Peanut Butter Balls
There is a reason that peanut butter and chocolate have been a classic and popular pairing for over a century – the salty, sweet, contrasting and complimentary flavors and textures make for a uniquely satisfying food experience. In the 1920’s, H.B. Reese, a former Hershey’s employee, created the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, the first commercially successful combination of peanut butter and chocolate, which solidified the popularity of the flavor combination for Americans. In the mid-to-late twentieth century a homemade chocolate peanut butter confection consisting of a sweetened peanut butter ball covered in a chocolate shell was gaining popularity under a variety of names: Peanut Butter Truffles, Buckeyes, Peanut Butter Bonbons and, as they were known in our house, Peanut Butter Balls.
Peanut butter balls were a holiday treat for our family for literally as long as I can remember. I remember two varieties of peanut butter balls growing up – my grandmother’s (dad’s mom) and my mother’s. I loved both, greedily snatching them up from the serving trays at holiday gatherings, but they weren’t quite the same and, if pressed, I would definitely have given the edge to my mom’s version. I found out later that mom had adapted her version from grandma’s. Mom told me that grandma’s version used crispy rice cereal as a textural element in the filling, but she wasn’t thrilled with the flavor or texture that the cereal brought so she replaced it with vanilla wafer cookie crumbs instead. The vanilla wafer cookie crumbs add a bit more sweetness to the filling, but they also change the texture giving it a bit of grainy, grittiness that, to me, is reminiscent of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup filling.
While swapping in vanilla wafer cookie crumbs instead of crispy rice cereal is the only change to the recipe that mom told me about, in hunting around, I didn’t find any recipes that used crispy rice cereal that also included finely chopped nuts. It is possible that including chopped nuts was another change mom made. I remember mom always used walnuts in her peanut butter balls, but I have seen recipes that call for pecans instead (usually paired with graham cracker crumbs, but mom told me she preferred the more neutral flavor of the vanilla wafer cookies).
As I mentioned in my Magic in the Middle Cookies post, I generally avoided making the same treats as mom made for the holidays, developing my own holiday lineup for my goodie trays. As a result, I have not made these very often over the years. The first time I made them myself would have been in the early 2000’s. I had always wondered why a treat called “Peanut Butter Balls” had chopped walnuts in it – why not chopped peanuts? So, when I made my own version, I decided to try using finely chopped dry roasted peanuts in place of the walnuts. To be honest, it turns out that I love both adaptations. The walnuts give the peanut butter balls a slightly sweeter, more mellow, rounded flavor, while the roasted peanuts reduce the sweetness and drive up the intensity of the peanut butter flavor. I would say my preference depends on what I’m in the mood for at the time.
I also wondered about the wax used in the chocolate coating. From what I can tell, most recipes call for an ingredient to alter the behavior of the chocolate whether that is vegetable oil, shortening or food grade paraffin wax. It looks like the oldest, most traditional recipes call for wax while newer versions tend toward other options. I personally don’t like the oil or shortening options as they typically result in a softer set on the chocolate (especially if you go a little overboard). I tinkered a bit with tempered chocolate but, for those of us, myself included, with less experience tempering chocolate this makes a relatively easy, foolproof recipe considerably more difficult and less certain. I found the best alternative to using wax is simply getting your hands on some compound chocolate (aka candy melts) in semi-sweet or milk chocolate flavor.
I love seeing (and participating) in the transitions that recipes go through as they are passed down through generations. Hopefully this one will continue on through many more generations to come, with each making their own tweaks and calibrating the recipe until it is their personal favorite version.
Equipment
Ingredients
Method
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla wafer cookie crumbs, melted butter, chopped nuts and peanut butter. Using your hands mix until the ingredients come together in a soft dough that will hold its shape when rolled into balls. (Alternatively, you can put all the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture comes together)1 lb (454 g) powdered sugar, 2 cup (227 g) vanilla wafer cookie crumbs, 1 cup (224 g) butter, 1 cup (150 g) nuts, 1 cup (256 g) peanut butter
- Line large baking sheets (or serving trays) with wax paper. Form the peanut butter mixture into 1" balls, place on the prepared sheets and refrigerate to harden (this will help the balls retain their shape when dipped in the melted chocolate mixture)
- In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and wax together until completely smooth with no lumps of chocolate or wax remaining.12 oz (340 g) chocolate chips, 2 oz (56 g) paraffin wax
- Using a fork or chocolate dipping tool, dip each peanut butter ball into the melted chocolate, gently shake off the excess chocolate and place it back on the waxed paper. When all of the peanut butter balls have been dipped, put the baking sheets (or serving trays) in the refrigerator for the chocolate to harden. Store the peanut butter balls in an air tight container in the refrigerator or another cool place.
Notes
- Why use wax?
- It helps the chocolate set without having to temper it
- It increases the fluidity of the melted chocolate chips making it easier to dip the balls
- It results in a nice shine in the finished product.
- If you don’t want to use wax:
- You can temper your chocolate (note that it can be difficult to keep chocolate in temper with a peanut butter filling. The fats in the peanut butter can mix with the chocolate taking it out of temper, or seep into/through the chocolate resulting in a bloom on the surface).
- You can also try compound chocolate (aka candy melts) in a semi-sweet or milk chocolate flavor.
- For a creamier filling:
- Reduce Vanilla wafer crumbs to 1 1/2 cups
- Increase peanut butter to 1 1/2 cups
- You may need to give the balls made with this filling a quick re-roll right before dipping, it will tend to flatten out slightly until it gets its chocolate shell. You can also freeze them to help them hold their shape, although this may result in a thicker chocolate coating. (I’m of the eat-peanut-butter-directly-out-of-the-jar camp, so I love the minimal chocolate coating on these, but feel free to experiment with different proportions by changing the temperature of your peanut butter balls and/or your melted chocolate)
- For a more intense peanut butter flavor replace the chopped nuts with chopped peanuts
Private Notes
Nutrition
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