Grandma also happened to have a killer wardrobe of Christmas sweaters and polyester pantsuits dating back to the 70s. She was known for her colorful and outlandish clothes, and we all wore rainbow to her funeral. (It was actually so great.) I know, I know, I sound like a monster. I don’t think grandma would mind though. Grandma Joanne was an awesome lady who lived a happy life. She raised 3 kids while working full time as a teacher back in the 60s. She loved researching family history, and was an… interesting cook. (One of these days I will share her recipe for Enchilada Loaf. Read: Velveeta and cinnamon. 😱) I snagged one gem of a sweater to wear to future ugly Christmas sweater parties. I didn’t even think about the kids. But this year, Truman and Charlotte both had spirit week at school, and Ugly Christmas Sweater Day landed on Tuesday. After Truman wore Grandma’s sweater to school all day, it was agreed that Charlotte could wear it to church youth group that night. Even after a year of being in my closet, and Truman wearing it all day, she paused as she put it on, and said wistfully, “Aw. This sweater still smells like Grandma.” My sister said, “Bahahaha. Omg, that explains their faces. Her shame! His glee! Poor Char!” Charlotte is wearing a second-place-compensation sweater dug out of her dad’s closet. (Which is actually a totally rad Star Wars holiday sweater with AT-AT’s on it. Don’t feel too sorry for her.) We all gathered to bury our faces in it for a moment, and breathed in.
What makes buckeye cookies so amazing?
On to the recipe! My grandma never made Buckeyes; this is a Midwestern treat and we’re from California. But my best friend Sarah is from West Virginia, and she’s talked about these for years. I got the recipe from her mom (Thanks Anne!) and finally gave them a try. Now I’m OBSESSED.
I did make one special change to the traditional recipe: we’re chopping up some salty roasted peanut into teeny tiny crumbs and adding it into the peanut butter ball mixture. I LOVE the texture this adds. It’s exactly like the texture of a Reese’s, which, if you are a hard line addict like me, you would know is not perfectly smooth.
The dough is ridiculously easy to put together. I looked up lots of different recipes and didn’t see any that were just like Anne’s.
Many recipes are just a mixture of peanut butter and powdered sugar. The problem is that the final Buckeye ends up being cloyingly sweet. No thanks. Peanut butter is delightfully nuanced and salty, and we definitely want that reflected in our Buckeyes.
Anne’s recipe uses some flour in place of some of the powdered sugar. This serves the purpose of stiffening the dough without adding more sweetness, just like you do for cookie dough. The recipe calls for only 1/4 cup flour, so it’s not a ton. If you are serving gluten free friends, or are nervous about eating raw flour, then you can replace it with powdered sugar.
Here is my poor sweatin’ buckeye. I was too impatient to take my photos to wait!
Put the toothpick into the buckeye before freezing. Chill the peanut butter balls thoroughly before dipping. If they aren’t cool enough, the chocolate won’t stick as well, the balls start to lose their shape, and it might even fall off the toothpick into the chocolate. Only remove 10-12 peanut butter balls at a time from fridge for dipping, so they stay cold. Use an electric griddle to keep chocolate warm (without scorching) for the dipping process. Pictures below!
Use premium ingredients! When you have a recipe with so few ingredients and flavors, you want the best of the best so they can really shine. Now’s the time for high quality peanut butter and chocolate! USE THE JIFFFF my brother once got peanut butter all in my hair while administering a blind taste test just so that we could actually be sure Jif is the best. We’re doing the work over here, guys. 😉 Use high quality dark chocolate (I like Ghirardelli). Cheap chocolate does not melt smoothly! And add shortening so that your coating is smooth and glossy. Tap off excess chocolate after dipping. For the best looking buckeyes, make sure you don’t end up with a huge pool of chocolate at the bottom after dipping. Let the extra drip off as much as possible before setting back onto the tray. They should be as round as possible! Heal your toothpick mark! It’s easy to do with your finger, and makes the candies look so much better. I’ll show you. Store at room temp for 1-2 days, and then in the fridge to avoid weeping.
