Peanut Butter Balls & Peanut Brittle

peanut butter balls (Note the foot on the one at the front where the chocolate was too hot)

The Christmas that Judson and I were engaged (2011), we gave everyone we knew homemade Christmas gifts. For the most part, these gifts took the form of festively-decorated jars full of peanut butter balls, bourbon balls, buttercream truffles and peppermint bark, all made in huge batches in my tiny flat's kitchen over the preceding weeks.

In the six years since, I've never wanted to face another bourbon ball or peanut butter ball. Actually, I had quite forgotten the existence of bourbon balls (a Kentucky delicacy made of large amounts of bourbon mixed with melted butter, ground pecans and powdered sugar, coated in chocolate and topped with a pecan half) until yesterday, when Judson caught me making peanut butter balls and said 'I'm really surprised after five Christmases in Scotland that you still haven't made bourbon balls.'

'True, but where would I get the bourbon?' I said without thinking, since bourbon here is way more expensive than stateside.

Peanut butter balls

But then when I started thinking about it, I realised that the truth is I can't stomach the idea of bourbon balls just yet. Homemade peanut butter balls, though? These are given an exemption because they're basically higher-quality Reese's Cups, which, as we've discussed, are my favourite candy. And this recipe, with the exception of the Rice Krispies involved, is exactly how they should be made.

The recipe, with the exception of 'one box of powdered sugar,' is possibly the most concise recipe I've found in the Recipe Box to date. One 'box' of powdered sugar, though? Really? I did some googling- you know, standard Google searches like 'how many ounces in a standard size box of powdered sugar in 1975', and between those results and my own best estimations, figured it out pretty easily. The Rice Krispies, honestly, are not really necessary- I think I prefer my peanut butter candy without them (an added bonus: without the Rice Krispies, these are gluten-free), but adding the Rice Krispies definitely helps stretch the batch to be a little bigger, and keeps the candies from being quite as rich as they otherwise would be.

Some Peanut Butter Ball Tips:

• If your chocolate gets too warm, it will puddle in a 'foot' around the base of the candy. Keep an eye on your finished candies as you go and if you notice this happening, turn down the heat or turn it off temporarily to allow it to cool off.

• Made as per the below WITH Rice Krispies, you'll have approximately 50 balls. WITHOUT Rice Krispies, plan for about 40. Recipe can easily be doubled to make 80-100 balls.

• Balls will keep for 2 weeks in the fridge or 4 days at room temperature.

peanut brittle getting ready to boil

As for the peanut brittle... well, it was really tasty. Weirdly, there are two recipes for this exact peanut brittle in the box, one hand-written and one typed, both clearly well used. Technically, it should have been made with 'raw spanish peanuts,' but, as ever, when it comes to nuts my supermarket is always foiling me, so mine was instead made with pecans, back when I could find pecans in my supermarket. I made it without a candy thermometer (I used my meat thermometer instead like some kind of heathen) and it came out just right anyway. Except for the fact that my tin wasn't big enough and so the molten brittle was so deep in the pan that the finished product was practically impossible to break. I'm including directions below for a half-batch of what I made, so that you can use a standard 11x13 pan to pour it into. I strongly recommend using a single pan for this recipe and not trying to split the molten brittle into different pans, as you'll inevitably end up with all the nuts in one pan and the other pan full of only praline. The pictures included here are of my far-too-thick version, so yours will be roughly half this thickness.

peanut brittle

Some Peanut Brittle Tips:

• Measure and prepare ALL ingredients and equipment before you begin.

• Lock any animals or small children or distracting husbands out of the kitchen before you start- this recipe requires no distractions and can't really be 'paused' in the middle. Plus, the molten caramel is really hot and if it spills or splashes, will really hurt.

• If you don't have a candy thermometer, make sure you know how to tell when your mixture 'spins a thread.'

• This can be adjusted with other flavourings as you wish: pecans, almonds or hazelnuts work just as well as peanuts, or go the Italian route and make it with pine nuts. You can also add other herbal/spice flavours by blending them with the sugar before you begin or sprinkling them in at the end (I really love a few spoonfuls of minced rosemary, muddled with the sugar or sprinkled in at the end, but cinnamon, ginger, or nutmeg are all also lovely, as is a heaping pinch of smoked salt sprinkled on after the mixture is poured into the pan).

The verdict:
the peanut butter balls:

5 spoons out of five. These are easy, delicious and have far fewer preservatives in them than store-bought candy. Pretty much they are the perfect addition to your holiday dessert collection, and, if nothing else, you should make a batch for yourself and keep them in the fridge for stressful moments over the next week.

the Peanut brittle:

4 spoons out of five. Knocking off a spoon because candy making is a bit of a faff and the cleanup is a nightmare- prepare for your counter to be covered in hardened caramel anywhere you set your mixing spoon, pan or prep dish. But as long as you follow the directions below so that your brittle is more brittle and less brick, you'll be good to go.

one year ago: crazy crust apple pie
two years ago: Holiday almanac: Cream Cheese Nut bread 

The recipe:

Peanut Butter Balls

the directions:

