Attack Of The Peanut Butter Snowman Army

Category: Desserts & Sweets | Blog URL: http://www.mymansbelly.com

This recipe was entered in The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest, a compilation of the world’s best food blogs which was published in Fall 2010.

Photo: Pamela

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Smooth Peanut Butter (do not use all natural peanut butter with the 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (at room temperature)

1 pound Powdered Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

White Chocolate Chips (melted)*

Semi-Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate (melted)

Colored Fondant

Preparation

In mixer, blend peanut butter, butter, sugar and vanilla until thoroughly combined.

Shape mixture into 3 graduated balls. I use a tablespoon to measure out the peanut butter mixture for the largest ball at the base. All of the peanut butter balls should be placed onto a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet(s).

After all the balls are rolled out, gently use your thumb to make a slight flat spot on the base and middle section balls. The tiny balls, used for the heads should remain perfectly round.

Let peanut butter balls sit out overnight in a cool dry area.

Melt white chocolate in microwave in 30 second increments. Stir chocolate every 30 seconds until melted.

Insert a toothpick 3/4 of the way through the large peanut butter ball and dredge in melted white chocolate. Do not completely cover the ball in chocolate. Only the exposed sides should be covered. (This also makes stacking easier.) Remove toothpick and dip a middle ball into the chocolate. Again, do not completely cover the ball in chocolate and stack on top of base ball. Remove the toothpick and dip a small "head" ball into the chocolate. On this one, you do not have to cover it completely with chocolate (it's easier to remove the toothpick if you don't cover it completely). Place the head on top of the other 2 balls and remove the toothpick. Dip another toothpick into the chocolate and swirl on top of the snowman's head to cover the exposed hole and peanut butter. You may find that you have some bare spots. Use the toothpick to coax any extra chocolate in

Continue doing this until all the snowmen are complete.

Let sit at least 4 hours for the chocolate to set up. Best if you can let it sit overnight to completely harden.

Melt the semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments. Stir chocolate every 30 seconds until melted.

Insert toothpick into chocolate and make eyes, mouth and buttons.

The nose can be made with the same chocolate. I melted more white chocolate and dipped decors into it and attached the noses that way.

Once all the chocolate decorations have dried, you can dress up your snowmen/snow people with the fondant. The fondant will stick to the snowmen on its own. This is the fun part!

I use white chocolate chips, from Trader Joe's, because I prefer the flavor of white chocolate over those candy melts. But, if you want your snowmen to be a bright white, that's what you'll need to get. If you use those, use the melting directions that come with them.