Thelma & Louise and Buckeyes

 It’s that time of year when trees are trimmed, presents are wrapped and there are rarely any free parking spaces at the mall. Families and friends get together and celebrate the season while enjoying each other’s company and all the wonderful food. Some families have holiday traditions dating back to longer than they can remember, and some are fortunate enough to make new ones.

Just like the post title, my friend and I are kind of like the modern day Thelma & Louise – minus the shooting, running from the law and of course the last scene. This year, my friend “Thelma”, included me in her holiday tradition of making Buckeyes. The Buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, where Thelma grew up. Buckeyes are a popular peanut butter treat that is dipped in chocolate, leaving a circle of peanut butter exposed, to resemble the Buckeye Nut.

We made 3 full batches and the final count was 515; although we don’t know how many were eaten throughout the Buckeye process so that’s the number we are going with. Of course there were ones that didn’t look up to our standards and those disappeared instantly.

Everyone loves these little treats and between Thelma and her family, Me, work and the annual Christmas party, we are glad we made three batches. I only kept 60 and I think that number has already started to decrease. I will most probably be making another half batch before the end of the month.

Buckeye Candy (1/2 batch)
Wise Family recipe

Buckeye Ingredients:
 – 2 bags of Candy Coating Chocolates (we used Wilton)
 – 2 sticks Butter, melted
 – 1 cup Peanut Butter
 – 1 pound 8 ounces Powdered Sugar

Buckeye Directions:
1. Melt Candy Coating Chocolate using your preferred method or following the package directions (microwave or double boiler). Since we had so much chocolate we actually used my Crockpot on the low setting to melt it then kept it on the warm setting while dipping.
2. Melt Butter in a microwave safe container. Place Peanut Butter and Powdered Sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
4. Mix on the lowest setting for 30 seconds, then add in the melted Butter. Mix on speed 2 until combined.
5. Using a tablespoon size cookie scoop, portion out the peanut butter mixture, then hand roll into a ball shape. Place on a wax or parchment paper covered cookie sheet and harden in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
6. Once the peanut butter balls have hardened it is time to start dipping. Using a toothpick, dip the balls into the melted chocolate, leaving the top exposed, so it resembles an actual Buckeye Nut. Place it back on the tray and chill in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate for 15-20 minutes.
7. Once the chocolate is hard, place in containers, with wax or parchment paper in between the layers. You can store them in either the refrigerator or freezer.

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Photos taken by Myself and Susan S.