- Spread Love with Homemade Food Gifts for Christmas - Crystal Alifanow,Maria Ujvari
Truffles and peanut butter balls are easy and inexpensive treats to make and give as food gifts or to eat. These no-bake recipes have five ingredients or less and make dozens of treats. Make both kinds and wrap in cellophane for homemade food gifts for Christmas.
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Truffles
Ingredients:
- 1 package of semi-sweet baking chocolate.
- ½ cup of creamy peanut butter.
- 1, 8-ounce package of Cool-Whip.
- ¼ cup powdered confectioners’ sugar.
Directions:
- Thaw Cool-Whip overnight in the refrigerator.
- Break package of baking chocolate into 8 squares and place in a large microwavable bowl.
- Microwave for 1 minute and then stir. Microwave in 30 seconds intervals, stirring after each interval until the chocolate is completely melted.
- Stir in peanut butter and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Stir in Cool-Whip until combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Using a spoon, roll about 1 tablespoon of truffle mix into a ball.
- Roll in powdered sugar.
The completed truffles should be stored in the refrigerator. The recipe makes 3 dozen truffles.
Making Food Gifts
The recipe for Chocolate and Peanut Butter Truffles is easily doubled or tripled for cookie exchanges or for making homemade food gifts for Christmas. The peanut butter flavor of these treats is not pronounced so be sure to inform recipients that they do contain peanut butter. Also inform them that truffles should be stored in the refrigerator if not eaten immediately.
Cooking with Kids
No-bake recipes are popular with parents who have kids who like to cook. This recipe, however, is not great for kids’ cooking. The truffle mix will become tacky when handled for too long or if left out of the refrigerator for a long time while kids are forming the balls. Return the truffle mix to the refrigerator if it becomes too sticky to use. Chocolate-Peanut Butter Balls is a better recipe to share with children because the balls have a smoother, easy-to-roll texture.
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Balls
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Balls are a no-bake holiday favorite. These treats use many of the same ingredients as Chocolate and Peanut Butter Truffles so they are a good accompaniment to a gift of truffles.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups creamy or chunky peanut butter.
- ½ cup corn syrup.
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs.
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar.
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips.
Directions:
- Mix peanut butter, corn syrup, graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a large bowl until smooth.
- Shape into balls and place on wax paper.
- Melt chocolate in the microwave.
- Drizzle chocolate over peanut butter balls or dip balls into chocolate using a toothpick.
- Refrigerate to harden chocolate.
With this recipe, light or dark corn syrup can be used as well as creamy or chunky peanut butter. This recipe makes 6 dozen treats. Package two or three treats in a paper cupcake liner and wrap in cellophane or place in a paper box lined with wax paper.
Making homemade food gifts for Christmas is easy when using no-bake recipes for treats. Chocolate and Peanut Butter Truffles and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Balls are fun recipes to make and to share as teacher gifts or gifts for friends and neighbors.
Genna Cockerham - Genna Cockerham has been writing online since November 2008. She served as Marriage Feature Writer from December 2008 to February ...
