Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

These were for Mike this Christmas, and here I digress to note that I should make at least one dessert at Christmas that I myself am excited about--sugar cookies, gingerbread, and peanut butter cups are fun to make, but they don't thrill me--because just five days after the holiday, I had nothing sweet to eat around here until tonight when Mike bought me a box of Swiss cake rolls.  And one, especially one who has a sweet tooth and enjoys baking, should have something homemade to her liking on-hand less than a week after Christmas, I say.  And that reminds me that about seven years ago when I worked in a bakery, a little old lady asked me a question about the pies, so I walked with her over to the display case to show her what we had.  She mentioned lemon meringue, and I told her that we had one but that it was sugar-free.  "Oh no," she said.  "I've got to have sugar.  I love my sweets."  And then she poked me in the belly and added, "I guesss you do too!"  She was so pleasant and good-intentioned, I couldn't help but laugh--although:  WOW!--and I've remembered that belly-poke every time I've referred to my sweet tooth since then.  Ahhh, people!  Ya gotta love 'em. 

These peanut butter cups turned out quite cute, if I may say so.  These are the cupcake liners Aunt Laurie sent in our Christmas tin this year, and I love them so much.  She had filled the tin with kitchen-related things in this (my favorite) shade of green, and after I trimmed a little off the tops of these papers, they were the perfect depth for peanut butter cups.  If I were giving these as a gift, I'd double the liners/papers so the chocolate and no-stick spray wouldn't shine through and discolor them the way they did in places here, but this is the first time I'd used wrappers/made them as cups instead of just shaping them into chocolate-covered peanut butter items (Easter eggs, Valentine hearts, etc.), so live and learn.  

The first time I made these, I used a slightly different recipe and shaped them into footballs for a Super Bowl party, piping lacing onto their tops.  

It was more fun this time with the cupcake wrappers since it's the papers' folds that give them the brand-name peanut butter cup look.  The recipe I used for these is based on this "Top Secret" one.  I made a few changes based on the comments and past experience:  I used the all-natural (oil-on-the-top) reduced-fat peanut butter, I added an extra pinch of salt, I used close to a cup of powdered sugar, I sprayed the cupcake liners, and I only waited maybe ten minutes after the chocolate base/side layer had cooled before adding the flattened-out ball of the peanut butter mixture to it (and maybe another ten after spooning the chocolate top layer over the peanut butter ball/middle).  These set up really fast.  It was cold the night I made this batch, so I just let the cups chill beside an open window instead of bothering with the fridge or freezer.  This will probably be another Christmas tradition for us now, so it's nice that it's an easy and inexpensive (only four ingredients) recipe. 

Mike's the peanut butter-lover in this household, and he thinks these are just like the brand name peanut butter cups--"or better"--so there you go.  I promise not to poke your belly if you eat too many.  ;)  

Who can be insensible to the outpourings of good feeling, and the honest interchange of affectionate attachment which abound at this season of the year. ~ Charles Dickens

One of the sweet things about Christmas is seeing the people you love being treated kindly by others.  One of Mike's coworkers gifted him with this box of fudge last week, leaving it on his desk as a surprise.  I love her drawing of him and that she did the to/from label this way.  It added some joy to his day and his Christmas, and thus, to mine too.  ♥

Two Days Before Thanksgiving

If counting my blessings counts as being in the Thanksgiving swing of things, I'm all set, but the thought of decorating a table and baking pies from scratch isn't delighting me this year the way it usually does.  We bought pies--BOUGHT! pies, and Maple-leaf-shaped cookies, to boot--but we have my homemade fudge and my mother-in-law's homemade sugar cookies too.  I'll get home from work around 8:00 Thanksgiving morning and will have to sleep at least a few hours while Mike begins the food.  Maybe by afternoon when I get up and smell the turkey and whatever-else-he's-started, I'll feel more jazzed-up for pretty-table-setting and cute-dessert-making, but in the meantime, it seems good enough--more than good, really, and more than enough--simply to be grateful for the meal and the time with Mike.  I spent Thanksgiving at work and then alone last year, after all.  

This past weekend, Mike rented a car to make the trip to see his family back home, where they had eighteen inches of snow, and returned yesterday before the storm hit us.  My own family, baby Bianca now included,  ♥ will gather for their dinner Thursday afternoon but all live within about twenty minutes of each other, so I don't have to worry about any of them driving or flying a long distance in the snow this week.  Ideally, Mike and I could be here, there, and everywhere for Thanksgiving, but work schedules and weather issues equal a table for two this year.  Opposite work schedules and a frugal and car-less life mean we've only ever spent one holiday with each other's family--Easter 2008 with mine--so our holidays are not quite what I wish they could be, obviously, but I have really learned to appreciate the time I do have with Mike and with my loved ones, and regardless of how or when or with whom I spend the holidays, I always know I'm blessed.  Still, my dream dining room for years has been one large enough that I can keep it set up restaurant dining room-style year-round, with a round dinner table with comfy chairs and high chairs for any babies, a long Waltons-style wooden dinner table with benches at either side, a square table with more painted chairs seats, a couple overstuffed wing chairs at a table for two, maybe a high-backed restaurant booth in a window, and a Pottery Barn Kids catalog-style kids table with sweetness and color in abundance.  I've had this vision for my future dining room for years, and someday, someday, I hope to make it happen and enjoy the sight of both our families gathered in this crazy room catching up with each other in all its mismatched chairs and over all the mismatched vintage tablecloths.  I can picture it so clearly, it's like it's already happened and is an actual memory.  It makes my heart ache, I want it so. 

We are supposed to have nine inches of snow by Thursday morning.  I walked around the neighborhood taking pictures last week before the last of this year's vibrant leaves were snowed-over and took a few more pictures this morning while Mike and I walked to the store for our Thanksgiving groceries.  I love this time of year.  One of the news shows played a recent segment from "Saturday Night Live" in wich one of the cast members ran around Manhattan screaming, "Take down the Christmas decorations!  THANKSGIVING'S FIRST!  It's not time for all that yet!  THANKSGIVING COMES FIRST!"  Mike and I laughed like loons over that and have yelled it at each other a few times since seeing it.  While walking home from work one morning last week, I noticed the city had put up its giant Christmas candle lamppost decorations along the streets overnight, and I thought of Mike and the skit and laughed again.  "THANKSGIVING COMES FIRST!"  What a beautiful time of year. 

So Am I, Little Plant

One of our neighbors in the building set this out on the front stoop this morning.  ♥  The weather really is gorgeous here today after a week of cloudy gray-white skies and rain.