Peanut Butter Buckeyes

I made peanut butter buckeyes to give away as gifts this year. I have to make another huge batch today but I wanted to share how easy they are to make. You could easily whip up a batch of these, put them in some tins, and save yourself a ton of money on gifts for the adults in your life.

Peanut Butter Buckeyes
Ingredients
    •   2 cups peanut butter
    •    6 cups confectioners' sugar
    •    1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
    •    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
    •    1 sleeve of whole graham crackers, pulverized into crumbs
    •    4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Peanut butter, graham crackers, powder sugar, vanilla, butter

I use the cinnamon flavored graham crackers but you can use plain or any flavor really. I take one sleeve from box and pulverize them to look like breadcrumbs in the food processor. Then I add all the other ingredients (except the chocolate) into a big assed bowl. Mix until it is all incorporated.

This is what it should look like when you are done. It is going to be dry and crumbly looking. When you start grabbing it to form the balls, the dough should easily stick together. If it does not and is TOO crumbly, just add some more peanut butter. If it is way too wet, pulverize some more graham crackers or add some more sugar. It takes a bit of experimentation at first before you get the right mixology.

Mmm! Chocolate!

While you are mixing your dough and getting ready to form the balls, you should start melting your chocolate. I do not use chocolate chips but I will give you instructions for them and for what I use. For chocolate chips: Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set atop a pot of simmering water over medium-high heat. Stir continuously until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat.
I use something called Plymouth Pantry Make your own Almond Bark chocolate covered coating. Seriously..that is what it is called..LOL I put it in bowl, microwave for 30 seconds, microwave for 30 seconds, and microwave for 30 seconds and it is all melted!  I find mine at the dreaded  Walmart in the baking aisle. I have never been able to find it anyplace else. It works so well with this recipe.

I do not have a set size on the peanut butter balls. You do not want them too big because they are a very rich chocolate. So probably as big as a Atomic fireball. hehehe. I have a two cookie sheet system. Line both of them with either waxed or parchment paper (I am partial to parchment). Form a batch of 20 or so and pop that sheet in the freezer. The other cookie sheet is going to be for the balls that have been covered in chocolate. Let them sit in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.

I put the peanut butter balls in the chocolate, cover them, pick them up with the candy tool (go to your local AC Moore or Michael`s, these candy making spatulas are super cheap. Like $2 for a package). Then I put them on the other cookie sheet with parchment paper. After that batch is done, they go into the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

Voila!

 And there you have it. An handmade gift that you can give from the heart. They are excellent frozen, refrigerated, or room temperature. Because they have butter, margarine or even Earth balance..they should be kept in fridge so they do not spoil. A few days out is okay. They travel well through the mail system.
Enjoy!