Peanut Butter Balls

These are my all-time favourite. I make sure to bake them every Christmas.


Here's what you'll need:

5 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup salted butter
1 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
16 ounces of 70% bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped


In a large mixing bowl, beat the confectioners sugar, butter, and peanut butter until well combined. The dough will probably have a crumbly texture to it; this is okay. Using your hands, form balls that are approximately 1" in diameter (you can make them larger if you want). Place peanut butter balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

For the chocolate coating, melt the chocolate in the microwave, stir every 45 seconds.

Using a toothpick, dip the peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate coating. Place the chocolate coated peanut butter balls back on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let the chocolate set by  placing the peanut butter balls in the fridge for 2 hours. After the chocolate has set, store the peanut butter balls in an airtight container in the fridge.

Peppermint Patties

Okay... so these were not easy to make but they were worth it. And, I did learn a couple of tricks along the way to make them a bit easier to make next time:

1) Double the recipe. If you're going to put in the effort to make peppermint patties, make it worthwhile.

2) Sprinkle extra confectioners sugar on the dough before freezing. This makes cutting the individual patties way easier.

3) Don't roll the dough out too thin. I made two batches. The first batch, I rolled out the dough quite thin, whereas the second batch, I rolled out the dough so it was still quite thick. I would say somewhere around 1/3 inch thick produces the best results.


Here's what you'll need:

2 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 1/2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp pure peppermint extract
1 tbsp shortening
a pinch of salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup confectioners sugar for kneading and rolling
12 ounces of 70% bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped


Beat the 2 1/4 cups of confectioners sugar, light corn syrup, water, peppermint extract, shortening, and a pinch of salt, on medium speed until combined.

Dust the counter with 1/4 to 1/2 cup confectioners sugar and knead the dough until it is smooth. I used extra confectioners sugar on my hands while kneading. Once the dough is smooth, roll out the dough until it is about 1/3 inch thick. Sprinkle extra confectioners sugar on both sides and place in between two sheets of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Freeze for 15-20 minutes

Remove the dough from the freezer. Sprinkle the top of the dough with confectioners sugar; flip; and sprinkle the other side of the dough with confectioners sugar.

Now, you need to find a small round cookie cutter and cut as many round peppermint patties as possible. Place each peppermint patty on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the baking sheet with the peppermint patties in the freezer for another 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, gather the scraps of dough, re-roll and freeze, then cut into more peppermint patties and freeze them.

To make the chocolate coating, melt the chocolate in the microwave, stopping to stir every 45 seconds.

To cover the peppermint patties with the chocolate coating, you need to balance each peppermint patty on a fork, then put it into the bowl of melted chocolate, letting the excess drip off and scraping the back of the fork against the bowl if necessary, then return the peppermint patty to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Another technique is to simply put each patty into the bowl of chocolate and pick it out by balancing it on a fork. This worked the best for me and was probably quicker. Whichever technique you choose, repeat until all of the peppermint patties are covered with chocolate.

Let the peppermint patties stand in the fridge until the chocolate is set. I waited about 2 hours. Store peppermint patties in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake with Colourful Whipped Vanilla Frosting

Here's what you'll need for the Chocolate Cake:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups AP flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup of milk and 1 tbsp white vinegar)
1 cup strong black coffee
1/2 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla


Here's what you'll need for the Whipped Vanilla Frosting:

3 sticks + 2 tbsp salted butter, softened and cut into cubes
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla
a pinch of salt


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch baking pans.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low until the dry ingredients are combined. Add the two eggs, buttermilk, coffee, melted butter or oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for two minutes. Pour batter evenly into the two prepared pans (Note: The batter will be quite thin —but this is okay!).

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. I bake my two cakes for 35 minutes and they turned out nice and moist. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cakes from the pans and place on a wire rack until they are cooled completely.

While the cakes are cooling, you can whipped up the "Whipped Vanilla Frosting". In a medium bowl, mix butter on medium. The butter will become very pale and creamy. Add the confectioners' sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt, and mix on low for one minute, then on medium for 6 minutes. The frosting will be very light, creamy, fluffy, and delicious! Add food colouring if you want. I did a pastel rainbow frosting. Basically, I divided my frosting into two small bowls and made one a light turquoise frosting and the other a dark turquoise frosting. Here's a link to the tutorial I followed on Sweetapolita.

To assemble the cake, place one round cake on a cutting board. Place some frosting on top, spreading evenly with a spatula. Next, place the second round cake on top and frosting the top and sides —again spreading evenly. Add sprinkles or any other decorations that you desire! Enjoy :)