Buckeyes - Family Recipe Friday

If you move to Central Ohio, also known as Buckeye Country, sooner or later you will be introduced to buckeyes.  For me that happened several dozen years ago when we were new to the area.  A friend asked if I wanted to make buckeyes with her.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  Obviously it wasn't the kind of buckeyes that grow on trees nor the people who walk around the Ohio State University campus and play sports:  you can't make either of those.  She told me they were a kind of candy and suggested we make a batch together.  She asked if I had a big bowl -- a really big bowl.  I did.  We agreed who would buy which ingredients, met, and I learned to make buckeyes.  Oh, yum!

If you love peanut butter and chocolate together and are trying to lose weight or not gain weight, I suggest you stop reading now, move on to the next blog, and forget about this recipe (especially if you don't have a lot of self-discipline when it comes to chocolate and peanut butter).  On the other hand, if you have plenty of self control and/or a large family and/or a lot of friends who also love peanut butter and chocolate, this is the perfect recipe.  It makes dozens and dozens and dozens.

Buckeyes

In a very large bowl mix:
   1 pound (lb.) butter, softened to room temperature
   2 lb. peanut butter

Add and mix in:
   about 3 lb. xxxx sugar (confectioner's sugar)

Roll into 1" balls.  Refrigerate till firm.

In a double boiler melt:
   18-24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (1½ - 2 large packages)
   1/2 bar paraffin

Poke a toothpick into a peanut butter ball and dip it partway into the chocolate:  just enough so it looks like a real buckeye.  Allow the excess chocolate to drip off the side then place onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  Be sure the buckeyes don't touch.  Repeat until the cookie sheet is full then chill in refrigerator until the chocolate cools and hardens.  At that point you can store the buckeyes in a covered tin or plastic container.  It's best to keep them refrigerated until you're ready to eat them.  Unless you have many cookie sheets you'll probably have to repeat this process several times.

Notes

• Some people prefer specific kinds of peanut butter.  Choose whatever kind you enjoy eating.
• You may need more or less confectioner's sugar.  When you roll the peanut butter mixture into a ball and it holds its shape you probably have enough.
• Some people use milk chocolate (as in the photo above).  Either works.  It's just a matter of preference which you use.
• Some people don't like to use paraffin and substitute cooking oil instead.  I can't tell you how much because I've never used it.  The paraffin works as a smoothing agent.  I add a little at a time until the chocolate is smooth and a dipped peanut butter ball holds the chocolate.

If you make these, I hope you enjoy them.

(Posting this recipe should in no way be considered a sign of allegiance to the OSU Buckeyes.  I'm not a football fan.)

--Nancy.
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