Recipe: Chocolate peanut butter truffles

Recipe: Chocolate peanut butter truffles
Source: The more than occasional baker 

I didn’t have much time to bake this Christmas and, since my sister was providing two desserts for our family get-together, I decided to finally try these basic chocolate peanut butter truffles from The more than occasional baker's blog. Whilst I made ‘normal’ truffles (with cream!) as a kid and, more recently, Oreo truffles, this variety was brand new and exciting territory for me.

This is probably the simplest recipe I’ve ever made in my life – it was actually dangerously easy when it comes to the waistline! (I did cheat by melting my chocolate in the microwave but I never think of that being a problem as long as you’re careful.)

I’d bought the three basic ingredients I needed for this recipe prior to Christmas but, when Santa brought me a jar of Sun-Pat Smooth, I decided to try this instead despite it being a peanut spread (made with 95% peanuts) rather than a peanut butter. It contained no butter at all but I hoped this wouldn’t be a problem for the texture.

I also cheated slightly by using what was technically a cheap ‘soft cheese’ rather than a cream cheese but, again, I hoped to get away with it!

The basic mixture smelt amazing and, since I made it on a diet day, I gave the spoons to a couple of relatives to lick. These were promptly treated as lollipops and I was asked what I was making with the ‘heavenly mixture’ – must have tasted good, then! Improvising slightly, due to our well-stocked fridge, I left the bowl in the garage overnight to chill.

Forming the truffle balls was the hardest part of the process since, having rolled the first one, my hands became slippery which made it slightly difficult to continue spooning the mixture, but it still wasn’t difficult. To be honest, I found it harder not to sneak any of the mixture into my mouth during the process!

Although they weren’t all the same size, I managed to make 37 truffles from my mixture, and this didn’t seem bad at all. I hadn’t bothered buying any sprinkles just for this recipe, so I used up the tiny bit of cocoa powder I had left (it actually went a long way!), and coated the rest of my truffles in icing sugar. The former provided a more grown-up and bitter taste whilst the latter gave a slightly sweeter experience. The only downside from the icing sugar-coated sweets was that, after an hour or so, they looked moist and shiny in appearance. However, this didn’t affect their taste.

Away from the coatings, I thought the truffles tasted great. They were rich and chocolatey and, whilst it wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped, the peanut butter taste was there. In fact, my Dad, who doesn’t like peanut butter (I know, shocking!), found this flavour was too prominent for his liking. I, however, thought the tanginess from the cheese was slightly more noticeable in the taste test. This was surprisingly pleasant and, when people were guessing the ingredients, it was commonly mistaken for orange juice. Nobody outright disliked this element but my brother did comment that it reminded him of Kraft Philadelphia: Cadbury which is a product he found a bit strange (he doesn’t like sweet and savoury together at the best of times!). I have to confess that I haven’t even tried chocolate Philadelphia because I can’t quite get my head around it but, if it is similar to these truffles, I’m going to have to give it a go!

Texturally, the truffles were fantastically soft, and I was pleased that my easy option choices in terms of ingredients hadn’t had a negative impact on the finished product.

On the whole, these chocolate peanut butter truffles were a big hit and they all got eaten. Now I just need to pretend that they’re really difficult to make so I don’t end up with a batch every week! 

Ease of recipe: 10/10
Finished product: 8/10
Overall score: 9/10
Make again? Yes

Milky Way Crispy Rolls

Product name: Milky Way Crispy Rolls
Purchase details: £0.99 for a box of five two finger bars (Home Bargains)
Calories: 64 per finger (128 per bar) 

Here’s a blast from the past: Milky Way Crispy Rolls. I loved them when I was a kid but when I last tried them, a couple of years ago, I was less impressed. This box was really cheap, though, so I couldn’t resist giving them another go.

These ‘milk chocolate (30%) covered wafer biscuit fingers with a lightly whipped filling (47%)’ were made by Mars and contained no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. The bars came in packaging containing a picture of the product, as well as some chocolate and wheat. On checking the ingredients, the latter seemed to be included due to the product containing 13% wheat flour. The country of origin was not stated but contact details were provided for Australia, Great Britain and Ireland.

The two cylindrical fingers that made up each 25g bar didn’t have the thickest of chocolate coatings, and I also thought the filling looked quite stiff rather than light. However, they did have quite a milky smell which was probably the result of the skimmed milk powder listed on the ingredients.

