Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cookies {Recipe}

I think that these cookies from Brown Eyed Baker were the cookie for Christmas 2012. There were everywhere on Pinterest, everywhere on the internet and a huge hit at our Christmas Eve party!  And why not?  They are decadence in a tiny package!

I think that I heard the phrases "these are sin in a double bite," "how did so much flavor get packed into this little cookie," "these things are the devil," and "I cant stop eating these! floating around the party.  My mom even asked to take some home so she could have them with her morning coffee.  That is a huge compliment since she is not a sweets person at all. 

These delicious cookies couldn't be easier to make. 

Thanks to my fabulous KitchenAid stand mixer, the dough went together in a couple of minutes.  While the cookies were baking, D and I unwrapped the mini peanut butter cups.  I think this was the part that took the longest of all.  It takes a while to unwrap all those candies.

I followed Brown Eyed Baker's recipe as written since I didn't want to mess these up.  Though I did use organic peanut butter.  I thought there was already enough sugar in there and didn't want to add any more.  Considering the response, I don't think having no sugar in the PB made any difference.  I also only got about 36 cookies versus the 48 BEB got.  

So if you need a quick, decadent and easy dessert to bring to a party - these should be your choice.


Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Source: Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup organic no sugar added creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
48 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a stand mixer, beat together the butter, peanut butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix for another minute or so to combine.

Reduce mixer speed to low, add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined, giving the dough a final mix with a rubber spatula to ensure all of the flour is incorporated.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, which works out to be about 2 teaspoons worth of dough, and place 1 ball in each of the cups of a miniature muffin pan.  Do not  press into the pan.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until light golden brown and slightly puffy.

Remove from the oven and immediately press a miniature peanut butter cup in the middle of each cookie, pressing down so that the top of the peanut butter cup is even with the top of the cookie.

Cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the pans, and let cool completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Try not to eat them all before your party!

Look Out!

We finally got some snow that was "packable" on Sunday.  

So what happened?  

My stepson tried to get me with a giant snowball!

Chocolate Covered Mashmallows {Recipe}

I came across this pin for caramel and chocolate covered marshmallows from A Turtle's Life for Me.  I thought they would be perfect for our family's Christmas Eve party.  However, I couldn't get the caramel right and it kept slipping right off the marshmallows no matter what I tried.  Blerg!!  I wasted about a dozen marshmallows before I decided that plain chocolate marshmallows would have to do.

Once I made that decision, these went really really fast.

I found these great red and white paper straws at my local Meijer that reminded me of candy canes (they were in a box like this).  Cut in half they were the perfect size for the sticks.

Don't these look delish?  Everyone at the party thought so too which is why out of a whole bag of marshmallows, there were only six left at the end of the night. 

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows
Source: All over the internet

Ingredients:
1 pacakge of marshmallows
1 package of chocolate bark
2 T Crisco
Red & white paper straws cut in half (you can also use lollipop sticks)

Directions:
Break up the chocolate bark into a small saucepan.
Melt over low heat.
Once melted, add 2 tablespoons of Crisco to make the chocolate smooth and glossy.
Insert the 1 cut straw into each marshmallow
Place a piece of parchment paper on your counter
Dip each marshmallow into the chocolate, tapping the straw against the rim to remove the excess chocolate.
Place onto the parchment paper.
Let cool.
Repeat until all your marshmallows are covered.
They only take about 5 minutes to get hard and are ready to serve.
Enjoy! (Don't eat to many before your guest arrive! :-D)