Yum, Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls Candy! I used to make Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls and a lot of other candy with my Grandma all the time. Boy, do I miss her. Every time I make these or any other kind of candy, it makes me smile. Plus my youngest loves helping me make candy too. It’s a nice tradition to have. Anyway, my youngest and I made some peanut Butter Buckeye Balls together a few weeks ago and thought I would share our recipe.
What you need
- 1/2 Cup of Melted Butter
- 1 Pound Confectioner’s Sugar
- 1 and 1/2 Cups of Peanut Butter (I prefer Jif)
- One Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
- 2 Cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
- One Tablespoon of Shortening
The recipe calls for 2 cups of chocolate chips but I usually use about three cups because it makes dipping easier if I have to melt a little more. Other items you will need are some toothpicks, wax paper or parchment paper, and cookie sheets.
Step One
Combine the sugar, melted butter, peanut butter and vanilla together in a large bowl. It will quickly become hard to stir so if you need to, you can continue mixing with your hands. Almost like kneading dough. Even though the mixture might be ready to roll into balls right away, I still recommend chilling it in the refrigerator for about a half hour at least before you start making the balls.
When you are ready, line a couple cookie trays with wax paper or non-stick parchment paper. Either will work however, I prefer parchment paper over wax paper. Roll the mixture into about 1 inch balls. If the mixture doesn’t want to form very well due being kind of dry, knead it a little in your hands and then roll into balls. Place them on your lined sheets or trays.
Step Two
Now it’s time to melt the chocolate. You can start with the 2 cups of chocolate chips. If you need more melted chocolate, you can always melt some more if needed. You can melt chocolate in the microwave however, I have never had good experiences doing it that way. I highly recommend a double boiler. Anyway, melt the chocolate and add the teaspoon of shortening to the chocolate. The shortening helps keep the chocolate thin enough for easy dipping. If you add more chocolate to melt at any point, add just a little more shortening as well.
While you are melting the chocolate, I recommend putting the peanut butter balls in the refrigerator until you are ready for them.
Stir the chocolate constantly while you are melting it. Burned chocolate doesn’t taste very good. The shortening will also help with that as well. Once the chocolate is melted, you can dip the peanut butter balls using a toothpick. Just stick the toothpick all the way through (to help keep them from falling off) leaving the tops uncovered to make the resemble Buckeyes. Place dipped balls on your lined cookie sheets.
You can cover the small hole left behind from the toothpick by blending with your fingertips. Then all you need to do is refrigerate until chocolate has hardened. This recipe will make 36 to 40 Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls. Check out our other recipes HERE posted on DustinNikki Mommy of Three!
