Peanut Butter Ball Recipe

This is Part II in making goodies to give out during Christmas.  The following recipe is my husband’s pride and joy.  It is his tradition and now our family tradition to make these delectable balls of confectionary goodness every Christmas time.  Enter today’s experiment: Peanut Butter Balls.

In some places, these candies are called “Buckeyes,” due to the similarity in feature to the nut that falls from the Buckeye tree, most notably in Ohio.  In our house, we are not to mention the name “Buckeye,” due to our passion for Oklahoma University football.  This is just a little FYI.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, left to sit out for a bit so that it’s softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 12-oz package of chocolate chips (we used semi-sweet but I think milk chocolate would be fine too)
• 1/4 cup stick paraffin (this is found with canning supplies)

Instructions:

1. Mix the butter, sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla together.  There is no special way to do this where it isn’t going to work your biceps.  I find smashing everything with a fork works best.  Make sure it’s a really strong fork.  Mix well.
2. Grease a cookie sheet or line it with waxed paper.
3. Roll the peanut butter mixture into small balls.  Definitely make them smaller than the size of a walnut.  The smaller they are, the easier it is to do the following steps.  Place them on the cookie sheet, trying not to eat all of them before they get there.
4. Stick the cookie sheet into the freezer so that the peanut butter balls can harden while you are prepping the chocolate.  It’ll make them easier to handle.
5. Break the paraffin into little pieces and place them into a pan or double broiler.  It’s easier with the double broiler.  Toss the chocolate chips in there too and melt them over low heat.  Stir constantly so that the chocolate doesn’t get burned.
6. When the chocolate and paraffin are melted together, use a toothpick to dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate.  Place them back onto the waxed papered cookie sheet.
7. Use any extra of the chocolate mixture to carefully pour over the tops of the balls so that the peanut butter center is completely encased in chocolate.  (This negates the buckeye seed similarity.)
8. Put them back into the freezer to harden.

I do not feel that I even need to tell you to enjoy these.  Seriously, Folks, these make the best presents.  They aren’t hard to make, the ingredients are few and cheap, the recipe makes about seventy peanut butter balls, and they are amazingly delicious.