on Nov 26, 2024 77 Comments Few things go together as well as peanut butter and chocolate. It has to be one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations and one that I talk about a good bit for recipes.
Easy Peanut Butter Balls Recipe
Growing up, my Grandmother would make little peanut butter balls that looked just like little buckeyes. She’d mix all of the ingredients together and roll the peanut butter mixture around to form these little bite-sized treats. Then, she’d carefully dip them into her chocolate, leaving just a bit of the peanut butter peeping through at the top. Now, her buckeyes were wonderful treats that I surely love still, but when Sam and I were making them when he was younger we decided not to fool around with all that special dipping for our peanut butter balls. And by request, we decided to make them a little bit bigger. Okay, a good bit bigger. I don’t think she’d mind and I know she’d love the changes.
How to Make the Best Peanut Butter Balls
Ingredients for Peanut Butter Balls
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information. For these peanut butter balls, you’ll need:
Peanut butter – creamy peanut butter is perfect in this recipe. Confectioner’s sugar – this is also called powdered sugar since it is of a powdery consistency. Granulated sugar will not work here. Butter – Use salted or unsalted butter based on what you have. If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt called for in the recipe to 1/8 teaspoon. Vanilla extract – the vanilla extract enhances the sweetness in these peanut butter balls. Salt – take note of the type of butter used in the recipe and adjust the salt accordingly. Chocolate chips – You can use your favorite chocolate chips in this recipe: dark, milk, or semisweet. The chocolate chips are melted with vegetable shortening or coconut oil to coat the peanut butter balls. Oil – Use vegetable shortening or coconut oil. Coconut oil can lend a coconut flavor to items, while vegetable shortening is generally flavor-neutral.
How to Make Peanut Butter Balls
Make the Peanut Butter Mixture
Mix. Mix the peanut butter, confectioners sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and salt with an electric mixer until well combined. Scoop. Scoop the peanut butter mixture into individual balls with a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop and place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Chill. Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden.
Make the Chocolate Coating
Melt. Melt the chocolate chips and your choice of shortening or coconut oil together in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes at 50 percent power. Dip. Dip each hardened ball into the melted chocolate. Place each chocolate-dipped ball back onto the parchment-lined baking sheet to dry. After the chocolate has dried, serve immediately or store accordingly.
How to Make-Ahead, Store and Freeze Peanut Butter Balls
These delicious peanut butter balls are always a favorite treat to have on hand and make such a thoughtful food gift to take to a friend! To make ahead. Prepare as directed. Store in a cool place on the counter for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to a week. To store. Place in an airtight container in between layers of waxed or parchment paper. To freeze. Place the balls in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and into the freezer until they have frozen, about 30 minutes to overnight. Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe container and freeze up to 7 months. To serve, simply remove from the freezer and allow to reach room temperature.
More Delicious Treats
Best Rice Krispies Treats Caramel Crunch Popcorn Peanut Brittle Easy Fudge Here’s my family recipe for these delicious peanut butter balls. Recipe time includes time for chilling to firm before dipping in the chocolate as well as the time for the chocolate to dry. Enjoy!Robyn xo From the Add a Pinch recipe archives, originally posted 2011.
