"You got chocolate in my peanut butter"...."you got peanut butter in my chocolate!" Even if you don't remember the old commercial, there's no denying chocolate and peanut butter together is one of the greatest tastes in the entire world. Homemade peanut butter cups are so much fun to make, easy for kids, and YUMMY!
If you're from Ohio, you know the you know these delightful little creations as "Buckeyes." We Ohioans (well, I'm a former Ohioan who now resides in the desert) are obsessed with Buckeyes. It's the state tree, the mascot of THE Ohio State University, AND the world's greatest holiday treat. For those of you non-Ohioians (or non-former-Ohioans in my case), the Buckeye is a nut that grows on the Buckeye tree. They are very similar to chestnuts and look like, surprise surprise, the eye of a buck.
Here's what you need to make them:
14 oz peanut butter
1 1/4 sticks butter (softened)
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 bag chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
Wax paper
Toothpicks (optional)
Here's what you do:
1. Combine the peanut butter, softened butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. It will form a dough ball.
2. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler (or in the microwave).
3. Make small inch-wide balls out of the peanut butter dough and dip into the melted chocolate. Make sure to keep a small portion of the peanut butter showing so it looks like a buckeye!
For my kids, I give them each a hunk of dough and a few scoops of the melted chocolate in a small bowl. That way they don't risk getting burned on the hot double boiler. A lot of people use toothpicks to dip the dough into the chocolate, but the darned things never want to stay on the toothpicks for me and then the dough winds up with holes in it. I just use my fingers and keep a towel close by.
4. Set the dipped peanut butter balls onto a wax paper-covered cookie sheet.
5. Place in fridge to cool for about an hour.
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