Homemade Reese's Hearts

As mentioned I will be sharing what I made Sean for Valentine's Day and here is that promise!
The first Valentine's Day that Sean and I celebrated when we were dating, I made him these peanut butter hearts, you know a Reese's peanut butter cup in the shape of a heart. I continue to make these hearts each year to keep up with the tradition. It is a very simple recipe and I would recommend using a stand mixer if you have it, I have mixed the peanut butter with the powdered sugar by hand and my arm got quite the work-out. 

For these peanut butter hearts, first, gather together your ingredients. 1 cup peanut butter (creamy is preferred but I used chunky because it is what I had on hand), 1/4 cup butter, softened, 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 bag 11.5 oz chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon shortening.

Cream the softened butter in your mixer, then add in the peanut butter. 

Mix the peanut butter and butter together very well. 

Once the two ingredients are mixed together, slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time and mix in between additions of powdered sugar. 

When the powdered sugar is fully incorporated into the peanut butter, take out the peanut butter mixture and pat it out until it 1/4 thick.

  Then using a heart cookie cutter, cut the dough and place the hearts onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. I put my cookie cutter into powdered sugar first to help prevent sticking. The dough will be sticky so watch out. 

Freeze the hearts for at least 20 minutes. 

In a double boiler, add the chocolate chips and the shortening. 

When the chips are completely melted, dip in the frozen hearts, completely covering the peanut butter heart in chocolate.

 Place the hearts back into the freezer and then before you serve them to your loved one(s), allow the hearts to come to room temperature. Then eat and enjoy!

For yesterday morning, I wanted Sean to come back to some Valentine's Day treats and this is what he saw on our kitchen counter. Unfortunately, my plan of setting these out the night before didn't turn out so well because he went to bed an hour after me. He usually gets up 30 minutes before me so I wouldn't have time in the morning. To solve this dilemma, I woke up at 4am to set out his Valentine's Day breakfast treats.

I bought the mug at Michaels which came with permanent markers and wrote Good morning, Handsome and there was a box of donut holes behind that sign.
Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day and felt loved by those closest to you.