Reeses Spreads: Tasty, But It’s No Nutella

Recently I received a jar of Reeses Spreads courtesy of Influenster to devour sample. I. Was. PUMPED. I didn’t even know this was a thing, but they had me and ‘chocolate and peanut butter spread’.

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I set up a little spread for myself, the hubs, my daughter (who was beyond thrilled to get to have a treat in the middle of the afternoon), and we invited our neighbor over too, just to gather another opinion. The question was – what does this taste beston??

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The options were: Apple slices, graham crackers, and wheat toast. Both my little and myself liked Reeses Spreads on apples the best. I am a HUGE fan of apples and peanut butter, and this is like a dessert version of that. Both my hubs and our neighbor liked it best on the toast.

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How’s the flavor? I think this is where I was surprised the most. First off, it doesn’t taste like a Reeses Peanut Butter cup. In fact, when eaten WITH something, I feel like you hardly even taste the chocolate. It’s like a super sweet peanut butter. Good, but definitely not a great chocolate/pb combo in my opinion. We each tried a little spoonful just by itself, and I find that on it’s own it definitely tastes much more like a Reeses.

Overall, this is good, but I would not purchase this over Nutella any day. It has a good taste, but it’s really just like an overly sweet peanut butter. As someone who purchases natural peanut butter (as in, only peanuts – no added sugar) it’s almost sickeningly sweet, and it doesn’t have enough of a chocolate flavor to balance that out. I am quite intrigued how it’ll be to bake with though – I plan on making up some peanut butter cookies using this in place of half the peanut butter – we’ll see how they turn out!

The New Year Beckons

What a fun holiday season! As you can see, I’m a bit behind on my holiday baking post. But better late than never yes?! I can’t believe I’m sitting on the doorstep of 2014. Part of me is really ready for the new year with new goals and new projects, but part of me is like WAIT! SLOW DOWN!! If the new year is here that means I actually have to start DOING those goals and projects. And I don’t quite feel ready. But I’ll get there.

Now, without further ado, here are the recipes (and photos) of my holiday baking gifts.

First up, Peanut Butter Blossoms. I whipped up a (huge) batch of these for friends and a couple events we went to in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I only ever have these at Christmas time, so even though they could be an any-time cookie, I always think of them as a holiday cookie!

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Get the recipe here!

This peanut butter cookie recipe spreads out quite a bit, so don’t smush your rolled dough balls too much with a fork. I love this recipe however as it makes wonderfully soft chewy cookies (my favorite!).

Next I made two batches of Peanut Butter Buckeyes. Apparently I was in a chocolate peanut butter mood for my treats this year!

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Get the recipe here!

These are a little messy when it comes to the chocolate dipping part (either that or it’s just ME who is a little lot messy) but they are so tasty. I have a lot of little candy boxes left over from doing the farmers market years ago and these tucked perfectly in there to give as gifts.

Every year I make a Chocolate Mousse Pie for my best friends mother. She adores it. I also made one for Thanksgiving this year and it was a hit.

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Get the recipe here!

I love this pie. It is the most decadent, rich, smooth, chocolatey thing I eat all year. Just heavenly.

I tried out a new bread recipe and whipped up some Honey Spice Bread to go with the Apple Butter I canned earlier this year. This was the only recipe I tried this year that wasn’t my own!

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Get the recipe here.

If I’m being 100% honest, I wasn’t over the moon for this bread recipe. I found it REALLY dry. It had great flavor, but the texture was too dry and crumbly for my taste. But with some apple butter and a cup of tea it was just perfect!

And lastly, I whipped up two batches of the Lemon Bar Brownies (from my previous baking post). One batch for my mum, and one for my mother in law.

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Get the recipe here.

Compared to last year, this was a relatively small holiday baking session for me. But I loved it. It was so nice not to feel swamped with baking and be able to enjoy each treat I made for people. See you in 2014!

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December Will Be Spent Covered in Flour

I do a lot of baking come December. Baking is one of my absolute favorite things to do (okay, EATING said baked goods ranks pretty high as well), and this month brings many occasions to bake for!

At the end of each week in December I want to do a ‘This Week’s Baked Goods’ post, and share my recipes. However, these will not be all out tutorial posts like my previous baking posts simply because I won’t have the time to take, edit, and put together photos and posts for each of the many baked goods I make in December. But there will be recipes and some photos of course. Here’s an idea of what’s to come:

December Week 1 (The Hubs Birthday):

  • Carrot Cake (The first I’ve ever attempted.)
  • Lemon Bar Brownies
  • Secret Cookie Surprise! (I’m pretty sure my hubs doesn’t read my blog, but just in case I don’t want to spoil the surprise cookies I’m making.)

December Week 2 (My Daughter’s Third Birthday):

  • Chocolate & Vanilla Cupcakes
  • Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
  • Iced Sugar Cookies

December Weeks 3 & 4 (Christmas Baking!!):

  • Chocolate Mousse Pie
  • Peanut Butter Buckeyes
  • Gingerbread Spice Bread
  • More to be announced! (I haven’t quite nailed down what I’m giving as baked treat gifts this year.)

Keep an eye out for yummy things coming your way soon!

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