I have lots of other tips and tricks in the how-to section below, explaining all the best techniques for dipping and storing! Stir in some vanilla extract to help this mixture come together. It should look just like a thick buttercream frosting…because that’s what it is! But we’re not done yet. Use a food processor to chop up a couple tablespoons of roasted salty peanuts. You can see how finely I chopped them. It only took a few pulses to get them like this. They are starting to cling together and be sticky, and if I had kept going, it would eventually have turned into homemade peanut butter. But we’re not going that far: we want this deliciously nutty, tender texture mixed in with the dreamy creamy peanut butter balls. I’m in love with the very subtle texture this adds to the Buckeyes! You can totally skip it if you want to. Add in your peanut butter and the finely chopped peanuts. Here is the dough after I’ve added all the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, peanut butter, and chopped peanuts. After adding the flour and salt to the peanut butter mixture, the dough becomes very stiff, which is perfect. DON’T skip the salt! Use 1/2 teaspoon if you have kosher salt, if not use 1/4 teaspoon table salt. People’s biggest complaint about Buckeyes is that they are too SWEET. Adding some flour and salt helps stiffen and flavor the dough without making it overly sweet. Now we are ready to roll! Get your station all set up. You need a lined pan, some toothpicks, and a cookie scoop or spoon. Here is a visual for how big to make the Buckeyes. You want each ball of dough to be about 15-20 grams, (or a half ounce) and about 1 to 1 and 1/2 inches across. Once you have them all rolled, put the toothpicks in them right away! You want to freeze the peanut butter balls with the toothpick in them, so that dipping is fast and smooth. (Buckeyes and Ben and Jerry’s. we are living the good life over here this Christmas 😂) Toss them in the fridge or freezer until chilled (you can’t skip this step!) and then start melting your chocolate in the microwave. Do this in a measuring cup. A deeper bowl is better than a wider bowl. SHORTENING added to the chocolate is the big secret ingredient for buckeyes. This helps stabilize the chocolate so that it dips nicely, and helps prevent the chocolate from weeping and sweating once it’s hardened. Traditionally, people added paraffin wax to the chocolate to achieve this. And you can totally try that if you want! It works even better than shortening I hear. (And COMPLETELY eliminates weeping issues, so I see why people do it.) But it’s not an ingredient I keep on hand, and shortening does well enough for my low-key kitchen, so shortening it is for me. (Do you like my retro towel? Another find from Grandma Joanne’s linen closet! 😆) My favorite hack for dipping candy in melted chocolate is to set up your dipping station on an electric griddle with a towel on top. This keeps the chocolate the perfect dipping temperature without the risk of scorching it (the risk you would take if you dipped the balls in chocolate that is in a pot on the burner, for example.) I got this tip from my friend Dorothy from Crazy for Crust while researching chocolate dipping for these Oreo Truffles a few years ago. Genius! And now we dip! When I dip you dip we dip. The little white spots are frozen crystals because I had JUST pulled these from the freezer. You want them ice cold when you are dipping! If they are not cold, you run the risk of your peanut butter balls falling right off into the chocolate. No buckeye casualties please! Dunk them in the chocolate QUICKLY, don’t linger, because otherwise they start to melt. Make sure to let the chocolate drip as much as possible before setting it down on the lined pan. You don’t want a pool of chocolate hardening on the bottom of your buckeye. You can see from the photos that I am still working on this technique, not all of mine are perfect. Once you dip, turn the buckeye on its side, twirl it around a few times to shake off the chocolate, then turn it vertical again and carefully swipe it against the top edge of your measuring cup, to get that last stubborn bit of chocolate off. At this point, if you want to go non-traditional, you can dip them in crushed peanuts or sprinkles. Make a well, dip the buckeye, and use your fingers to press the topping into the sides. Then line them up on the pan to harden. Toss the whole pan back in the fridge for about 10 minutes at this point, to firm up that chocolate. Don’t try to take the toothpick out when the chocolate is still melty! You will think you won’t smudge it BUT YOU WILL. Don’t ask me how I know. I was mystified with how people had perfectly smooth peanut butter buckeyes in all the photos I saw. How did they dip them if there is no mark?? Turns out, it’s actually really easy to do. Touch the mark with your finger until the heat from your hand has melted the peanut butter a bit. Then