Melt butter and peanut butter together and pour into mixing bowl.
Beat in powdered sugar.
If adding Rice Krispies, fold them in gently until well-blended.
Chill at least 1 hour until very cold.
Shape into balls between 1/2-inch and 1-inch wide. (I prefer smaller candies so there is a more even balance of chocolate and peanut butter, but you can make them as big or small as you please, and they do not have to be even since you're not baking them).
Chill balls until ready to use.
Place a large sheet of parchment or waxed paper near your double-boiler.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler over very low heat.
One at a time, drop chilled balls into chocolate, flip over with a fork until completely covered.
Lift the ball out on the fork, scraping off any excess on the edge of the pot.
Place the coated ball on the parchment paper and continue with remaining balls.

the ingredients:

85g (3/8 c) butter
8 oz peanut butter
1 ¾ c powdered sugar
2 ½ c Rice Krispies cereal (optional)
8 oz cooking chocolate (milk, dark or a mix)

---

the recipe:

Peanut Brittle

the directions:

Butter an 11x13 tin very heavily, especially in the corners.
If you do not have a candy thermometer, place a bowl of VERY cold water next to the stove with a small teaspoon for testing the temperature.
Combine sugar, golden syrup or corn syrup and water.
Boil mixture until it 'spins a thread,' 223-235F on a candy thermometer, stirring constantly.*
Add nuts and continue cooking until mixture is very golden brown and hits 295-300 on a candy thermometer (approx. 5 more minutes without a candy thermometer).
Remove from heat and add butter, baking soda and salt.
Stir well and quickly (baking soda will make mixture 'foam').
IMMEDIATELY pour into prepared tin, using your mixing spoon to even out the top.
Allow to cool completely before using the flat side of a meat tenderiser to shatter the brittle.

Store in a very tightly sealed container at room temperature; best served within a day or two in case it gets humid and sticky, but can be stored up to a week.

*This occurs when a very small amount of the mixture, dropped from a small spoon into the bowl of cold water, creates very thin threads behind it as it falls into the water.

the ingredients:

1 ½ c sugar
½ c golden syrup or corn syrup
¼ c water
1 ½ c nuts (plain peanuts, pecans, hazelnuts or almonds)
½ tbs butter
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Chocolate-Peanut Crinkles & Oatmeal-Chocolate Chippers

Not all cooking disasters are spectacular, call-the-fire-department, buy yourself a new oven kinds of disasters. Some are weird, some are just boring, and then there are the ones like these cookies, which taste fab, but can't be considered anything but a miserable failure because... well, take a look at them.

These are a riff on the lemon-glazed cookies from earlier this summer, themselves a riff on the 'basic drop cookie' recipe I posted all the way back in July. But while those cookies were perfectly delicate and crumbly, rounded and fluffy and moist and delicious, these ones were... not so much. Oh, don't get me wrong: the texture and flavour of the oatmeal cookies was so good I ate three (or what would have been three) in the time it took me to get them off of the cookie sheet, but, as you can see, they melted into one cohesive unit and didn't exactly look appealing after they were done.

I made these cookies in two batches: first the oatmeal and then the chocolate, so I assumed that the oatmeal disaster was (somehow) going to be unique to that batch and that the other one would come out just fine. It did not, and I was thoroughly disappointed.

Here are all the things I think could potentially have gone wrong:

• I overmixed the butter/sugar. My butter was really cold, so it didn't 'cream' very well... my solution was just to keep on mixing it, so by the time I added the dry ingredients, the mixture was pretty runny. Maybe that was part of the problem?

• I used goat butter. Judson is convinced that goat butter can't be used for any of the same tasks as standard butter, but I convinced him to let me buy it because I wanted to see if it tasted any different. It doesn't taste any different, but maybe the fat/sugar content of it is enough of a change to mess with the cookie's texture?

• I just messed up an ingredient, plain and simple. I was halving both of these recipes at the same time, so it's completely possible I just screwed up a quantity without realising it (though that wouldn't explain why both recipes turned out iffy).

That said, I can't bring myself to give them less than 2 spoons because they were just so damn tasty. If you (like me, and like all reasonable people) dislike peanut butter cookies because they're always too dry, crumbly, and lacking in chocolate (except for these amazing ones!), then try these Chocolate-Peanut Crinkles. They've got the flavour of a Reese's cup and the perfect amount of saltiness to cut through the otherwise super-sweet and chocolate cookie dough. They're like a grown-up peanut butter cookie-- rich with the flavour of bitter dark chocolate and a tender crispness that falls apart in your mouth.

As for the oatmeal cookies... well, I think it's time to get one thing straight. On this site, we will never make oatmeal cookies with raisins.* There's nothing worse than biting into what you think is a chocolate chip cookie, only to have to endure a raisin. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, though, are a food of the gods (along with frosting, cheese, oysters, and most wines), and these were no exception. Super thin and delicate without being crunchy or dry, they go perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea, or even a bedtime hot chocolate. While I can't say they'll be my go-to recipe due to the spectacular failure of their shape, I do think I'll make them again... just not when I'm planning to take them anywhere.

