamia person, either, just make the caramel. It’s. That. Yummy.

Macadamia Nut Chews
Makes about 60

1 tsp. butter
4 oz. macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
2 c. sugar
½ c. brown sugar
¼ c. light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 c. heavy cream, at room temperature
1 c. milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Line an 8x8 square pan with aluminum foil, allowing the foil to hang over the edges. Grease the pan with 1 tsp. butter.

3. Place nuts on a small baking sheet and put in oven. Toast until golden brown, about 6 minutes. (You can shake the pan to more evenly toast them. I didn’t use a pan with sides, though, so this would have been a mess.) Remove from oven and cool. Sprinkle over bottom of prepared pan.

4. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Combine the sugars, corn syrup, salt, vanilla, butter, and cream. Stir constantly until fully incorporated, about 1 minute. Raise heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat again to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 254 degrees (hardball stage). (This will take about 15 minutes.)

5. Pour caramel over nuts. Place pan in a draft-free area and cool completely. (It’s fun to watch the macadamias pop up into the caramel. I’m easily amused.)

6. Turn caramel onto cutting board and cut in 1” squares.

7. In a small bowl, melt chips. Put into a small resealable bag and cut the edge of one corner. Use as a piping bag to drizzle melted chips over chews.

Heh. I'm in my jammies.

8. Lay on wax paper until chocolate sets.

Macadamia chews as far as the eye can see!

9. Store in an airtight container. The recipe says don’t refrigerate; I’m guessing they harden. I might refrigerate one just to see what happens. I’m daring that way.

Update: I like the refrigerated version better. However, the "airtight" thing is key. If you move the chews from your functional Tupperware to your lovely, non-airtight candy tins, you might end up with macadamia nut bars rather than macadamia nut chews. You've been warned.

Almond Toffee

I make almond toffee every year, not because anyone else requests it, but because it’s one of MY favorites. And while I’m more than happy with the flavor of the recipe I’ve been using for several years, it doesn’t always want to set up right. (If you also suffer from toffee-related problems, baking911.com has an excellent page for toffee troubleshooting.)

So this year I decided to try a new toffee recipe, which is a recipe for classic toffee from Cuisine at Home, and then add my almonds in it as usual. I also adjusted the temperatures slightly. As always, feel free to substitute any nuts you like in place of the almonds.

This toffee is about twice as thick as my previous recipe, which makes the toffee flavor more pronounced. The toffee definitely set up better, although it was quite the workout trying to cut it into pieces. You can also slam the pan down onto the counter to break the toffee, but I’m a lover, not a fighter.

If you end up with leftover toffee after the holidays – although I’m not sure why you would – crush it and add it to cookies. Or cake. Or muffins. Or your cereal.

Almond Toffee

Makes 1¾ lbs.

1 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature

2 sticks butter

2 c. sugar

2/3 c. hot water

2/3 c. light corn syrup

1 tsp. table salt

1/3-1/2 c. slivered almonds (depending on how much you like almonds)

Topping

6 oz. milk chocolate chips

¼ c. slivered almonds

1. Coat a 9x13 pan with 1 Tbsp. butter.

2. Melt 2 sticks butter in large saucepan over medium heat, just until butter starts to boil.

3. Stir in sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt until combined. When mixture begins to boil, cover for 1-2 minutes to melt sugar crystals on side of pan. (The sugar crystals can make your toffee grainy. Nobody likes a grainy toffee.)

4. Remove lid, insert candy thermometer, and continue cooking mixture, stirring frequently. When mixture reaches 300 degrees, stir in almonds.

5. Immediately pour into pan, spreading evenly to edges of pan.

6. Let cool for 1 hour at room temperature. (Don't cool in the fridge, or your chocolate won't stick.)

7. Melt chocolate chips on stovetop or in microwave, stirring frequently. Spread onto set toffee. Sprinkle on almonds. Lightly press almonds into chocolate with back of a spoon. Let stand until chocolate sets.

8. Break toffee out of pan using fork or paring knife. Or slam it, if you’re willing to risk dislodging your chocolate and almonds (gasp!).

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Truffles

I typically make five or six types of truffles each year – everything from dark chocolate to caramel to cookie dough – but this year I want to make only a few kinds that everyone really likes. I’ve noticed that some truffles disappear much more quickly than others.

Such as the scotcheroo truffles, which are rapidly disappearing even since yesterday. I also wanted to try some sort of cookies ‘n’ cream truffle, because the men in the family are Oreo types. I’m not, but I a am a cream cheese type. Everybody wins.

If you're a fan of white chocolate, you can use that to coat the truffles rather than semisweet. And obviously the drizzling of the truffles is optional (but so very pretty). You can use whatever flavor chips you like. (I've gotten in the habit of color-coding my truffles.)

