Club: Baked- Buckeyes

It's time for the second Club: Baked recipe of the month! Wow, time really flies by..can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving!!  Anyway, because my boyfriend and I literally just got back from a nice little vacation (hehe), I had to quickly make these a few days before we left, I knew I wouldn't have time otherwise.  I almost didn't make them at all..for two reasons….First, because I didn't want to eat anything like this right before going away (haha) and Second, because my boyfriend graduated from Penn State who apparently rivals with the Ohio Buckeyes (I had no idea!).  So, I found solutions to both of these dilemmas: I cut the recipe down to 1/3 which made 12 rather than 36-40 and then renamed my little treats to Nittany Lion Eyes.  Ok, so that doesn't sound right, and yeah they do still look like Buckeyes but no one tell my boyfriend..(who loved them btw)! Because making these were kind of last second for me, I had to use what I had on hand. I used natural peanut butter (which the recipe advises NOT to use), fat free cream cheese (I hate cream cheese but the amount was so small you couldn't even tell it was in there and the fat free cream cheese had a weak taste to begin with) and semi-sweet chocolate (which I like so I was okay with this substitution).  The Buckeyes Nittany Lion eyes ended up being very easy to make and came out yummy.  I think using natural peanut butter made these slightly dry but it didn't effect the taste, because they were GOOD!  When making these, I kept visualizing peanut butter cups thinking that they were going to be that size, but I followed the recipe instructions and used 1 tbsp as a measurement guide which made them much bigger than I originally thought.  That being said, eating 1 of these little guys was surprisingly filling (unlike with peanut butter cups where I could sit there and eat hundreds haha).  Even though I rushed through this one, I felt they were well worth making!  Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More is hosting this one for us, so check out her page for the recipe…right nowww! (you really, realllyyy have to!).  Also, please check out the Club: Baked blog page to see all of the other members results too! Enjoy!