Valentines Day Treats Challenge Day Three: Peanut Butter Balls

I'm very excited to do this segment that I have named TinyBug Treats. Every so often I will feature one of these on the blog. What this means is my TinyBug will be cooking (with a little mommy help) the treats herself, helping with the writing process, and giving her own opinion on the end result. Hope everyone will enjoy this as much as we have.

For our first TinyBug treat we decided to try out some Peanut Butter Balls. All throughout my childhood I looked forward to Christmas time..not for the presents but because my Grandma would make these! She would always send us a huge ziplock filled with perfectly round, perfectly peanut buttery filled treats. That bag wouldn't even last a few hours.
Since time has passed and I'm more busy and even sometimes too lazy to take visits to see her I was excited to make these because its literally been years since I've gotten to shove my mouth full of these little babies!

I found the recipe here and according to my grandmother its the same recipe she also usually follows.
Its a super easy and inexpensive recipe that is a must try!

What You Will Need:

1 cup Crunchy Peanut Butter I used creamy though
1/4 cup margarine or butter softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups Rice Krispies dry cereal Doesn't have to be named brand but I used the good stuff
1 1/2 cup milk chocolate morsels I used Herseys milk chocolate baking melts & used one 10oz bag
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening I actually totally forgot this ingredient. Haha!

What You Need To Do:

(everything is better with powdered sugar)

(Some creamy goodness & a sweet little smirk)

1. In a large bowl, with a mixer, mix together peanut butter, butter, and sugar on medium speed until completely combined. Add cereal mixing thoroughly. We mixed this part together by hand.

(She was very careful with the krispies)

(This was her favorite part! She said she was building new muscles up)

2. Once you have mixed in the cereal take a tablespoon and round out small balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. We used waxed paper and it worked fine. We also didn't bother trying to make balls because of the mess. Instead we just drop down small clumps which resulted in us having Peanut Butter Clusters instead of balls. You can also use baking cups instead of just laying them out on a sheet..this is totally up to you! Once you are done with that place them in the fridge for up to an hour. We as usual threw ours into the freezer for about half an hour. 

3. Melt chocolate morsels and shortening in a saucepan over low heat stirring constantly. We totally forgot the shortening so that was never even added. Didn't seem to matter though. We also just melted ours in the microwave for under a minute. Spoon one teaspoon melted chocolate over each peanut butter ball. You can of course add more depending on the size of your peanut butter balls. I also used the curve of the spoon to press against the sides of the peanut butter mixture to make sure all sides were covered with chocolate. Refrigerate until firm. Again we stored ours in the freezer for an hour and a half. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator. After sealing them correctly we placed in the fridge. 

(Before covering them with chocolate we placed these bad boys in the freezer to get firm!)

(Our end results! Peanut Butter "Clusters!")

The best way to describe this treat would be a crispy Reeses on steroids! Its a powerful little treat packed full of peanut buttery goodness! Its super easy to make. My TinyBug was able to do most of the work with little to no help. They also don't require many ingredients that are overly expensive. A great quick snack! 

TinyBug's Review & Thoughts:
I liked the powdered sugar stuff. It was soft. I stuck my fingers in the bag when mom wasn't looking.
My favorite part was..I uh..I was putting the stuff in the bowl. I was putting stuff in the bowl. Well, I liked when I was mixing, too. I liked mixing because its just fun to mix. My arms weren't even tired one bit. Um, I liked when mom scooped out the peanut butter stuff onto the pan because it was really mushy looking. I didn't want to touch the mushy stuff because I had new nail polish on. I was in charge of checking on the things on the pan when they were in the freezer. 

(These aren't M&Ms)

I think they tasted nice. I would rather have M&Ms though. Mom should make those. I like those. Specially those teeny tiny ones. Yeah, lets make those.


Final Ratings:

Taste Rating: 10 I am biased though because this is basically a walk down memory lane for me!
Easiness Rating: 9 other than a few messes with spooning them out on the sheet and covering them with chocolate..its super quick and easy! Plus whats baking without a little mess? No fun of course!

Thanks for taking the time to read.
Hope you enjoyed this TinyBug Treat post!

xoxo
Treatbug


 .....oh, and TinyBug too.

Valentines Day Treats Challenge Day Two: Cookie Dough Truffles

14 Days Of Valentine's Day Treats Challenge Day One: Homemade Snickers Bars

Starting off my first actual blog post and my first day of my Valentine's Day Challenge I decided to try a recipe I found for homemade Snickers bars.

When I was in high school I was obsessed with Snickers. Nowadays though I'm not as into them as I once was because I actually am not that into chocolate or sweets in general anymore...although I can get down on some Snickers ice cream bars.
The reason I chose to do this recipe though was because I figured it would be a good one to try because mostly everyone knows what a Snickers tastes like so its a bit easier to compare and review how they taste.

(Sorry my photos are not great this post..but I had to take them by myself while trying to continuously stir & make actual dinner at the same time..I even forgot to take a few pics of a few of the layers..this being my first post though I think it will be okay..I can only improve from here.)

Here is the recipe that I followed. I actually didn't change any of the instructions other than I did use a bit more peanuts in my nougat layer.
Upon first seeing this recipe I worried I bit off more than I could chew..not because its a hard recipe but because there was a bunch of different layers..so I wasn't sure how time consuming the whole process would take. BUT this recipe was super easy. If you have no experience in the kitchen at all this won't be a hard treat for you to make. It also actually didn't take as long as I had stressed.

