This blog is long past due. At the end of August, I flew to Washington/Idaho to see my good friend from high school get married. We both have family that lives in Ohio, and the buckeye candy is an Ohio classic. These chocolate covered peanut butter balls are to-die-for. When I learned I was going to her wedding, I knew I had to bring some buckeyes. I contacted my cousin and got my grandmother's buckeye recipe, so you know it's legit.
Ingredients:
1 small 12 oz. jar peanut butter
1 stick softened butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. bag of powdered sugar
¼ cake paraffin wax
In the electric mixer, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate the dough until hardened, you can use the freezer to speed up the process; start with an hour and then check the consistency. If it is too soft, it will be more difficult for you in the end, so it is worth waiting for it to harden. I learned this the hard way, of course.
Then take two cookie sheets and line them with wax paper. Shape the dough into small balls. (Note: You want small balls! The smaller the balls, the more buckeyes you have. And no one ones a giant mouth full of peanut butter. I would recommend the size of a dime or penny. Mine were average quarter size, and that was too big. Especially the ones my boyfriend helped me roll were like freakin' peanut butter golf balls in your mouth! His balls were too big.) Once you fill the trays with small balls, refrigerate for 1-4 hours, or overnight.
When it comes to melting chocolate, if you're going to microwave it, buy extra chocolate, because you WILL burn it. If you use a double boiler (or a boiling pot of water and a glass bowl that just slightly smaller) would be the more traditional and effective way. You want to melt ¼ paraffin wax (you can find this next to the chocolate at the grocery store. It says you can use it for several things, including waxing your skis and snowboards. It is also makes chocolate harden.) If you don't use the wax, your chocolate will not solidify correctly.
Remove your ball trays from the freezer and using tooth picks, dip the balls in the melted chocolate, but not completely. Leave a small circle at the top so it looks like a buckeye. Then freeze again until chocolate is hard. These buckeye candies will last in the freezer for a very long time. Since they take a little bit of labor and process, I would recommend making a huge batch and having cookies in the freezer for a while. This recipe yields about 100 if you make your balls small enough!
Traveling with two huge Tupperware of buckeyes was hilarious. On the flight from Anchorage to Seattle to Spokane, I was accosted by at least a dozen flight attendants and passengers. “What are thoooose?”, “ohhhh”, “ahhhh”! I was expecting this reaction form the wedding guests, not the flight crew! But with out a doubt, Alisha was the most beautiful bride who by far out shined the goodness of the buckeyes. These small peanut butter chocolate balls will forever bring warm fuzzy memories of friends, family, love and happiness.
