I'm not from Ohio, but I do love peanut butter and chocolate together. I took them to work today and they were almost gone by the time I left for the evening. And Olivia nearly threw a tantrum when I told her she couldn't have a second one. I'd say they were a hit...
Buckeyes
9 oz (1 cup) peanut butter
4 oz (1 Tbsp) butter, unsalted, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 oz (3 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted (may need more)
1 lb (1 1/2 cups) dark chocolate, melted, tempered
Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. Cream together the peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed. Add the confectioner's sugar slowly until the mixture forms a workable dough. Add up to 1/2 cup more sugar if necessary. Using a #100 scoop or teaspoon, scoop out balls of the mixture. Place on a prepared sheet pan. Using your hands, roll the portions into round balls 1 1/4" in diameter. Return to the sheet pan. Chill the formed buckeyes for 20 minutes or longer.
Impale each buckeye lightly with a toothpick to use as a handle for dipping in chocolate. Holding a buckeye by the toothpick, dip it in the tempered chocolate, leaving a 1/2" circle of the center uncoated on top. Place back on the sheet pan. Remove the toothpick and smooth the small hole that it left in the top of the candy. Allow the chocolate to set completely. Store at room temperature, tightly sealed.
I used milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate, because that's what I had on hand, and because I'm a sucker for really sweet chocolate with my peanut butter. The only thing I would do differently next time is to use more sugar - I only used the 3 cups because I was able to form the round balls with the consistency. But the centers ended up being pretty soft even after the chocolate was set. Also, I didn't temper the chocolate before dipping the centers. I've honestly never tempered chocolate - something I'll try sometime when I make fancier candy - but it was late by the time the centers were ready to dip and I didn't feel like messing with something new. :-)
Adam's first reaction to these was "they taste like cookies, not muffins!" I think that's a good thing. :-) Being the middle of summer, I couldn't find cappuccino mix packets, so I bought a canister and used 2 servings-ful instead. It didn't seem like much at first, but it did add a nice sweet coffee taste to the muffins. Also, I was leary of the fact that it said this recipe only made 12 muffins, but to only fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. I decided to go with the 12 muffins part instead of the 2/3 full, and went ahead and filled the cups fuller. I liked the nice round tops it made.
Cappuccino White Chocolate Chunk Muffins
2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 envelopes instant cappuccino mix, any flavor
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 c milk
1/2 c butter, melted
4 oz white chocolate, chopped (I used a Ghiradelli bar)
Heat the oven to 375°. Line 12 muffin pan cups with paper cups. Stir the flour, sugar, cappuccino mixes, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg in a medium bowl. Stir in the milk and butter (make sure this is cool enough first or it will cook the egg!). Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Stir in the chocolate. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full (or as I discovered, just keep filling them until you run out of batter).
Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on the wire rack. Serve warm.
Oh! I almost forgot the story that goes with this recipe. I actually bought the ingredients for the muffins a couple weeks ago but *finally* found time to make them Sunday afternoon. But after I had mixed all the dry ingredients, I realized that Adam had used the last egg to make Olivia's breakfast that morning. I couldn't be upset that Adam had made breakfast, but I was disappointed that once again I couldn't make the muffins. It ended up working out well, though. Later that evening I told Adam that Olivia & I were heading out to get some eggs - which we were, but there was an ulterior motive: a Father's Day present. So we got out of the house with a really good excuse... shhhh!
