Happy October! Today is the first day of my Halloween foodie posts and I FINALLY have a success to share with you! These little chocolate crispy peanut butter mice are fabulous and they come from Taste of Home. I did not need three dozen of these creatures so I divided the recipe in half and it only made 11???? Weird! Feel free to double it if you have a lot of people to feed!
The recipe begins with combining half a cup of creamy peanut butter (use full fat, I used low fat and they were kind of dry) with 2 tbsp of softened butter and a little bit of vanilla. Sift 3/4 cups of icing sugar and then mix in gradually. Again, mine were a little dry so you can hold back on the icing sugar if it is looking a little too dry/not coming together.
Fold in 3/4 cup of a crispy rice cereal. This is where I realized I was in trouble, the peanut butter mixture would barely take in any of the cereal. I did my best! Roll into 1″ balls and taper at the front for the nose. Add sliced almonds on top for the ears and chill. I chilled mine for two days! Life has been stupid busy, blech. I finally had a chance to finish them yesterday. Yay!
You want some little sprinkles or super mini candy-coated chocolates for the eyes (I got mine at Bulk Barn) and some mini M&Ms for the nose. Get out your black sprinkles and slice black string licorice into 2″ slices for the tails.
I prefer to melt my chocolate in a metal bowl over warm water. I melted 6 oz (2 thin bars) of dark chocolate with 1/2 tbsp of shortening. Let it take its time, never rush chocolate! Make sure the bowl is much wider than the pot so no steam impacts the chocolate. Also make sure that the water in the pot is not touching the bowl.
Dip the chilled mice into the chocolate. I used my chocolate dipping tools but you can just use forks. I worked one at a time, dipping and decorating. I did not want the chocolate to harden before I had a chance to add the details:
Aren’t they adorable?! Keeping your hands chocolate-free while handling the decorative touches was the hardest part. Because I used low fat peanut butter and my mice were a little dry, adding the tails was very challenging but luckily the chocolate helped everything adhere nicely.
These Midnight Mice were a little time consuming to make but not difficult. They were quite tasty, crunchy peanut butter and chocolate is hard to beat. I was frustrated by the recipe because mine were quite dry and it only made 11 mice, not even a dozen which is confusing. Taking everything into consideration, I give this recipe four out of five wooden spoons.
Oh this is my favourite time of year! A spooky time to indulge and have fun with food, this is the month I live for. It has only just begun!
Cute!
Susie, I just love your Halloween spirit and the mice are so cute. Can’t wait for your next project.
These just have to be one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen, Suzie. They are perfect for Halloween or anytime! xoO
Is it wrong to say that’s adorable? Because it is! I mean, scary!
Thank you! 🙂 I thought I would start with cute, move to spooky and then lead up to scary but we’ll see. Yes, they are adorable aren’t they? Almost feel guilty for eating them… almost!
These are totally fun! It’s been so long since I’ve made anything with peanuts, or peanut butter. I’d love to give these a try though since I can eat peanuts at sea level – no more migraines!! 🙂
I love these! They are so cute! How creative
As cute as they are, I could totally gobble these up. Love the plating, very cool, cute and creepy theme, getting so excited to see more!
WAAAAAYYYY too cute. Squeek! Thank you
These mice are adorable and perfect for the season.
Omg. Love this!! Looks fantastic!