Peanut Butter Buckeyes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
- 1/2 cup butter unsalted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips semi-sweet or dark
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt. Add in the powdered sugar and stir until well combined, the mixture should resemble a stiff paste.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Roll the mixture into one inch balls with your hands and place on parchment paper.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour until the balls are chilled and firm enough to dip.
- Melt the chocolate to dip the peanut butter balls in by placing the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments stirring between each one until the chocolate is melted and smooth (this usually only takes two 30 second increments for me)
- Use a toothpick to pick up each peanut butter ball and dip ¾ of the ball in the chocolate mixture leaving the top ¼ exposed.
- Place back on the parchment paper and continue dipping all peanut butter balls.
- Chill for another hour in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate.
- Serve chilled or store in airtight container in refrigerator.
~Amanda~
These ‘cookies’ aren’t really cookies and they have nothing to do with Conor’s heritage or family traditions… I broke all the rules here for our theme, but I just HAD to post these this year because they are one of my all time favorite holiday treats! These are seriously so amazing because they combine my two favorite ingredients – peanut butter and chocolate. I mean who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate (other than Jackie)?! I will make anything if it has peanut butter and chocolate in it and I just love that these are becoming a classic holiday treat – I see them at so many holiday parties and gatherings now and thought it was about time I made them for myself, although it has been impossible to resist the tub of them in my fridge every night!
I was very happy to discover how easy these are to make when I looked up the recipe for them last week. There are only 6 ingredients and the steps are so simple; first you combine peanut butter (and use good peanut butter here, not the cheap stuff, you will taste the quality for sure!), melted butter, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl. Then you add powdered sugar to the mixture. The powdered sugar helps to bring everything together and it will form into a stiff paste like texture that is easy to work with and roll into balls. You HAVE to chill the balls for at least an hour in the fridge so that they will be easy to dip in the melted chocolate – if you don’t chill them they will fall apart and you will have a big mess on your hands… literally.
Once the balls have chilled, you can melt the chocolate for dipping. You can use either dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips for this part. I always will choose dark chocolate, I am obsessed with dark chocolate! Use a toothpick inserted into one end of the balls to dip them in the chocolate and then set back on the parchment paper and into the fridge to cool. Depending on how much chocolate you have on each ball, you may have some leftover at the end that you can use for more delicious dippers! I cut up a banana and dipped the pieces in the chocolate and froze them for a delicious treat later in the day, YUM! Once the balls are chilled, they are ready to be served and enjoyed, and trust me, they will be greatly enjoyed!