*Unless I find a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies in the box, in which case I will have to make them, but I will only eat one and it will be begrudgingly.

The verdict:

2 spoons out of five. Based on flavour alone, these get 4 spoons for sure. But since I can't ignore the fact that they melted into one solid cookie in the oven, I'm docking two spoons.

The recipe:

Chocolate-Peanut Crinkles

the directions:

Preheat oven to 190C/375F and grease a cookie sheet.
Cream together sugars, butter, shortening, egg, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Do not overmix.
Add chocolate, peanuts, flour and baking soda.
Blend well.
Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes.
Let stand 30 seconds before removing from cookie sheet onto cooling rack.

Yields 2 dozen cookies.

the ingredients:

½ c sugar
¼ c brown sugar
¼ c butter
¼ c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
½ c salted peanuts, chopped roughly
1 c flour
½ tsp baking soda

---

The recipe:

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chippers

the directions:

Preheat oven to 190C/375F and grease a cookie sheet.
Cream together sugars, butter, shortening, egg, vanilla and milk until light and fluffy.
Do not overmix.
Add flour, baking soda, chocolate chips, oats, and walnuts.
Blend well.
Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes.
Let stand 30 seconds before removing from cookie sheet onto cooling rack.

Yields 2 dozen cookies.

the ingredients:

½ c sugar
¼ c brown sugar
¼ c butter
¼ c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk
1 c flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 c chocolate chips
1 c quick-cooking oats
½ c walnuts, chopped

Triple Layer Cookie Bars

Have you ever cooked something with a really specific idea of what you were making, only to have it come out as a completely different recipe? I thought this recipe was going to be the ubiquitous but multi-named “Seven Layer Bars,” “Magic Bars,” or “White Trash Candy” that I grew up eating at every party I ever attended in the state of Kentucky. I read the ingredients and assumed that's what the end result would be, so I was completely surprised when it turned out to be a recipe for something significantly different, though no less good.

So what is this a recipe for, exactly? It's sort of like a chewy, dark-chocolate covered macaroon, these bars manage to be sweet without crossing over into cloying because the mix of flavours and textures is so perfectly balanced: salty crust, sweet filling, bitter chocolate topping. The perfect blend. If you were serving these at a party, I'd cut them into truffle-sized, single bite servings. If you're serving them at a girls' night where the goal is less elegance and more decadence, you could cut them into slightly larger, two or three-bite sizes.

I can imagine Eleanor and her friends snacking on these while they played bridge. They're easily transportable, they look incredibly fancy when cut up on a plate because of that smooth chocolate layer, and they're so decadent they'll make even the sweetest tooth swoon with happiness.*

These bars are rich, and, as we've already discovered, Eleanor's sweet tooth ran deep, so I guess that makes sense. Strangely, I haven't been able to think of an American equivalent, but they taste awfully similar to Millionaire's Shortbread-- a Scottish dessert comprised of shortbread topped with caramel and covered in chocolate. The good news is that this recipe is way easier than millionaire's shortbread because it doesn't require you to make caramel (always a plus in my book!), and it makes a ton, because you're gonna want to cut them small. Plus, they keep well in the fridge for at least a week (possibly longer, but that was when we ran out).

I usually don't pay too much attention to the type of butter I use in baked goods, but for this one you're definitely going to want to use salted butter. The slight saltiness in the crust offsets the sweetness of the other layers just perfectly and without it, I think these would cross into sickly-sweet territory. If you can get your hands on desiccated coconut instead of the usual shredded stuff, it might make the bars easier to cut into uniform cubes, but it also probably cuts down on the coconut texture/flavour that shredded gives, so if you're into that, go for shredded.

*I have no picture to show you of how fancy they look once they are cut, because I got distracted with how delicious they were as soon as we started cutting them and totally forgot to take a picture. Next time, friends.

The verdict:

5 spoons out of five. They're rich, delicious, and easy, they keep well, and the recipe makes a lot. What more could you possibly want?

Loose crumbs.

Post-baking, pre-chocolate layer.

Final Layer.

The recipe:

Triple Layer Cookie Bars

The ingredients:

½ c salted butter
1 ½ c rich tea biscuit crumbs, or graham cracker crumbs
7 oz desiccated coconut
14 oz condensed milk
12 oz bittersweet baking chocolate
½ c creamy peanut butter

THE DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 176C/350F.
In 13x9 pan, melt butter in oven.
Once butter is melted, sprinkle crumbs evenly over butter (no need to pack it down or try to stir it into a "crust," it will form on its own in the oven).
Top evenly with coconut, then condensed milk (tip: sprinkle the coconut and pour the condensed milk easily-- you're not gonna be able to level them out much after you add them to the pan without disturbing the bottom crust).
Bake 25 minutes until lightly browned (will be mostly dry but still sticky looking).
During last 5 minutes of baking, in a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate with peanut butter, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
After bars are done baking, pour melted chocolate mixture evenly over hot coconut layer.
Chill thoroughly before cutting bars.
Store loosely covered at room temperature, or in the fridge if you're not going to eat them for a few days.

Yields 30-36 small bars, depending on size.