No Bake Peanut Butter Pumpkins are super easy little dessert treats, and they’re so cute! So much fun to make and eat for Halloween or Thanksgiving!
Place them on the Thanksgiving table for place settings, use them on top of Halloween cakes or cupcakes, give them as a nice fall gift to someone special, or simply have fun making and eating them!
The kids will love to help make these too! It’s like getting to play with edible play-dough.
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Quick guide on how to make these pumpkin treats
These little pumpkin treats really just melt in your mouth. And it’s a great project to make with the whole family!
Be sure to scroll down to the printable recipe card for full ingredient amounts and instructions.
Mix the dough
Take the butter and peanut butter and set them on the counter to come to room temperature. Anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes should do the trick.
Using a {affiliate links} hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream (or mix) the butter and peanut butter together until no lumps remain, and the mixture is nice and smooth.
This is a good point to add the gel food coloring. The food coloring will mix in better at this point than if you wait until after the powdered sugar is added. The color will lighten a bit with the added powdered sugar.
I only added two drops of gel food coloring to mine, and like the color. More of a fairy pumpkin. Feel free to add more.
Now you’ll add the powdered sugar.
Add sugar to the dough until it is very stiff. It’ll seem crumbly, but will stick together well when pressed together in your hand.
Shape the pumpkins
Using a {affiliate link} cookie dough scoop, scoop out small rounds of dough. Use whatever size scoop you like, big pumpkins, small pumpkins, medium pumpkins.
Use your hands to roll the dough into a smooth ball. And you can shape your pumpkin too – tall ones, short ones, all different, just like in real life!
If you find the dough to be difficult to work with, or too sticky, pop it in the fridge for 10-20 minutes. I find it easier to work the dough at room temperature, but you may prefer it chilled.
Use a {affiliate link} toothpick, make indentations in the sides of the dough ball to add the vertical lines to make the ball look like a pumpkin.
Make about 5 to 7 indentations around the pumpkin.
Add the stem
Cut pretzel sticks into thirds and add one of the pretzel sticks for a stem. I’ve seen other people suggest using chocolate chips for the stems. My chocolate chips looked a bit slumped, so I really like the pretzels better.
That’s it! Your pumpkins are ready to eat, or pop them in the fridge until ready to serve.
Yes, these can absolutely be made ahead.
Make all the pumpkins you need way in advance. These will keep tightly covered in the fridge for a long time. Check the expiration dates on your butter and peanut butter for how long they will last. The fresher your ingredients, the longer the pumpkins will last.
But you could make these now for Halloween.
The pumpkins freeze really will too, if you want to keep them until Thanksgiving or into Christmas.
You could also make the dough before a family party, keep it in the fridge, and craft the pumpkins with the kids once they arrive.
Yes, these pumpkins work with other nut butters as well.
Keep in mind that different brands and different types of nuts may be oilier or sweeter, and you may need to adjust the recipe slightly by adding more or less sugar or a little more nut butter.
These would be delicious with pistachio butter or cashew butter.
Happy Halloween
By the way, I’m totally excited about Halloween this year and have lots of really fun goodies in store for you, so keep an eye on the blog for fun stuff.
You may want to subscribe via email if you haven’t already so you can keep up with what’s going on!
Some of the Halloween fun includes Bread Stick Snakes, Witches’ Brooms Cookies, Petri Dish Treats, Halloween Brain, and Wizard Wands.
Happy Halloween & have a great Thanksgiving!
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Recipe
Peanut Butter Pumpkins
Ingredients
- ¾ Cup Butter Softened to room temperature
- 1 Cup Creamy peanut butter
- 4 Cups Powdered sugar
- Orange gel food coloring
- Pretzel sticks
Instructions
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix the butter and peanut butter together until smooth.
- Add food coloring in, a little bit a time, until you reach the desired color. Mix until color is uniform.
- Slowly add the powdered sugar, about ½ cup at a time. Mix until well combined and the dough is no longer sticky. You can check to see if the dough is ready after about 3 cups of powdered sugar.
- Scoop dough out with a cookie dough scoop, and use your hands to roll the dough into smooth balls. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- If you find the dough difficult to work with, you may want to pop it in the fridge for about 10 minutes to harden up.
- Using a toothpick, gently press into the sides, making about 5 to 7 indentations per ball.
- Cut the pretzel sticks into thirds. Insert a pretzel stick into the top of the pumpkin.
- Pumpkins are ready to eat, or can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Your bonus tip. I just love these bats! I got them on Amazon so you don’t have to cut them all out and they are nice and uniform. Grab some for yourself with my affiliate link. They would make a nice spooky table setting along with your peanut butter pumpkins!
These are super cute and perfect for a sweet bite! I made a “test batch” just for myself LOL and can’t wait to make these for my tennis team!
Made these fun pumpkins (used half cookie butter, half peanut butter) for my next door neighbor who loves all things Halloween. LOVED THEM!
My daughter and I made these this morning in an attempt to get excited about the upcoming fall. They were fun to make, shape and eat! We’ll definitely make them again!
These are just adorable! I like them with the chocolate chip and the pretzel – both flavors go so well with peanut butter!