Cooking Lesson #116 - Deep-fried p'nut butter bombs

County Fair Week

Deep Fried Peanut Butter Cups; Photo by kickthebeat

How you doin’? Pre-coronavirus, we’ve had a couple of pretty-great county fairs in Southern California—Los Angeles and Orange County. They are fried food paradises—Twinkies, ice cream, bacon and such. After all, county fairs have been leaders in the art of creative deep-frying foods and snacks that are sometimes weird, monstrous and WONDROUS.  

I thought I had seen it all until I went to the Texas State Fair—the largest state fair in the country. They hold an annual competition for the most innovative, different, and strange deep-fried foods. A quick sampling of what you can find in Dallas might include: FRIED—Bubble Gum, Butter Balls, Beer, Peanut Butter Banana Cheeseburgers, Coke, Bacon, Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, Cadbury Crème Eggs, Pizza, Kool-Aid, French Fry Coated Hot Dogs, Pecan Pie, Lattes, PB&J, Salsa, Pop Tarts, Margaritas, Club Salad, S'mores, Pumpkin Pie, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Deep Fried Cheesecake, Oreo Cookies, Fried Jambalaya and Fried Bacon Cinnamon Rolls. Really! And, the list grows each year.
 
So, why not something with chocolate and peanut butter?  I froze a dozen Reese’s Thin Peanut Butter Cups. Then I battered them with a special batter and quickly deep-fried them, dusted them with a little powdered sugar and had a magic ooey-gooey, p’nutty-buttery bomb. Boom!
 
Freeze time:  At least 2 hours or, better yet, overnight
Prep time:  15 minutes
Fry time:  3 minutes a round or until golden brown
Yield:  12 peanut butter bombs
 
Ingredients
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup cornflakes cereal, broken, but not completely crushed
12 Reese’s Thin Peanut Butter Cups, frozen
1-quart vegetable oil for frying
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, for dusting
 
Directions

1. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Whisk together the milk, corn flakes and egg.
3. Pour 2-inches of oil in a heavy bottom pot or Dutch oven and heat to between 350°F.
4. Dip and coat 3 peanut butter cups at a time in the batter and drop in the hot oil.  Fry until golden brown on bottom and then flip over.
5. When the second side is golden remove from oil and drain on a paper-towel lined plate.
6. Dust with the confectioners' sugar and eat while they are still warm and gooey.

 
ChefSecret:  
No doubt, some of the bombs will melt and ooze out into the oil and the oil will get very messy.  To minimize this, freeze the peanut butter cups for a couple of hours or, better yet overnight.  Only pull 3 frozen cups out of the freezer at a time when you’re ready to coat them in batter and fry them.
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