I have always loved peanut butter, so I was excited to receive a review copy of a new cookbook called Peanut Butter Comfort by Averie Sunshine, who also has a wonderful food blog, Averie Cooks. And I have a copy of this book to give away to one of you! See the end of the post for details!

This cookbook is filled with recipes for breakfast items, brownies, cakes, cookies, candies, and frozen treats…all with that great peanut butter flavor! And they’re easy and quick to make, which is always nice.

Some of the recipes from Peanut Butter Comfort that sounded especially good to me were…

• Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas and Peanut Butter Maple Syrup
• Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Banana Bread
• Peanut Butter Swirl Chocolate Chip Blondies
• Banana Bread Pudding Cake
• Caramel Apple White Chocolate Chip Bars
• Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies
• Creamy Peanut Butter Softserve
• Peanut Butter and Vanilla Cake Batter Caramel Corn

As you can see, there are all sorts of peanut buttery sweets in this cookbook! I decided to try the White Chocolate and Cookie Crumb Truffles…it’s a no-bake recipe, so it was perfect because I was trying this out on a very warm day! Plus, it gave me an excuse to buy Nutter Butter cookies, which I love but haven’t bought in ages, since I wouldn’t be able to stop eating them if I had them hanging around! 🙂 You can use Nutter Butters or several other kinds of cookies in this recipe, which are mentioned below. These truffles are full of peanut butter flavor, plus they’re very cute and festive…great for any summery celebration!

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND COOKIE CRUMB TRUFFLES from Peanut Butter Comfort

Makes about 18 truffles

• 12 Nutter Butter cookies, Golden Oreo cookies, or vanilla-flavored sandwich cookies, crushed (I used Nutter Butters)
• 2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 2 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 ounces white chocolate or vanilla candy coating, melted
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening, optional (I used coconut oil)
• 1/4 cup sprinkles

Add cookies to a food processor and grind until they are very fine and powdery. Add peanut butter, cream cheese, and vanilla and process until a moist dough forms. Typically the dough will ball up into a large mound within the food processor, signifying the proper dough consistency. It will be moist and oily, but should hold a shape. If needed, process a few more cookies and add to the dough if it seems too wet or a touch more peanut butter or cream cheese if it’s too dry (I added a little more peanut butter and cream cheese, since my dough was on the dry side).

Form 1/2-inch diameter balls with the dough by rolling it between the palms of your hands until smooth and globe-like (I actually ended up with a few more than 18). Use a small cookie scoop or just eyeball it but keep the dough balls on the smaller side because the finished truffles are significantly larger in size after being dipped in the melted white chocolate and topped with sprinkles.

Place the balls on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet or large flat plate and freeze for at least one hour because they need to be very cold in order for the melted chocolate to adhere properly when dipping.

After at least one hour, in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl combine the white chocolate and shortening and heat on high power to melt, about 30 to 45 seconds. Stop, stir, and heat in 10-second bursts until chocolate melts and can be stirred smooth. White chocolate scorches more easily than milk or semi-sweet chocolate; take care not to overheat it. The shortening helps keep the chocolate smoother, makes it less prone to hardening prematurely, and makes it much easier to work with when dipping. Melt candy coating according to package directions.

Remove balls from freezer and place one on a fork. Lower the fork into the chocolate to dip it; then raise it up and allow excess chocolate to drain off through the fork tines before placing the ball on parchment. Garnish with about 1/4 teaspoon sprinkles before chocolate sets. Repeat the dipping and sprinkling process with all remaining balls, reheating the chocolate in 15-second bursts if it begins setting up before all the balls have been dipped.

Place truffles in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 30 minutes to allow chocolate to set up fully before serving. Truffles will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Copyright © 2013 Averie Sunshine. Reprinted with permission from Skyhorse Publishing.

The Giveaway is now closed. The winner is comment #11, Create with Joy–congratulations!

Now for the Giveaway….if you’d like to enter to win a copy of Peanut Butter Comfort, leave a comment on this blog post between now and Saturday, August 24, at midnight (CST)–the random drawing will be made from the comments on this post only! Winner will be chosen ramdomly via Random.org and announced on Sunday, August 25. Winner will be notified via email (if winner does not respond in 3 days, I’ll do another drawing). Giveaway is limited to readers in the Continental U.S. and Canada.

First entry: Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite peanut butter treat is.

Bonus entry: If you are a new or existing follower or subscriber, you can leave one extra comment telling me the way (or ways) you are following!

I’m interested to hear what all of your favorite peanut butter desserts are! 🙂 Don’t worry if your comment doesn’t show up right away–because of spam, I need to approve all the comments before they show up!