Buckeye Balls
Buckeye balls are a Midwest classic that brings the popular chocolate and peanut butter flavor combo into a cozy, no-bake bite. A quick chill, a little chocolate bath, and suddenly you've got a tin full of homemade nostalgia.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Buckeye Balls
- ⏱ Prep Time: 25 minutes
- ⏰ Cook Time: 5 minutes
- 🥜 Flavor Profile: Creamy sweet peanut butter in a snappy smooth chocolate coating.
- 🎄 Good For: Decking out your Christmas cookie plates, filling the most popular bowl on the dessert table, or enjoying as a bite-size frozen treat.
- 🔄 Make Ahead: Buckeyes freeze beautifully, so you can get a head-start on your holiday baking!
- 🧡 Difficulty: One of the easiest candies you'll ever make!
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🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hi friend: A lot of the hubbub that goes along with Christmas can be really time-consuming. Shopping and wrapping can take forever. Cooking that special holiday meal can require a full day (or two!) of effort. But here is one Christmas to-do that won't suck away your entire afternoon-making Buckeye Balls!
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- Midwest Classic: These super simple, chocolate peanut butter candies are a classic here in the Midwest because they are stupendously easy (and fast) to make. We made sugar cream pie every Thanksgiving, and buckeye balls every Christmas!
- The Best Flavor Combo: You already love chocolate peanut butter smoothies, chocolate peanut butter overnight oats, chocolate peanut butter pie...now get that favorite flavor combo in a handmade candy!
- Great Gift: Buckeye balls make a great homemade food gift! Wrap them up in a pretty tin with some peanut brittle, no-bake macaroons, cranberry pistachio bark, and chewy lemon cookies for a sweet holiday gift.
- Proven Recipe: This is my family recipe for buckeyes, and I know you're going to love them just as much as we do.
🥜 The Ingredients You Need
- Chocolate chips: Normally, I wouldn't recommend using chocolate chips for candy making. But they work in this recipe because you temper them (melt them gradually) with butter to give the coating a smooth, glossy finish. That being said, you'll get better results with higher quality chocolate chips.
- Peanut butter: Just like with my peanut butter kiss cookies, this is not the time or place for the all-natural peanut butter. Go with a jar of the more processed stuff like Jif for smooth, perfect buckeyes. My family always uses creamy peanut butter, but I know some people like to use crunchy instead!
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Snowy buckeyes: Replace the chocolate chips with white chocolate for a snowy-looking take on classic buckeye balls.
- Play with scale: Make the peanut butter balls as big (or as mini) as you'd like. The size I recommend below is my perfect peanut butter to chocolate ratio, but your favorite might be different!
🥣 Buckeye Balls How-To
Step 1: Mix together all of the peanut butter mixture ingredients in a large bowl until they have the texture of fresh Play-Doh. It should be a little squishy and elastic, but not too soft-it will still hold its shape well when you roll it into balls.
Step 2: Roll the peanut butter dough into 1 ½" balls. Getting your hands wet before your start will help the dough stick to itself...and not your hands. Set the balls on a cookie sheet, and stick the whole pan in the freezer.
Step 3: Melt the chocolate and some of the butter together to make the chocolate coating. You can do this in a double boiler, or hack one by setting a mixing bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water.
Step 4: Use a toothpick to dip the frozen peanut butter ball into the chocolate coating, shaking gently to remove the excess chocolate. Place the buckeye ball back on the baking sheet to cool and set.
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🙋🏻♀️ Buckeye Balls FAQs
Buckeyes are a traditional midwestern treat. They are named after the state tree of Ohio, the buckeye tree. In fact, they look just like the nuts from the Ohio state tree! Sometimes considered a candy, and sometimes deemed a cookie, buckeyes are a delicious sweet peanut butter ball coated in a chocolate layer. You leave just a bit of the peanut butter exposed, so that it looks like a true buckeye nut. For a different peanut butter and chocolate cookie, try my gluten-free peanut butter blossoms!
They'll store the longest in the refrigerator, but they will do just fine sitting on the table during your celebrations. They do get a little soft at room temperature (especially during a Christmas party with lots of bodies and a fire going), but they are still delicious!
We recommend eating them within a week, but they also freeze beautifully. So stick any uneaten buckeyes in the freezer for an easy treat!
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Smooth it out: Dip a finger into water and use it to smooth out the toothpick hole in each buckeye for a neater, cleaner finish.
- DIY double boiler: No double boiler? No problem! Find a mixing bowl that fits tightly over a small saucepan. Put a little water in the pan, fit the bowl on top, and bring to a simmer. Ta-da! Instant double boiler.
- Chill it: If your peanut butter balls are getting too soft as you dip them in chocolate, pop them back in the freezer for a few minutes.
- Freeze it: Buckeyes freeze really well! Just freeze them flat on a baking sheet. Once frozen, pop them into a zip-top freezer bag or glass food storage container for up to six months. Eat them frozen for an icy treat, or let them thaw on the counter for 20-30 minutes before enjoying.
🎄 More Easy Food Gift Recipes:
If you tried these buckeye balls or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Buckeye Balls (Peanut Butter Balls)
Ingredients
For the Peanut Butter Ball
- 1 ⅔ cups creamy peanut butter not natural/unsweetened
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
For the Chocolate Coating
- 8 ounces chopped semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
For the Peanut Butter Ball
- Line a baking sheet with waxed paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla extract until very smooth and fluffy.
- Add in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add as much powdered sugar as it takes for the mixture to form a non-sticky, but solid dough-about the texture of fresh-out-of-a-new-container Play-Doh. Depending on the oil content of your peanut butter, you might need as little as 3 cups of powdered sugar, or as much as 4. Remember, you can always add more powdered sugar, but you can't take it out.
- Using wet hands, form the dough into 1 ½" smooth balls. Place the balls on the baking sheet. When all the balls are formed, pop the baking sheet in the freezer to set the balls while you make the chocolate coating.
For the Chocolate Coating
- In a double boiler on low or in a mixing bowl fitted over a small saucepan with simmering water on low heat, combine the chocolate and butter. Stir frequently until melted and smooth.
- Remove the peanut butter balls from the freezer, take a wooden toothpick, and insert it into the middle of one of the balls. Dip the ball in the chocolate about ⅔ of the way up the side of the ball. Return the ball to the baking sheet, dropping it off the toothpick. Repeat with the remaining peanut butter balls.
- To close the toothpick holes, dip a finger in water, and smooth over the hole. Once the chocolate is set, remove the buckeyes from the baking sheet, and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- If the peanut butter balls are getting a little too squishy to easily swirl through the chocolate coating, pop them back in the freezer for a bit to firm up.
- If you don't have a double boiler, you can make your own by fitting a mixing bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water.
Having grown up in Ohio, buckeyes were a classic. You just can't go wrong with peanut butter + chocolate!
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