These easy homemade peanut butter cups and toffee candy recipes make great gifts for your family and friends! Easy recipes for delicious holiday sweets!
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups and Toffee Recipes
Here are two very easy homemade candy recipes that taste like the real thing. If you are having a hard time finding a gift for that teenage boy or a certain man in your life, make one of these homemade peanut butter cups in a pie pan and give him a giant one as his gift. Watch his eyes bulge and his mouth drool!
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups Recipe
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. (12 oz.) chocolate candy wafers or almond bark
Cream butter. Add peanut butter, sugar and vanilla. In a microwave safe dish, place chocolate and melt. Microwave until melted, stirring frequently. Pour a small amount of melted chocolate in bottom of paper holders. Put in filling and pour more chocolate on top until the filling is covered. Let chocolate harden before serving. Makes 2 dozen.
*When this homemade peanut butter cups recipe was originally written, you couldn’t buy dipping chocolate or the wafers. If you prefer, you can use something like that in place of the chocolate chips and paraffin.
Peanut Butter Balls
Shape peanut butter into small 1 1/2 inch balls. Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate and place on wax paper to harden
Toffee Recipe
1 cup nuts, chopped
(pecans or walnuts are best)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Butter an 8×8 inch pan. Spread nuts in the bottom of the pan. On medium heat, bring sugar and butter to a boil 7 minutes. Spread into the pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Let it sit a few minutes. When melted, spread evenly. Let cool before cracking into pieces. Makes 24 pieces.
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Hi there,
I am so glad that someone else lives so normally, we to live and supply our needs not our wants due to a restricted income. We have learnt to manage and like you actually paying off extra principle off the mortgage, other wise it would be gobbled up.
Go well,
Alison
Hi,
Love reading the newsletters. I am a bit confused as here in the UK paraffin is a fuel like petrol. Now I understand that’s obviously not what you are saying to put in the peanut butter cups…. but what is it and what is the alternative please.
it’s a wax that you shave into the chocolate, melt with the chocolate and then when the chocolate hardens it gets shiny and is a harder coating.
Reta you can use regular chocolate wafers (almond bark it is sometimes called here)that they sell for purpose for melting and covering things in chocolate. At the time that recipe first was written they didn’t sell almond bark to melt sothat is how we did it. I have just used melted chocolate chips but the chocolate is very soft.
You can put Crisco shortening into the chocolate chips when you melt them it will also cause the chocolate to harden thats what i do.
The recipe for the peanut butter cups looks mighty good. Where would I go to purchase parrafin?
Another question – with making various homemade goodies for the holidays, to give as gifts – special boxes and wrapping material would be a nice thought, but where do you get that kind of specialized stuff, without spending a fortune?
The paraffin is in with the canning jars and canning things (vacuum sealers are in the area too) at Wal Mart and most grocery stores. You really don’t need the parraffin though. You can use almond bark or I put them in the small paper wrappers (that are like cupcake papers but tiny). When I use these I pour a tiny bit of melted chocolate chips in the paper, put the peanut butter mix in next then pour melted chocolate chips on top and call it good. The chocolate chips will be a little softer but you can do this in a pinch.
Packaging for homemade goodies is one of the many reasons I don’t do homemade goodies because when all is said and done it can be expensive to do homemade things. That is why I tell people you need to put pen to paper and figure up how much it is really costing you to make things. The same goes with things baked from scratch.
This example isn’t a food item but but the same idea. Recently a friend decided to save money and make throws for her friends this year. She bought fabric and we spent 6 hours with 2 of us working to make these. I went 2 days later and found the same thing (even a little nicer) for $5 less. Since she made 5 of them it would have saved her $25 if she had just bought them.
The same thing goes for things like my homemade fudge. As far as expense goes it would be cheaper for me just to buy everyone their favorite super big candy bar then what I have to pay for ingredients for the fudge.
Anyway back to your question about where to find packaging. Check out the cake decorating section at Walmart, Jo Ann fabrics (use a coupon from there to get a good deal). They have cellophane bags, boxes and things like that. The Dollar Tree has some good containers and things there. They have really pretty silver platters and different dishes to hold things besides some cute boxes too. It is to late to get them now but during the summer garage sales and thrift stores have some cute dishes and things for not much. Pretty plates, tea cups, mugs, bowls to put things in.
I have not been there myself buy I think some party stores have some good deals on many things like that too. Don’t forget to think out of the box.You can cover all different kinds of boxes with wrapping paper and use them. I love the ones that just have a 2 inch side on them and no top. I cover in paper and then lay white tissue paper on the bottom (and cover the tissue paper with plastic wrap if you need) then spread my goodies out. I also individually wrap things like pieces of fudge in plastic wrap or my mints in foil etc. then I don’t need a air tight container.
My all time favorite is clear cellophane bags. Once again they can be found in the cake decorating section or you can go to a floral shop and get them in bulk.
Dollar Tree stores has all sorts and sizes of containers and boxes
I was given a very similar recipe years ago. You make the peanut butter part into into balls and then dip in chocolate. Usually the chocolate dipping process, leaves a small open spot on the top of the chocolate. Apparently these chocolates then end up resembling the buckeye nuts found in Ohio. So they are called “buckeyes” according to the American lady who gave me the recipe. Anyway, they are a huge hit here at Christmas. I put them in small muffin papers and then pack them in tins for gift giving.
Here’s an idea to help with gift containers. I go to Good Will or any consignment/thrift store. I buy nice cake plates…serving dishes for olives, pickles or veggies. Candy dishes or even an attractive & unusual relish tray. I collect these items all year long so i have a supply on hand. If i bake a birthday cake for a friend, they get the nice homemade cake and the often times, vintage cake plate. Relish dishes or other dishes for specialty items on the dinner table make great divided candy containers. Chip & dip trays are great too. Put homemade candy in the center where the dip goes & cookies or bars or more candies where the chips go. Then wrap in plastic wrap…put a ribbon or bow on & gift tag. People love this when I do it…it’s unusual & they have a usable item besides the homemade goodie. I get these items for 50 cents to 3.00.
The recipe I’m looking at has nothing remotely resembling paraffin in the recipe….I am confused; homemade peanut butter cups or peanut butter balls
Lisa we said that if you you don’t want to buy special dipping chocolate or wafers then you can mix a small amount of paraffin in with chocolate chips and use that for dipping (or pouring on) the peanut butter cups or balls. You can make either peanut butter cups or take the same filling and roll into balls for peanut butter balls.
Thank you for this great recipe! I made half a batch this morning and made it into 4 heart shapes to give my boyfriend for Valentine’s Day :) I know he’s going to be really happy!
I was watching one of the peanut butter cup videos today. You were saying you didn’t know why buckeyes were associated with the holidays. Buckeyes look like chestnuts as they are a dark brown nut with a tan or light brown spot on the top…so it is because of those chestnuts roasting on an open fire…who knew, well now you know and can tell your viewers.
Love watching your videos, have your book and enjoy the recipes…most are very similiar to the ones I grew up with 60 years ago. Glad you put them all in one place for me…LOL Tell Jack, he reminds me of my boys…I raised my 2 brothers, a son and daughter of my own. Now I have 2 young teen grandsons too. God bless y’all.
Can u make some really cool candy recipes and Disney recipes thank u
Here are a bunch of candy recipes for you Keyli https://www.livingonadime.com/?s=candy+recipes
Looks. Good.
Thank you Anita. They really are good and even more they are so easy to make.