Buckeyes are an easy holiday sweet

A classic family tradition at my house is making buckeyes, which are also called peanut butter balls.

This treat is a classic Christmas snack because it takes minimal ingredients and a short amount of time to make.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces peanut butter 
• 1 stick of butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3.5 cups powdered sugar
• 16 ounces chocolate chips

To start off, you need a large bowl and a mixer. I prefer to use a hand mixer because the ingredients aren’t complex and it’s easier to clean a hand mixer when you’re done baking.

Place the stick of butter and 16 ounces of peanut butter into the bowl. I find it better to warm the butter a bit first because it makes it easier to mix with the peanut butter. Once these ingredients are blended, start splashing in the 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Remember to mix your ingredients as you go so everything is blended and smooth.

Next, pour in the powdered sugar one cup at a time. By adding the sugar in intervals, mixing is easier and you can check to make sure you aren’t drying out the mix by adding too much sugar.

Once all the ingredients are added, the mix will start to come apart. Admittedly, at this point I was a little worried that my mix was no longer sticking together. However, this makes it easier to form the balls, so don’t doubt yourself if your mix starts to look a little gritty.

Once you’re satisfied with your mixing, get out a baking sheet and tinfoil. Place the tinfoil on your baking sheet so you don’t have to wash it later, since you’re not actually cooking anything.

Start taking bits of the peanut butter mix and rolling them into balls. The best size for this is about 1 inch, but I made mine a little bigger.

After placing all of the peanut butter balls on a baking sheet, place them in the freezer and let them harden for 1 hour. This will make it easier to dip them in chocolate.

When the peanut butter balls are hardened, pull them out of the freezer and prepare your chocolate. It’s easiest to use a double-boiler to melt the chocolate, but you can also get the job done by pouring your chocolate chips into a bowl and heating them in the microwave.

If you choose to use a microwave, it’s best to heat the chips at 30 second intervals to prevent them from burning.

I choose to cover the entire peanut butter ball with chocolate, but a more common method is to dip them and leave a little bit uncovered to see the peanut butter. To do this, I simply use a fork to dip the peanut butter ball into the chocolate and swirl it around to make sure everything is covered.

After doing this to all of them, put them back in the refrigerator and let them harden. Once hardened, they are ready to be served.