The chocolate was quite basic in taste but it melted really quickly and well to give way to the really crispy wafers. I was right in thinking the filling was solid, in that it was able to hold its shape, but it was also soft under pressure. I found these textures mixed really well together.

Pleasingly, the overall taste was quite milky, and it actually reminded me of the much-missed Mars Delight, just not as richly delicious (and without the caramel cream!). That said, it was the filling that made these Crispy Rolls what they were, and this was still richer than I would have expected.

Bearing in mind the size of this bar, and the low number of calories it contained, the flavours on offer were pretty decent! 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.5/10

Mrs. Freshley's Buddy Bars: Peanut butter wafers

Product name: Mrs. Freshley’s Buddy Bars: Peanut butter wafers
Purchase details: £1.99 for a 57g bar (A Quarter of Sweets)
Calories: 300 per bar
Country of origin: USA 

You may remember that, a few months ago, I reviewed the Mrs. Freshley's Fudge Bake: Brownie (candy topped). Having enjoyed this, I was pleased to see that A Quarter of Sweets recently managed to obtain more Mrs. Freshley’s products and, me being me, I went straight for these Buddy Bars: Peanut butter wafers. (Thanks for the discount, by the way, guys!)

This pack of two peanut butter fingers came in a very similar wrapper to the Fudge Bake – it was slightly less colourful but it still allowed the inner product to be viewed. The packaging didn’t give a description of the snack but the main ingredient was peanut butter and it also contained cocoa.

The wafers had a typical criss-cross pattern on the top and were unevenly coated in a chocolatey-looking substance (this seemed to be where the cocoa was lurking!). Beneath this waxy-feeling coating were three layers of wafer and two thick layers of peanut butter. I can’t say the outer appearance was the most attractive thing in the world but the inside did redeem it slightly.

On first unwrapping the bars, the smell was very much like opening a jar of peanut butter – really rich and nutty. However, up close, there was a hint of a strange additional aroma which was almost like vinegar.

I was really surprised to find that the wafer itself had a strong, sweetened flavour which was evident through the coating. I usually find that wafer products simply provide texture! However, in this case, it was the taste of the cocoa that I struggled to detect, although I think it did add some kind of sugary taste. The peanut butter was lovely, though, since it provided a slightly sweet and pretty creamy flavour, as well as a hint of salt. 

The three elements of the bar all melded together in the mouth which made it a really nice product to suck. The wafer itself was light, crispy and fluffy and reminded me of the type used in Cadbury Time Out bars, albeit larger and softer, and the coating added a nice smoothness to the texture. For me, the only negative aspect of the texture was that the presence of the wafer did mean that the peanut butter couldn’t stick to the mouth in the way it normally would, but you can’t have everything!

On the whole, these Buddy Bars were such a simple concept yet the peanut butter made it really special. I just don’t understand why the UK doesn’t have products like this – they’re so simple but enjoyable!

I definitely want to keep this Buddy as a friend...  

Appearance: 6.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.25/10

Toblerone of Switzerland (milk chocolate)

Product name: Toblerone of Switzerland (milk chocolate)
Calories: 32 per 6g bar 

Toblerone is one of my favourite products so I thought I’d cheat a bit today and review it in the form of this tiny 6g bar that I got given in church a few weeks ago from a big tub of Cadbury Heroes. Regardless of whether or not I thought it was a good thing that Kraft (now Mondelez) took over Cadbury, I do love the decision they made to replace the Bournville chocolates with these mini pyramids.

I obtained the nutritional information about this ‘Swiss milk chocolate with honey and almond nougat’ from their website, where I also discovered a bit more about the ingredients (since the miniature pale yellow and red wrapper didn’t contain any of these details!) – the chocolate contained a minimum of 28% cocoa solids and 14% milk solids, and also consisted of 10% nougat, 3% honey and 1.6% almonds.

The appearance of this iconic chocolate was exactly as normal – it had simply been reduced in size and contained only three triangular pieces. Flecks of nougat and almond were visible throughout and it even had the brand name imprinted on the side of the bar. There was also a mild smell of chocolate, as well as a hint of additional sweetness which seemed to be from the honey.

I always find that Toblerone has a unique flavour and this didn’t disappoint. I could really taste the honey in the milky chocolate as it provided a deep sugary sweetness, and I loved how the bittiness form the chewy nougat and crunchy almond tricked the mind into thinking of crystallised honey.

 

Despite its tiny form, this bar of Toblerone of Switzerland still managed to have its satisfying chunkiness. It really is a winning formula and a gift I’ll never tire of receiving. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.63/10