Peanut Butter S'more Truffles

 

I know it’s hot out. I know none of you want to turn on the oven and make your 90 degree kitchen reach 100. This is why I’m giving you a nice cool treat. No it’s not ice cream (boy oh boy do I wish I had an ice cream maker!). Today I bring you Peanut Butter S’more Truffles.

I’m going to diverge a little here. Ever wonder why s’more are enjoyed during the summer? This thought just popped into my head like two seconds ago. But seriously, who wants to start a fire in the middle of July/August when it’s a bajillion degrees outside? Wouldn’t it be more practical to make s’mores during the winter? You know then you can snuggle up to the cozy fire during those cold winter nights and eat piping hot and melty deliciousness. It’s just something to think about.

So, back to truffles. These definitely have more of a peanut butter taste than and s’more taste, I won’t try to deceive you on that. But it really is a delicious combo, peanut butter, dark chocolate, and melted marshmallows.

 

Melted butter and marshmallows are swirled into the peanut butter dough giving a little bit of chew when you bite into the chilled truffle.

I’m pretty sure my dad ate the majority of these. Every time I looked over into the kitchen, there he was, popping another truffle into his mouth.

And in other news: my house has been sold. This means I have exactly 10 days (including the rest of today) left in Colorado. Things re already being stored into boxes and food items are being trashed. I have managed to convince my dad to keep all of my baking stuff, you know, just in case. This means I have to find ways to use up the chocolate chips, marshmallows, butter, flour and everything else I know won’t last. This should be fun!

 

Peanut Butter S’more Truffles
From Fabtastic Eats
Makes 2 dozen truffles

Ingredients
1 cup (256 g) creamy peanut butter
¾ cup (76 g) powdered sugar  
2 cups (90 g) mini marshmallows
2/3 cup crushed graham crackers (about 5 full sheets)
¾ cup (185 g) dark chocolate chips
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temp. and divided
4-6 tbsp. milk

Directions
Line a large baking sheet with tin foil, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter with 2 tbsp. of butter. Mix until the butter has disappeared into the peanut butter. Stir in the powdered sugar. Do this gently as to now have the powdered sugar go all over the place. Fold in the crushed graham crackers.

In a sauce pan set over low heat, melt together the marshmallows and 2 tbsp. of butter. Once fully melted measure out about 1/3 cup. Keep the remaining melted marshmallow in the pan to reheat for later. Allow the 1/3 cup of marshmallow mixture to cool before folding gently into the peanut butter mixture.

Spray a medium-small cookie scoop with cooking spray. This will help release the dough easier. Scoop out portions and place them on the foil lined baking sheet. Freeze the balls while you make the chocolate coating.

In a double boiler or a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate chips with the remaining 2 tbsp. of butter. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted. Stir in milk 1 tbsp. at a time until the chocolate reaches a good dipping or pouring consistency.

Roll or dip the chilled peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate. I just poured the chocolate over the dough balls because I found it too hard to roll them. Place the chocolate coated balls back on the foil-lined tray and freeze for about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, reheat the remaining marshmallow that’s in the pan. Drizzle some of the melted marshmallow mixture into every truffle for a final finish.

Mini S'mores Pie

Hello and Happy Pi Day!

I’ve never actually ever celebrated Pi day, but for some reason, this year I was motivated! I even made a pie to celebrate. Well, I guess you could call it a pie or a tort… or you can call it what I call it: “good”.

Yes, I saw this s’mores pie on The Pastry Affair and it looked delicious, and plus it’s a s’more… in a pan… need I say more? No? Good.

So, onwards. My family is not a big pie family. Well my parents like fruit pies, and I like the creamy/custard/anything-but-fruit pies, and my sister… I think the closest she gets to a pie is a Poptart. So when these little s’more pies were gone within a day, I knew something was right.

The filling was definitely the best part in my opinion. It was like mousse; creamy, soft, delicate, and any other adjective that describes a good mousse. It was just perfect. But I think next time I may opt for a milk chocolate, instead of semi-sweet, just for a little more sweetness.

The crust I used was unorthodox. I know when you think “s’mores” a picture of melty milk chocolate pressed next to a toasted gooey marshmallow and sandwiched between two honey graham crackers comes to mind. The thing is though, I wanted mini pies, and I couldn’t figure out a way to incorporate a graham cracker crust into the recipe. Sure I could have used store-bough mini graham cracker pie crusts, but I felt that those were way too big. So instead I opted for a flaky pie crust. And you know what? It actually worked well, I thought. This crust is delectably flaky, one of the best pie crusts I’ve come across.

And I can’t forget about the toasted marshmallow tops. I had about 1/5 of a bag of mini marshmallows in the pantry, so I used scissors to cut them in half and placed them all around the baked chocolate filling, set the pies under the broiler, and voilà! S’mores pie is served.

