By February first and February in Boston is its own meteorological argument. The snow last week, the ice this week, the way the city just accepts this and continues -- the T delayed, the sidewalks unreliable, everyone walking like they're negotiating something. I walk to MGH from the T stop and I have done this walk in February for nine years and I have made peace with it in the way you make peace with a difficult colleague: we understand each other. I am not happy about February. February is not sorry.
Nora has her ten-month checkup on Thursday. She is twenty-one pounds and thirty inches, which puts her in the 90th percentile for both, which her pediatrician says with the particular satisfaction of someone who likes large healthy babies. Nora was not interested in the checkup assessment. She wanted to examine the paper on the exam table. She tore a piece off and considered it. The doctor said "she's very engaged with her environment." I said "that is one way to put it."
Liam has been going through a phase this month of asking "why" about everything, which I have been told is normal and age-appropriate and which I am finding both delightful and exhausting in the way that only a thing can be both delightful and exhausting simultaneously. Why is it cold. Why do nurses wear those clothes. Why does Nora not have more teeth yet. These are reasonable questions. I am answering them as accurately as I can. His follow-up questions suggest he is evaluating my accuracy.
Valentine's Day baking preparations this weekend -- sugar cookies with pink frosting, Sean and Liam cutting heart shapes while I iced them. Our kitchen looks like a bakery had feelings.
The sugar cookies were Sean and Liam’s domain — heart cutters, pink frosting, a level of enthusiasm that left flour on the ceiling — and I needed something I could make alongside them without requiring my full attention. Chocolate peanut butter candy is exactly that kind of recipe: a few ingredients, a low bar for disaster, and a result that tastes like you planned it all along. After a week of February and a pediatric checkup and approximately four hundred follow-up questions from Liam, something that comes together in under thirty minutes felt like a small, necessary mercy.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min (plus chilling) | Servings: 24 pieces
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or vegetable shortening
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of flaky sea salt, for finishing (optional)
Instructions
- Make the peanut butter filling. In a large mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter and softened butter together until smooth and combined. Add the vanilla extract. Gradually stir in the powdered sugar until a soft dough forms — it should hold its shape when pressed.
- Shape the candy. Roll the filling into 1-inch balls or press into a parchment-lined 8x8-inch pan for a bark-style candy. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm up.
- Melt the chocolate. Combine the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until fully melted and smooth, about 2 minutes total. Let cool slightly.
- Coat the candy. Using a fork or dipping tool, dip each chilled peanut butter ball into the melted chocolate, letting the excess drip off. Return to the parchment-lined baking sheet. If making bark-style, pour the melted chocolate over the peanut butter layer in the pan and spread evenly.
- Finish and chill. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired. Refrigerate until the chocolate is fully set, at least 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 185 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 55mg