Peanut Butter Cups - Korean style

This afternoon, I told Aaron he could chose one thing for me to bake/make today and I would make it!  (It's my new hobby, you know!) His response, "peanut butter cups"! Yum, I'm in!  Especially because Reeses peanut butter cups don't exist in this country - ANYWHERE!

Now, since I live in a foreign country, I always have to create at least 2 ingredient substitutions for nearly every western recipe!  With that said, I used caramelised bisquits instead of gram crackers (which don't exist in Korea), and Ghana chocolate bars instead of chocolate chips (which are really expensive and can only be found in specialty baking stores).

So, here's what I did!  If you also live in Korea, you can easily make these and enjoy the delicious Reese's peanut butter cup taste!  (Prep time: 10 minutes - Cooling time: 10 minutes.  Makes 8)

Ingredients:3 Lotte Ghana mild chocolate bars

1/4 cups smooth peanut butter

3 Lotus caramelised bisquits (crushed into crumbs)

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 pinch of salt

*** Use 8 small silicon cupcake liners. (I bought mine at Homeplus)

In a plastic bowl, mix:

3 bars of chocolate (break into small pieces)
1 teaspoon of peanut butter

1 pinch of salt

** melt it in the microwave using 30 second intervals, stirring in between so it doesn't burn.

Once the mixture is melted and smooth, spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of the mixture into each lined muffin cup.  Save about 1/4 of the mixture in the bowl to use for the topping. Set aside

In a new bowl, mix:

The rest of the peanut butter

pinch of salt

3 caramelised Bisquits crushed

1/3 cup of confectioners sugar.
Once combined, form little discs with your hands. They should be slightly smaller than the width of the muffin cup so that the peanut butter will be completely concealed by chocolate.  Once formed, press into the center of the melted chocolate. You want the chocolate to come up the side of the peanut butter, cradling it.

Once they are all filled then spoon some chocolate on top and spread it across the top of the peanut butter disc. You don't need very much chocolate for this because your bottom and sides should already be formed. Now put them in the refrigerator to set.

Tah dah!  They were so delicious!

While it's not the REAL Reeses peanut butter cups, it was pretty darn close!  Happy Saturday!

Monica's Profile...

With classes being canceled today, I had to come up with a way to entertain myself at my desk!  So, I took a shot at making a paper profile for Monica!  She's always a good sport and lets me take her photo for things!  She's crazy about it and said she's never seen anything like it before and that all her friends will be jealous!  haha 

Well that was easy!

Ever had a job where you wish your boss would say, 

"You know what?  I think you're great. Go ahead and take a break this week. I'll do all your work for you!  Here, have some coffee and relax."

Well, that's been my week this week!  

I'm telling you, I have THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD! 

As you probably know by now, I'm a list maker!  I love keeping track of details and organizing statistics.  With that said, this is my "Canceled Class" list for this week:

Yep, my co-teacher basically told me to sit back and relax at my desk for 11 classes this week!  That's 7 and a 1/2 hours worth of teaching, replaced with facebook browsing, paper snowflake making, pinterest pinning, cabinet organizing, blog writing, coffee drinking, and movie watching delight!

Thanks for another fabulous week of relaxation Korea!

Cookies!

Last night, I made these delicious chocolate chip & oreo cookies! Thanks to this pinterest link! They were so easy to make, and even passed the Aaron test!  He's picky with sweets, but said I nailed it! :)

Seriously, run to your kitchen and make these NOW! You'll thank me later!

Saturday sewing party

After leaving lunch with Emo, we started thinking up ways to pay her back for her generosity. We decided to make a warm bed for Serry for the winter months. Since the weather has become colder, Serry has been sleeping on a bath mat instead of the cement floors in the shop, but we thought a nice homemade soft bed would be a good treat for her and would show our appreciation for lunch today.

So, I got right to work! Luckily I still have my school's Home Ec sewing machine which made the project much faster and more professional looking.... and yes, I sew on the ground.  Always have.

I used a fleece blanket I already had but didn't really use anymore, and some stuffing from my old comforter.  The only thing I actually bought was a zipper!  This was my 1st project with a zipper. The darn thing took me 4 times to get it just right, but I've figured out how they work now!  I finished off the bed by personalizing it with Serry's name, in Korean, with some cream faux fur material I had.

Aaron and I gave Emo the bed tonight and she was so appreciative and thought it was so sweet that we had homemade it and personalized it!  Serry sniffed it for a while and wasn't an automatic fan, but I'm sure after she sees what a good night sleep she'll have on it, she'll love it!