swirl it around until the hole is covered, tap it once or twice, and voila. Perfect looking buckeye! Sarah’s family didn’t have the internet telling them how to heal buckeye toothpick marks when she was growing up, so they solved the problem by dotting the hole with chocolate, which of course turns it into a buckeye boob. Haha!! They always got a good laugh out of this and now you can too 😂 If you like, you can drizzle the top with melted peanut butter! Doesn’t look as much like a buckeye but it sure is pretty :) The at-home trick to make up for lack of wax or fancy preservatives is to toss them in the fridge. The problem is that when you freeze or refrigerate chocolate, it releases moisture as it warms up, so anytime you try to bring it to room temperature, your poor buckeyes are going to weep and cry. Even if you don’t put your final buckeyes back in the fridge to speed up the chocolate hardening process, Buckeyes will weep right after you dip them (because you MUST chill the peanut butter balls if you want to dip successfully). And even if you let them harden completely at room temperature, they will still weep a little from the peanut butter being so cold. What to do? Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram
If you have time, and are serving these within 24 hours, let the chocolate harden completely at room temperature. They will weep a little at the start (because of the chilled pb ball), but it will quickly evaporate and you will be left with perfectly bite-able buckeyes. Only choose this method if you like to eat room temperature buckeyes. Transfer them to a tupperware as soon as they are stable enough, storing in a single layer so they don’t smudge each other. Store them on the counter for 24 hours or less (After this they start to get dry, so transfer to the fridge.) If you want to have these buckeyes on hand for eating for 2-3 days, store in the refrigerator. Keep them in a sealed tupperware, and separate any layers with parchment or wax paper. If you like to serve them cold, serve them straight out of the fridge (be aware, they will start to weep right away.) If you like to serve them room temperature, spread them out in a single layer and let them get all their tears out, making sure none of them are touching. They must suffer alone. Then serve on a platter or cookie plate. If you are making these buckeyes for a future event or for adding to your Christmas plates later, freeze the buckeyes. Line them up in a tupperware, with parchment or wax separating the layers (or add them to a large ziplock) and freeze for 2-3 months. DO NOT THAW AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. I tried this, it does not work. It’s too big of a shock for these poor buckeyes and they cry real tears. Instead, take your freezer package and put it straight in the fridge to thaw overnight or over 5-6 hours. Once they are chilled but not frozen, serve them right away chilled, or spread them out in a single layer to weep a little and evaporate before moving to a platter for serving.
They are unlikely to mold or spoil because of the ingredients used, just the same way that sometimes you may be tempted to save this year’s Halloween candy for NEXT year. That said, even if they are not spoiled, they definitely taste best when eaten fresh (just like any candy.) The best way to keep them fresh is to keep them in the freezer. Spread out the buckeyes on a large baking sheet. Stick them in the freezer and let them flash freeze for 30-60 minutes. Once they’re flash frozen, put them in a single layer to a ziplock freezer bag or freezer-safe container and seal well. They will last 1-3 months, but the longer you have them in there, the more stale they will become. I think the sweet spot is a month or less. To eat, take the bag of buckeyes out of the freezer and sneak one frozen, if you love cold chocolate! Let them thaw out in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Do not thaw straight from the freezer or they will weep like crazy! Once they are thawed but chilled, spread out in a single layer to let them un-chill, then transfer to a platter to serve.
Mom’s Easy Fudge Recipe » smooth, creamy, decadent, and pure nostalgia for me Homemade English Toffee Recipe » another classic that is always a huge crowd favorite Caramel Nougat Pecan Rolls » sweet vanilla nougat wrapped in buttery caramel and pecans – it is candy perfection! Easy Penuche Fudge Recipe (Brown Sugar Fudge) » did you even know there’s a brown sugar white chocolate fudge? It’s SO good! Homemade Peppermint Bark » Ridiculously easy to make, and way better than store bought Oreo Truffles » another SUPER easy recipe that everyone loves. I mean c’mon, oreos Dulce de Leche from Condensed Milk » thick and creamy, and can be made in the slow cooker or instant pot Chocolate Stuffed Snickerdoodle Truffles » Kind of like a cake pop, but with snickerdoodle bars. YUM! Peanut Brittle Recipe from She Wears Many Hats