So celebrate, have a slice of some 3.141592…(that’s all I have memorized).

Mini S’mores Pie
Adapted from The Pastry Affair 
Crust from Adora’s Box    
Makes 6 mini pies (muffin sized)

Crust
Ingredients
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
4 tbsp cold butter, cubed
2 oz soft cream cheese

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or you can use a food processor) beat the flour and butter until coarse crumbs form. Add in the cream cheese and beat until dough forms a ball, about 2 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Place dough between two sheets of plastic wrap or parchment paper, and roll as thin as you can get it. Use some kind or round object (4-4.5 in diameter) to cut out crusts. Re-roll dough and repeat until all the dough has been used up (there will be no scraps). You may need to re-refrigerate the dough between rolling sessions.
3. Place dough rounds into standard muffin tins. Set in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.  

Chocolate Filling
Ingredients
¼ cup + 2 tbsp whipping cream
¼ cup + 2 tbsp milk
5 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
Pinch of salt
1 egg, room temperature and beaten
¼ - ½ cup mini marshmallows cut in half

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Take the pie crusts out of the fridge.
2. Whisk the whipping cream and the milk in a medium sauce pan. Warm the liquid over medium-low heat. When the milk mixture has heated, stir in the chocolate. Keep stirring until all of the chocolate has completely melted and the mixture is velvety smooth. Throw in a pinch of salt. Add in the beaten egg and whisk until mixture becomes smooth again. Be careful not to scramble the egg.
3. Pour chocolate mixture into a jug or something with a spout for easy pouring. Carefully fill the pie crusts with the chocolate filling, leaving a little room (about 1/3 inch) on top. Place on the middle rack and bake for about 15-17 minutes, or until the filling has set and does not giggle in the center.
4. Take mini pies out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Once cool, set the pies in the fridge for a few hours to finish setting. Once set, cover the tops of the pies with halved mini marshmallows and set under to broiler for 30seconds – 1 minute or until the marshmallows have been nicely toasted. Serve warm or cold, but I preferred mine warm. To warm, stick in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.  

Cake slice Bakers - January 2011: Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Snaking Cake

You know what’s really delicious? S’mores, that’s what’s really delicious. I love roasting the marshmallows over a flame and then making it all crisp….mmmm That (and the fact that school is out) is the only reason I miss summer. Well with this month’s Cake Slice Bakers cake choice I got to relive summer, kinda.January’s cake for Cake Slice Bakers was the Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake found on page 22 in Cake Keeper Cakes. I was really excited to make this cake because I ended up missing December’s cake, which looked really good and everyone else said they loved it. Well this cake was just ok, not great. But, I didn't like it enough to try for a second peice and my dad (who likes everything I make, so he says) didn't like it much either. When I was making the batter I was super excited because it smelled sooooo good and when it was in the oven it looked soooo delicious. I think what killed this cake was the frosting. I was expecting a more marshmallowy type frosting, but instead it tasted just like butter. The amount of sugar could have be raised maybe a tablespoon or two but the butter definitely needed to be cut down some, like maybe 6 tablespoons instead of a whole stick and increase the marshmallow fluff by maybe 1/4 of a cup.

Also I made a mistake. Once the cake cooled I spread the frosting on top and cut myself a slice to taste. Well I’m one of those people that like cake to be a little warm when I eat it and I nuked my slice in the microwave for about 8 seconds and t wasn’t warm. So I put it in again for another 8 seconds and when it came out the frosting was gone! Well it wasn’t gone I just couldn’t see into the microwave that far. When I look my plate out the frosting has pooled into the bottom of the plate. When I tasted it, it tasted like straight butter and I had to trash that piece cause I couldn’t get past the butter taste. When I cut myself a new piece I tasted the cake with the frosting and I’m like this is really gross and then I tried scraping off the frosting and it was waaaaay better.

First slice is never all that pretty.

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake

serves 9

Ingredients

For the Cake

8 whole graham crackers, finely ground (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease an 8inch square baking pan and dust it with flour, knocking out any extra. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat until smooth.
3. With the mixer on low speed, add a third of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, stirring until combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk, ending with the flour. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert it onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up to cool completely.

Frosting

1. Place the butter in a medium mixing bowl and beat until creamy. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Stir in the vanilla and the marshmallow fluff and beat until smooth. Use immediately or cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
2. Cut the cake into squares and serve each one with a dollop of frosting on top. (Bring the frosting back to room temperature first if it has been stored in the fridge). Store any uneaten cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Nutrition Facts
serving size: 1/9 cake
Calories 363.8 Total Fat 23.0 g Saturated Fat 2.9 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.5 g Cholesterol 93.6 mg Sodium 284.9 mg Potassium 29.9 mg Total Carbohydrate 37.3 g Dietary Fiber 0.5 g Sugars 26.5 g Protein 4.3 g