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Buckeye Balls | Easy Treats to Love

July 15, 2019 by Madalaine 2 Comments

What’s not to love about the classic pairing of peanut butter and chocolate?   If this is one of your favorites too, then you will love this quick tasty buckeye candy recipe.

buckeye candy recipe with plated buckeyes on a plate

Buckeye Candy Recipe

This is such a simple treat to make.  It’s a wonderful lunchbox surprise too!  I like to make them and keep them in the freezer as a quick bite size snack when I’m craving a little something sweet.

Ingredients for the buckeye candy recipe: powdered sugar, butter, salt, vanilla, peanut butter & chocolate

Depending on how big you make your buckeyes, this recipe makes about 40 individual pieces.

  1. In a large bowl, beat together 2 cups of creamy peanut butter* with 1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature) in a stand mixer or with electric beaters.
  2. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.
  3. Then slowly add 3 1/4 cups of powdered confectioner sugar and beat until completely combined and smooth.
  4. Line baking sheets with either parchment paper or wax paper and make tablespoon sized buckeye balls with your hands.  Place buckeye balls on baking sheets and freeze for 15 minutes.
  5. While they are in the freezer, melt 12 ounces of chocolate candy melts in a microwave bowl at 10 second increments, stirring each time, until melted.
  6. Take buckeyes out of the freezer and dip them into the melted chocolate, leaving “an eye” of peanut butter on top.  Place the balls dipped in chocolate back on the wax paper lined cookie sheet and allow chocolate to harden in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
  7. Store buckeyes for up to 2 weeks in an air tight container in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

Buckeye Assembly Tips

*Creamy peanut butter, like Jiff or Petter Pan, work better than natural peanut butter that has a higher oil content.

smooth peanut butter mix

If you do use a natural peanut butter or natural almond butter, add additional powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until you can roll it easily in a ball.

rolled peanut butter balls ready for freezer

If you only have a stick of salted butter in your refrigerator, use that.  Don’t make a special run to the store for unsalted butter.  Simply omit the salt from the recipe until after you’ve added the powered sugar.  Taste the peanut butter mix and if it seems too sweet, add a pinch of salt.

I generally recommend using a fine or coarse kosher salt over iodized table salt (know know, the one with the little girl) because it’s less salty.  However, if you only have table salt, use that but only 1/2 of what the recipe calls for because it’s very salty.  You can always add more.

Getting a small peanut butter buckeye “eye” can be a bit tricky.  Try spearing the balls with 1 or 2 toothpicks to hold them as you dip.  Then smooth over the whole after it’s resting on the cookie sheet.  Or use long kabob sticks or chopsticks to roll them around and lift them out.

close up of finished buckeyes

Buckeye Candy Recipe Variations

This buckeye candy recipe was inspired by the Buckeye Friends School, a new experiential school opening this fall in our area.  It threw in me into the way-back machine and reminded me of the candies my mom used to make around the holidays.  I loved their fudge-like texture and chocolate shell.

You can’t go wrong with this combo.  But if you want to try a bit of a twist, here are some fun variations.

  • Swap out peanut butter for a different spread: Cadbury’s milk chocolate spread, Nutella, Biscoff cookie spread, or Birthday Cake protein almond butter.
  • Dip your buckeyes in dark chocolate, white chocolate, or swirl them together.
  • Add in 1/2 cup of 1 of the following to the peanut butter mix: rice crispies, mini chocolate chips, chai seeds, oats, or ground flax seeds
  • Roll them in coconut flakes, mini chocolate chips, or crushed pretzels before the chocolate sets.

A Little Something Sweet

Not only are these the perfect size for when you’re craving a little somethin’ something, but they’re fun to pop into a lunchbox or take to a Christmas cookie swap.

If you like easy desserts that are fun to make and come together fast, make this chocolate Texas Sheet Cake.

a 2 layer piece of chocolate cake in front of the whole cake on white plates

I’ve made this cake in cake pans, casserole dishes and last week I made it in a baking sheet tray.  So far, making it in a sheet tray (cookie tray) has been everyone’s favorite.

It came out super thin and incredibly moist in only 15-20 minutes.  The icing ends up being more of a glaze that just skims the top.  It’s so good!

Here I made the sheet cake, then layered it with a cream cheese icing in between layers.

This recipe for pineapple angel food cake is a 2 ingredient recipe hack that is crazy delicious, fast, and so easy I’m almost embarrassed.

Angel food cake - Nearly fat free and way too easy to be believed, but it is!

I love this ice cream bombe because it has a beautiful surprise presentation and it’s more assembly than cooking/baking.  It’s tons of fun to do with kids or “WOW” your sweetheart on date night.

close up of an ice cream bombe dessert with raspberry red ice cream, yellow pound cake and toasted meringue on top

Even though espresso panna cotta sounds fancy, it’s really easy to make.  You can make it in 10-15 minutes, but unless you want to drink it (I won’t judge!), you do have to wait a few hours for it to set up.  But it’s totally worth the wait!

Espresso Panna Cotta - a fast and easy dessert fancy enough for a large dinner party, simple and satisfying enough for any time! | www.lakesidetable.com

Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: candy, chocolate, peanut butter

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nancy

    July 26, 2019 at 9:19 pm

    Gosh! These are The perfect recipes to start my diet with! Oh these peanut butter balls are delicious! I just love them! DON and I were talking about them today and wondering how you did it. So I looked up the recipe and oh my goodness! I’ll have to make these tomorrow. TO hell with my diet!!! ??

    Reply
  2. Surya

    June 28, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    Great recipe!

    Reply

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