I'd remove the leaves and put them in a mulch pile to decompose further. Leaves make great addition to the soil but it's better cut up into smaller pieces to further accelerate decomposition. In it's present form, the mulch could hide pests and diseases (mildew, fungus, viruses) and cause harm to your plants.

if this is too much of a job, a simple removal of leaves from the base of each plant would suffice.

I did the same, poured bags of leaves last fall on my new garden beds

Mostly Hostas, and Roses and some shrubs, planted in these new beds.

As well I poured some peat moss on top of them

I was thinking about removing some of this mulch but instead am going to water it in a bit more to aid the composting.

To much work for me to take off the leaves and the problem could be that any more frosty days or nights, would make the plants more susceptible to cold if I removed the leaves

That is my thought on the subject

I did an experiment with leaves last fall in which I buried a few underground. I wanted to see if these will decompose faster or if these will be eaten by earthworms. This spring, I found them all soggy but intact. It only proves to me that these takes longer to fully decompose. It's easy enough to cut up using a lawnmower. Or another method I heard is by bagging the leaves up in dark perforated bags and setting these aside for a full year.