Buckeye Candy

Being relatively new to the Midwest (a little over 10 years), I had never heard of buckeye candy.  I started making these around the holidays a handful of years ago, but was thinking this week, that it doesn't need to be that time of year to make them. My husband is addicted to these because he loves anything with peanut butter and chocolate mixed together :)  I think it's also because he was born and raised in Ohio, the "Buckeye" State!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened, not melted)
18 ounce jar creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Topping:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels (melted)


Cream together butter, peanut butter and vanilla by hand until smooth in large bowl.  Add powdered sugar and mix together until well blended.  Roll into balls with the palms of your hands and place on plate.  If you make the size above that I did, then you should be able to get about four dozen.  You can make them smaller or bigger, depending on your preference.  I found the size above to be just right for popping into your mouth! Cover with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator for at least two hours to chill.  In microwaveable bowl melt the chocolate morsels.  To melt, start with 30 seconds and keep adding 15-30 seconds at a time until you can stir with a spoon.  You can also melt the chocolate morsels on the stove in a small saucepan, just keep it on a low to moderate heat, so it doesn't boil!  Remove melted chocolate from microwave or stove. Using a toothpick, dip each ball about halfway into the chocolate and place on plate.  The chocolate hardens pretty quick.  By the time you're done dipping the last ball, the first one will be hardened up and ready to eat.  These have to be kept refrigerated.