Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles

I promise I’ll quit yammering on about this soon but seriously, my little girl is growing up in the blink of an eye! She turned two just a couple of weeks ago and I swear, it’s as though some switch has been flipped over to big girl. The last traces of baby are slipping away. In yet another change to this effect, she moved up into the next age group class at daycare. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I couldn’t stop myself from tearing up when her teacher told me there was room for her in the next class. The transition went so smoothly, it’s almost as though nothing is different…for her, anyway. We’ve grown so close to the teachers in her old class, it was hard to imagine not seeing them every day. I knew I wanted to bring some sort of small gift to thank them for taking such great care of our girl, and as I always do, I wanted to bake or make them something.

Then I suddenly remembered a snippet of a conversation months ago with one of the teachers, when she said she wasn’t much for sweets but preferred salty snacks. Obviously, not loving sweets is a foreign concept to me, but I wanted to think of something I could make that would satisfy both the sweet and the salt lovers. This fit the bill perfectly. These truffles have a crunchy pretzel-peanut butter filling that is coated in a smooth shell of bittersweet chocolate. I topped mine with a peanut butter drizzle but you could also use crushed pretzels or just leave them plain. The filling takes just minutes to mix up and a few more to roll into balls. The coating should be pretty quick too, unless you’re crazy like me and prefer to temper your chocolate for coating. Whatever way you decide to do it, you’ll end up with a bite-sized, salty-sweet, chocolate peanut butter treat. The best kind.

Yield about 2 dozen truffles

Ingredients

For the filling:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup plus 2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups crushed pretzels

For coating:
12 0z. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

For the drizzle:
1 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
1 tbsp. milk
4-6 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar

Directions

01
To make the filling, combine the peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, butter and pretzels in a medium bowl. Mix well with a spoon until evenly combined and all ingredients are incorporated. Roll the mixture into small balls, about 2-3 teaspoons worth each. (You may need to clean your hands between batches to keep the mixture from sticking to your palms.) Place on a baking sheet lined with foil, parchment, or wax paper. Transfer to the freezer to chill for at least 30 minutes.
02
Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a bowl of simmering water, and heat until melted and smooth. (Temper if desired.) Dip chilled peanut butter-pretzel balls in the chocolate, gently shaking off the excess. Transfer back to the lined baking sheet. Chill to let chocolate fully set.
03
To make the peanut butter drizzle, combine the peanut butter and the milk in a small bowl. Microwave briefly, about 15 seconds. Add in the confectioners’ sugar and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Adjust consistency as needed with additional confectioners’ sugar. Drizzle over the coated truffles. Let set before packaging or serving.

Source

slightly adapted from Martha Stewart