An ex of mine grew up outside Columbus, Ohio and making and eating buckeyes were some sort of family tradition. I’m sure her family wasn’t the only one from those parts with the same tradition. She made them once while we were dating and they’ve been somewhere in my palate’s memory since. How could they not? Chocolate + peanut butter? A veritable homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
So, the J + T Test Kitchen went to work. Six ingredients, we made pretty quick work of it.
J: So that’s what a buckeye looks like?
T: I guess so; I’m not from Ohio.
Notes:
- Less powdered sugar, peanut butter is sweet enough.
- Less chocolate, even if the buckeyes were double-dipped there was plenty left over. Not necessarily a bad thing if you have some nuts and bourbon-spiked cider handy.
- We used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but undoubtedly the more decadent your chocolate jones is, the more high-class your buckeyes will be.
Recipe:
18 oz peanut butter
½ cup butter (room temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 lb. powdered sugar
12 oz. chocolate
3 oz. paraffin wax
Cream the peanut butter and butter. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Form into 1” balls. Refrigerate.
Melt the chocolate and wax in a double boiler. Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate. Coat, leaving a small “eye” of peanut butter.
Refrigerate.
Eat.
Smile.
