Snowman Treat Tin & Recipe Monday #10 Peanut Butter Christmas Mice

This Snowman Treat Tin makes a quick and easy gift for neighbors and friends, but it gives your gift a sweet, handcrafted boost over a store-bought Christmas tin!  The Big Shot Scalloped Circle Die makes a quick little face, and just rounding the corners on some scraps of Basic Black cardstock created a hat. 

I used the 1/2" circle punch for eyes and made a triangle nose.  The holly leaves are just the large oval punch punched (sort of randomly) with a circle punch to create the points, and the berries are 1/4" circles. (I had seen this done previously in several places.) I used the back side of the 3/4" Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon for his hatband.  It was assembled with sticky strip and SU! glue sticks. The 5" diameter and 7/8" tall tin was found online.

Now, what will you put inside to complete your gift?  A few chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter fudge or raspberry truffles would be nice, or what about today's recipe?

Peanut Butter Mice

1 cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup butter (no substitutes), softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup peanut halves (roasted not raw)
2 tablespoons MINIATURE M&Ms
Red shoestring licorice-separated into strings 2 inches long

Cream peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Refrigerate for 1 hour/until easy to handle.

Roll into 1 inch balls…..place 2 inches apart on baking sheet, and pinch one end into a taper for the nose. Insert 2 peanut halves in the center of each ball for ears. Add a brown or red M&M for the nose and use two brown, blue or green M&Ms for the eyes.

Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes or until set. On pan, gently insert a read licorice piece into each cookie for a tail. (Yield 4 dozen)