Dorm Friendly Peanut Butter Truffles

My close friend Elise and I sat on the floor of my cramped double room in Gonzaga Hall. We had spent hours on this floor: doing homework, watching TV, taking naps, and debriefing our days. However, this night we decided to tackle a dessert. 

While some of our other friends went home for Easter Break, Elise and I decided to stay back in Boston. We had four goals for break: explore Boston and go to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, catch up on sleep, watch the six hour TV series of Pride and Prejudice, and make peanut butter truffles (a homemade version of the Reese’s peanut butter egg). As an avid lover of anything peanut butter and chocolate, this recipe felt like the perfect sweet treat to enjoy over break. Moreover, it only requires three ingredients and a microwave, making it an accessible recipe for any college student.

We began our endeavor around 11 p.m. on the first night of break. I set out a large jar of peanut butter, a bag of powdered sugar, and a bag of chocolate chips on the floor. Then, I gathered all of the baking-adjacent tools that I could find in my room. I picked out a plastic container to act as a mixing bowl and a cereal bowl to melt the chocolate in, as well as all of the forks and spoons I could find. My array of tools was unlike the baking equipment I normally use in my home kitchen. However, Elise and I were determined to make a delicious dessert, despite the hodge-podge of tools we were working with. 

To start, we scooped some peanut butter into our “mixing bowl” and poured powdered sugar on top. We mixed the two ingredients together, releasing a cloud of powdered sugar dust into the air and spilling sugar all over the carpet. Then, we grabbed small amounts of dough to flatten into egg shapes. They were far from uniform, but we were perfectly happy with the variety of sizes we ended up with. The next step was to melt the chocolate chips in my weak, low-voltage (but dorm safe) microwave. It took what felt like endless 30 second intervals to melt the chocolate, but eventually we were left with a bowl of silky chocolate. Lastly, we dipped each truffle into the bowl so they were left with a smooth coat of dark chocolate.

Elise and I caught up on Pride and Prejudice while impatiently waiting for the chocolate coat to harden. Finally, after a long night of questionable baking, the truffles were ready to enjoy. Despite our lack of a proper kitchen, they were absolutely amazing, consisting of a creamy peanut butter middle covered in a snappy layer of chocolate. After a night filled with laughing, fun, and most importantly sugar, we were left with a carpet covered in powdered sugar and a fridge filled with the most delicious peanut butter truffles.

Ingredients

Creamy peanut butter

Powdered sugar

Chocolate chips

Method

Add peanut butter to a bowl and stir in powdered sugar. Continue adding sugar until the mixture is firm enough to hold its shape. Form the mixture into egg shapes or balls. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between. Dip the truffles into the melted chocolate until fully coated. Drizzle additional melted chocolate over the truffles if desired. Allow the truffles to set in the fridge.

Cover photo courtesy of Fifteen Spatulas

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The Most Memorable Almond Cookies

My dad is funny, a talented chef, and a cat-lover. But one thing that he is not is a person with a sweet tooth. His ideal dessert consists of graham crackers with a small scoop of bitter chocolate ice cream. He dislikes most sweet desserts, especially the sugary frosting on a slice of cake or cookie. One of the few desserts that my dad never minded the sweetness of was what he described as “chewy almond cookies” from Italian bakeries. He spent his junior year of college studying abroad in Florence, Italy, enjoying espresso with these almond cookies on a daily basis. 

Almost forty years later, my dad continued to rave about these almond cookies. For one of his recent birthdays, I was stumped with what dessert to bake for him. As an avid baker, it feels instinctual to make a dessert for a family member’s birthday. For example, my mom loves chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, while my sister prefers a red velvet layer cake. However, my dad is always a tough case with his aversions to overly-sweet desserts. This birthday, though, it finally hit me to try and make the memorable almond cookies from Italy. I began my research on Google. I searched “Italian chewy almond cookies,” hoping that at least one of these keywords could connect me to my dad’s beloved recipe. I found just what I was looking for: recipes to make Italian almond cookies called amaretti.

I printed out a recipe and gathered the ingredients in preparation. My dad always preaches about creating a “staging area” before beginning any project. This could mean laying down old newspapers before beginning a messy art project or moving shoes and bags off the floor before vacuuming. In my case, I washed the dirty dishes in the sink and sponged down the counter before attempting to master amaretti cookies. As the cookies came together, a sweet almond aroma filled the kitchen from the almond extract and almond flour. My dad is a fan of anything almond, from marzipan to almond croissants, so I began to understand why he adored these cookies so much. I rolled out the cookies and topped them with sliced almonds, carefully placing one almond atop every cookie to create an army of uniform cookie soldiers with almond hats. 

After I baked and cooled the cookies, I arranged them on a tray to present to my dad. I closely watched as he took a bite, hoping that my cookies would live up to his memories of the authentic ones from Florence. He smiled and told me that they were just as almondy and chewy as he had remembered, managing to strike the perfect balance of sweetness and stir up feelings of nostalgia for him. As a second part of his birthday gift, my dad requested amaretti cookie lessons so he could enjoy them whenever his cravings struck. I happily obliged, and now the amaretti cookies are his specialty dessert that he brings to any dinner party or special occasion. I successfully reunited my dad with his favorite chewy almond cookies, transporting him from our kitchen to a bakery in Florence. 

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups almond flour

1 cup granulated sugar

⅛ teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites

¼ teaspoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon almond extract

Powdered sugar to dust cookies

Sliced almonds (options)

Directions

Preheat oven to 300°F. Stack two cookie sheets on top of each other to prevent the bottoms of the cookies from browning too much while baking. Line the top tray with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the almond flour, sugar, and salt. In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the egg whites and lemon juice together until the egg whites hold soft beaks. Fold the beaten egg whites and almond extract into the dry ingredients until the fixture forms a soft, sticky dough.

Use a tablespoon to portion the dough into one-inch balls. Roll the balls in powdered sugar. Place a sliced almond on the top of each cookie if desired. Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheet with one inch of space between each cookie.

Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the tops are cracked and the bottoms are a pale golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. 

Recipe adapted from loveandoliveoil.com.

Cover Image Courtesy of The Clever Meal