This recipe makes about a 9x13 pan..and then you can cut it up however you want.
I suggest using one of those foil paking pans..the 1/2 sheet cake sheet..because you can turn it over & pop these out before cutting them. Make sure to thoroughly grease your pan though first before starting.

Bottom Chocolate Layer
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter (I used creamy)

(the hot peanut butter is actually melting the chocolate chips on its own!)

Melt these ingredients together in a saucepan. (I melted these in the microwave for just under or about a minute. Even when the chocolate chips weren't melted completely..once I stirred the hot peanut butter it immediately melted the chips) Pour into pan and then spread out evenly. Let it get hard and cool completely. (I stuck mine in the freezer for a few minutes while I prepped the next layer)

Nougat Layer

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts finely chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract 

(I finely chopped up some peanuts..but then ended up deciding it needed more peanuts although I didn't even bother to cut those up.)

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved. Once dissolved bring to a boil. Let cook for 5 minutes (I did 3 or so because our stove/oven cooks quickly) Stir occasionally. Add in fluff (I added a whole jar..the 7oz Kraft jars you get from the store..trying to measure of marshmallow fluff is disastrous and messy..so I used the whole thing..because who doesn't like marshmallowey goodness?!) peanut butter, and vanilla stirring until smooth. Turn off heat and fold in peanuts. (At this point I grabbed the pan from the freezer & checked to make sure it had hardened) Pour over chocolate layer then let cool and harden. (I stuck in back into the freezer to prep the next layer.)

Caramel Layer
1 14oz bag of caramels(I actually only got a 10oz bag. You can make your own caramel if you want but this was pretty quick and easy other than the tedious task of unwrapping them. I used Kraft Original Caramels. They are small cubes and pretty easy to melt)
1/4 cup whipping cream (I'm sure most people know this..but this does not mean whipped cream..this is completely different. Its in the milk isle.)

Combine ingredients together in a saucepan over low heat. (Again I just stuck them in the microwave. A little over a minute and it melted just fine.) Let melt, stirring until smooth. Pour over nougat layer and cool completely. (Same as before..stuck in in the freezer)

(I unfortunately have no photos of this process. About this time my Father in Law called & I was busy chatting away with him discussing our Super Bowl menu.)

Top Chocolate Layer
Just as the bottom layer in the beginning
1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter

Melt ingredients. Then pour over caramel layer and spread smooth. Then let cool and hardened. 


Once I was done with all layers I popped it back into the freezer for about 10 minutes. I then cut out bars while it was still in the foil pan. I did take some out of the pan and arranged them (not very neatly) onto a serving tray for the Super Bowl shindig and then left a few in the pan itself for my boyfriend & I to try.

As I had said before..I am not a big fan of chocolate or sweets anymore..but my boyfriend says they tasted amazing. My main concern was that they taste like a Snickers. He confirmed that they do taste like a Snickers but better because they are creamier & gooier.
The small bite that I had was definitely good. The amount of product you get from a short simple recipe is definitely worth the work instead of just buying a regular Snickers at the store.

Here is what my turned out like

(YUM!)


So far only my boyfriend and I have tried these treats..but I will update on more reviews of it tonight when I present them at the Super Bowl party.

So all in all:

Taste Rating: 9
Easiness Rating: 7.5 
(although this recipe is very simple and easy..it does take some patience when it comes to doing each individual layer.)

This would be a great recipe to make a loved one or to make with the kids. I'm sure you could also take this and make a healthier version if needed..but I mean..why would you want to?!

Thanks to everyone for the support.
I promise these pictures and posts will improve.
Sorry for the late response on these posts..but with the super bowl I've been a bit hectic! 

xoxox
Treatbug

Intro & my 14 Day Valentine's Treat Challenge

To be honest I don't know really how to start this blog.
I'm awful at blogging.
You think with my age & my generation I would be able to run
a successful blog like every other 20-something year old I know..
but I'm just not witty enough or something.

The whole idea for this blog was inspired by the fact that in less than a month its Valentine's Day.
As I was searching gift baskets online & neat little yummies on Etsy & cringing at prices
I realized that I could just make a lot of these treats myself.

So, then I decided that I would give myself my first challenge.
A 14 day Valentine's Day treat challenge.

I will start on February 1st baking a treat every day until Valentine's Day.
These will all be completely new recipes I have never done before.
I figure a day or two I will actually have my tinybug do a treat or two as well.
Every day after making the treats I will make a blog post.
This blog post will include the original recipe, any tweaks I've made, pics of the baking process & end results.
I will also be reviewing the treat & hopefully have some loved ones review as well.
All leading up to the actual big day where I will have my final Valentines Day treat that will be a bit more time & effort than the smaller ones leading to it.

Maybe this idea just sounds fun & interesting to me.
But I'm going to run with it.

Here is my 14 Day Challenge Recipe List:

1. Homemade Snickers Bars
2. Cookie Dough Truffles
3. Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls a TinyBug treat
4. Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows
5. Chocolate Covered Cherries
6. White Chocolate Reeses Fudge
7. Mini Raspberry & White Chocolate Whoopie Pies
8. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge
9. Valentines Day Rice Krispies a TinyBug treat
10. Handwritten Chocolate Glazed Cupcakes  for my mom's birthday
11. Blueberry Shortbread Bars
12. Pecan Sandies
13. Homemade Frosted Animal Cookies
14. Double Chocolate Mascarpone Raspberry Pie