This recipe is from Kraft Foods, and it’s very, very simple. But messy. You might be picking Oreo crumbs from under your fingernails three days from now. But this is baking. Embrace the mess.

Cookies ‘n’ Cream Truffles

Makes about 50

3 c. finely chopped Oreos (about 28-30 cookies)

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

8 oz. semisweet chocolate

¼ tsp. canola oil

¼ c. white chocolate or vanilla chips, for drizzling

1. Combine Oreo crumbs and cream cheese until thoroughly mixed.

2. Form mixture into 1” balls. Set on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, and let cool in a refrigerator or your -10 degree garage.

3. Heat chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir occasionally until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in oil.

4. To temper the chocolate, dip the bottom of the bowl of chocolate in a sink or bowl of cold water. Then stir chocolate until it begins to thicken. Immediately remove from cold water and place back over pot of simmering water. Stir just long enough to make the chocolate liquid again.

5. Remove bowl from heat.

6. Dip truffles in chocolate. Lay on waxed paper to cool and set up.

7. In a small bowl, melt chips. Put into a small resealable bag and cut the edge of one corner. Use as a piping bag to drizzle melted chips over truffles.

8. Let set and place truffles in a sealed container. On pretty paper liners. (You'll want to keep these refrigerated, as well.)

And again, give one a try.

Sorry, I can’t take clear photos when my mouth is full.

Scotcheroo Truffles

We’re in the middle of the first blizzard of the season, and it’s a doozy. Bitterly cold temperatures, really dry snow, and wind gusts of 50 mph do not make for a pleasant combination. Most of the roads are closed. I was going to take a picture of the lovely weather outside our front door, but there’s a huge snow drift in front of it and I can’t get out.

So we’re holed up inside and I couldn’t be happier. I love this kind of weather on weekends when we don’t have to go anywhere – especially when I have holiday baking that I can do!

Now, the first step in acting the part of the holiday baking whiz is to look the part.

Santa apron, check. Ho ho ho chef’s hat, check. No, the hat isn’t personalized. It’s purely coincidence.

I’m going to focus on making some of my favorite candies today and save the cookies for later this week. The first item on the agenda is Scotcheroo truffles. I found the idea for this recipe in an old community cookbook, and it’s been so long that I forget which one it was. So my apologies to the creator; you’re a genius. These truffles are a huge hit in my family because they taste a lot like Scotcheroos, a peanut butter and Rice Krispie bar covered with chocolate frosting. And we’re big fans of Scotcheroos. (The hubby has declared these “the perfect food.”)

The mixture does set up relatively quickly, so you might want an extra hand rolling the truffles, especially if you make a double batch like I did. (I have to make a double batch. There’s a lot of pouting when we run out, and I can’t handle the guilt.) All my extra hands were still asleep, but I did have Charlie.

He cleans up whatever I drop on the floor. I don’t know what I’d do without him. Probably buy a broom.

Coating truffles in chocolate can be tricky, and odds are, your truffles won’t all look perfect. In that case, drizzle them with peanut butter, white chocolate, dark chocolate, butterscotch, or any other kind of melted chips. This is seriously the greatest diversionary tactic since the Trojan Horse.

Clearly this is the work of a professional.

Scotcheroo Truffles
Makes 40

1 c. sugar
½ c. light corn syrup
1 c. creamy peanut butter
2 c. Rice Krispies or other toasted rice cereal
1 lb. semisweet chocolate
½ tsp. canola oil
¼ c.melted chips for drizzling, optional

1. Combine sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, and mixture starts to come to a boil. (This will be somewhere around 10 minutes; you want the mixture to start to come to a boil, but not a rolling boil.)

2. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Stir in Rice Krispies.

3. Roll mixture into 1” balls. Set on a baking sheet liked with wax paper and let cool. (I prefer to chill mine. You can do so in the fridge. Or, if it’s -7 degrees like it is here, the garage is plenty chilly.)

4. Heat chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. (Don’t actually let the water touch the bottom of the bowl; you only want the steam to heat the chocolate.) Stir occasionally until chocolate is melted and smooth. Stir in oil.

5. If you want your truffles shinier and less streaky, dip the bottom of the bowl of chocolate in a sink or bowl of cold water. Then stir chocolate until it begins to thicken. Immediately remove from cold water and place back over pot of simmering water. Stir just long enough to make the chocolate liquid again. This is what’s referred to as tempering your chocolate. It’s optional; no one may notice the difference but me.

6. Remove bowl from heat.

7. Dip truffles in chocolate. I use two spoons to help get rid of the excess chocolate.

Lay on waxed paper to cool and set up.

8. In a small bowl, melt chips. Put into a small resealable bag and cut the edge of one corner. Use as a piping bag to drizzle melted chips over truffles.

9. Let set and place truffles in a sealed container. Use paper liners, if you're feeling fancy schmancy.

Then, of course you have to try one.