I was in the mood to bake today in this ridiculous fall-in-august weather we are having, but as soon as I got ready to turn on my oven, the sun came out and I just couldn't do it.
So, I decided to whip up some peanut butter balls instead! Easy, quick & no oven involved... perfect for a summer day!
This is a classic, simple recipe. Creamy, sweet peanut butter filling... covered in a thin layer of chocolate. You've seen it before, I'm sure, and you'll see it again. This is my version!
I like to make pretty tiny peanut butter balls... one-biters. When you have a 2-year old snacking on chocolate, one bite is always a good thing!
I also make a pretty small batch. For 2 reasons... #1 being that I rarely have time to finish a full project with my house-full-of-chaos, and #2 being that if I only make a small batch, I can only eat a small batch! :o)
Feel free to double the recipe if you've got more time and stronger will-power than me!
Peanut Butter Balls Recipe
Ingredients:
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, butter & vanilla until smooth. Dump in the powdered sugar and stir until too stiff to stir with a fork... then comes the fun part.
Dig in with your (clean!) hands and stir & knead until a smooth stiff dough forms. Roll into small (teaspoon-full size) balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Once you are done rolling all the dough, place the sheet in the fridge to chill and set for a few hours, until very firm.
In a small, deep bowl... microwave the chocolate chips and oil together in 30 second intervals - stirring well between each time - until smooth.
Using a fork, dip each ball into the chocolate, tap off the excess and set it back on the parchment; repeat. Again, once the pan is finished, place it back in the fridge to set completely for a few hours!
If you have excess chocolate, reheat it in the microwave for a few seconds and then scrape it into a ziploc bag. Cut off a tiny bit of the corner of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the partially cooled chocolate balls.
*Alternately - and much more time-efficiently, especially great if you have littles running around! :
Instead of dipping the balls, place all of the melted chocolate in a ziploc bag and drizzle generously over the peanut butter balls. A little less chocolate to peanut butter ratio, but still great and much quicker & cleaner... and in my opinion cuter!!
