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Friday, December 21, 2012

Buckeyes (Candy)






Once upon a time, I made these for Christmas a long, long time ago. I don't know why I haven't made them since, they are so good, and they aren't that difficult to make! I've talked about them though, so much so, that I piqued my husbands curiosity, he said "You talk about them all the time, and now you've made me want them. :D Make them already!" So I did, and he loves them. 

They are rich and peanut-buttery. So if your on a diet or a diabetic you might want to steer clear of these, and go look at one of my other pages! ;)


I don't remember, when I made them before, if my arm was about to fall off, from stirring, but I must have used my mixer or something. I don't have one now :( (it died two years ago) so my arms felt like they were about to fall off from stirring!! And it seemed like it took for-everrr... I really need to get a stand mixer, it would have gone a whole lot faster!! Instead of what seemed like hours of stirring would have been minutes! lol  ¯\(°_o)/¯

I've seen several different recipes, but I am going with the one I'm familiar with. I've seen people add Rice Crispy's and Crunchy Peanut Butter, but true Ohio Buckeye Candy isn't made with any of those things, nope. I've also heard them being called Peanut Butter Balls...to me, they are Buckeyes, you can call em' anything you want. I guess you could say I'm particular about the name because I'm from Ohio, and Ohio has the Buckeye trees....





What you need:

2 lbs. Creamy Peanut Butter
1 lb. Butter
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
3 lbs. Powdered Sugar
Two 12 oz. bags of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips Don't skimp on the chocolate.
1/2 of one Paraffin Bar ( you can find this in the canning isle)
Wax Paper 
Tooth Picks
Cookie Sheets

Cream Peanut Butter and Butter  and Vanilla until combined. 



Add Powdered Sugar with a sifter, a little at a time.


Make a mess on the counter...



Stir...



Keep adding more Powdered Sugar, and stir some more, till you feel like your arms are  about to fall off lol Unless your lucky and have a mixer!



 (I seriously was thinking about my husbands paint mixer/cordless drill at this point in time Haha) I didn't though! Ugh!


My arm was about to fall off at this point!
Once you have all the powdered sugar in, make sure its thoroughly mixed
It'll be about the consistency of cookie dough.



if you have a small cookie scoop, use that but otherwise use a little less than a spoonful of "dough" and roll into about 1 inch balls. Roll all the balls and put them in the freezer for about a half hour or so. 



In the mean time...

In a double broiler melt your Chocolate Chips and Paraffin.
If you don't have a double broiler (Like me) then use a bigger pan and a smaller pan, fill the bigger pan with just enough water for the smaller pan to be submerged just a little. The whole object is, to melt the chocolate and not burn it. 
(I just realized I didn't take pictures of that step.. opps!) Some recipes I have seen melt the chocolate in the microwave, I prefer the double broiler method, that way I don't have to keep re-heating it in the microwave.
Line  cookie sheets with wax paper. 
Once your chocolate/paraffin is melted put a toothpick in the balls and start dipping your dough balls into the chocolate almost covering the whole thing. 
FYI..  If your balls aren't chilled they just slip right off the tooth picks into the chocolate. :(
Place on wax paper to cool and harden. Smooth over the tooth pick hole with your finger.



Paraffin is used to make the chocolate set better and to make them shiny when they are cool.




These need to be stored in a cool place, so store them in the refrigerator, or if you prefer, in the freezer. That's where mine are, in the freezer.

This recipe was suppose to make about 400 balls, I guess mine were bigger(two bites instead of one) because it only made about 160.


You can half or quarter this recipe.

Enjoy.... and try not to eat them all ! 



♥║║
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4 comments:

  1. Good morning and happy holidays Carol! I enjoyed this post and may even make some of these while on my winter break. I bet you can get quite a "arm workout" stirring the peanut-butter mix! ha ha I think I will get my husband to help me since he loves peanut-butter so much. He will think he is getting the easy job ;) I saw some interesting facts about the buckeyes online and thought I'd add it here if you or anyone else is interested. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1880
    Hope to visit with you again soon at Home in the country.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you have a mixer (besides your husband, LOL) its so much easier and a lot quicker too!! He will love these! And they make good gifts too! ;)
      Thanks for the info on the buckeyes, always good to know some facts!

      Delete
  2. Hi Carol,
    Happened across your blog thanks to Pinterest. Always interested to see other "Whitfield"s happenings.

    Bobb-Jo Whitfield
    Medicine Hat, AB, Canada

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bobb-Jo!

      Nice to "meet" you :)
      Don't you just love Pinterest!? You can find all sorts of websites that you normally might not find otherwise!

      Don't be a stranger, come back to visit!

      Delete

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