Peanut Butter Balls

Creamy, crunchy, sweet and salty peanut butter filling enrobed in a glossy, rich chocolate shell - these bite-sized treats are a long time family favorite.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword candy, chocolate, confection, heirloom recipe, no-bake, peanut butter

Prep Time 20

Assembly Time 1 20

Total Time 1 40

Servings

Calories 86kcal

Equipment

large mixing bowl (or food processor)
#60 cookie scoop
double boiler
large baking sheets or serving trays
dipping tools (or fork)

Ingredients

1 lb powdered sugar
2 cup vanilla wafer cookie crumbs
1 cup butter melted
1 cup nuts finely chopped (i.e. walnuts)
1 cup peanut butter
12 oz chocolate chips
2 oz paraffin wax

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

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 powdered sugar, 2 cup vanilla wafer cookie crumbs, 1 cup butter, 1 cup nuts, 1 cup 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 chocolate chips, 2 oz 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

Nutrition