Buckeyes

For a recent girls night out, I said I'd bring dessert. I'm not really sure why, but I became infatuated with making something in the peanut butter-chocolate family. Maybe it was because we were getting close to Halloween, and I was dreaming of peanut butter cups. Or maybe it was that a neighbor presented me with a handful of lovely horse chestnuts that, though inedible, remind me of chocolate covered peanut butter balls, also known as Buckeyes.

I did some checking around and the word buckeye has multiple significance. The candy, buckeyes, made by dipping little mounds of peanut butter fudge into melted chocolate, are said to resemble the eyes of male deer (bucks). Then there's the Ohio buckeye, the state tree, along with the Ohio State University Buckeyes, the name of the school's sports teams and students.

But I digress. What you're really after is the recipe, which I liberally adapted from various recipes floating around the web.

Buckeyes

1c (236g) soft butter
2c (475g) peanut butter - creamy or crunchy
4c (1000g) powdered sugar - divided in half

1.5 bars of dark chocolate (I used 70%) -- chopped into small pcs
1/2t vegetable shortening or oil

1. Mix butter and peanut butter together until well incorporated and blended.

2. Slowly add in sugar and taste after dumping and mixing in the first half. You want enough sugar to be able to roll the mix into balls, but not so much that it's sickeningly sweet (but if that's your thing, by all means...)

3. Once your mix is ready, stick the bowl in the fridge for 20 or 30 minutes.

4. Remove from fridge and, with clean hands and using your palms, roll bits of mix into 1" balls. Place balls on a baking sheet lined with either waxed paper or foil.

5. Once your tray is full, place either in fridge for 30 min or freezer for 15 min

6. Melt chocolate and shortening. If you have an ice cream scooper, you'll want to have it handy. Once chocolate is melted fill the scoop with chocolate and dip cold peanut butter ball into the chocolate, coating half or more. Place on new sheet of waxed paper or foil and, once finished with the batch, re-refridgerate or freeze. Makes about 70, depending on the size of your balls. That sounds funny.