Everyone loves buckeyes, especially the candy kind! For our wedding, my mother-in-law and I made 600 of these little treats. After that adventure, I volunteered to make them for our Ohio ag teacher's banquet this week. It was a whole lot quicker making 300! Libby asked for the recipe, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 18 ounce jar of creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 lb confectioners' sugar
1 tbs vanilla
Chocolate flavored almond bark
Directions:
- Before beginning, melt the almond bark on low heat in a crock pot. (A lot of people use chocolate chips and paraffin instead. I think the almond bark is a lot simpler, because it saves time. You can put the whole block in the crockpot, and it will be melted in about 30 minutes. Add a spoonful of vegetable oil at the beginning to keep it from sticking to the sides. If the chocolate gets lumpy as you're dipping the buckeyes, you can add more vegetable oil to smooth out the consistency. Keep the chocolate stirred periodically as it melts. I used to melt the chocolate in the microwave, but keeping it liquified in a crockpot is the way to go. That way, you don't have to worry about scorching it in the microwave or melting it again and again.)
- Cream peanut butter and butter.
- Add sugar and vanilla and mix well.
- Form into 1 inch balls and freeze. (I use my Pampered Chef Small Scoop to scoop out even amounts. It's equal to about one tablespoon. Then, I roll the balls in my hands. This helps make sure all the buckeyes come out the same size.)
- Dip balls into chocolate with a toothpick about 3/4 of the way covered.
- Place chocolate side down on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.
- Freeze to set the chocolate. When they are frozen, use your finger to smooth over the hole where the toothpick was.
- This recipe yields 80 buckeyes.
