Peanut Butter Balls

I posted a dessert platter with toffee bars and peanut butter balls, but there were no recipes! I just posted the toffee bars, and now here are the peanut butter balls. As with the toffee bars, the recipe is as old as the hills, but I do have some tips.Peanut Butter Balls
18 ounce jar peanut butter (2 cups)
17 ounces (480 g.) powdered sugar (4 cups)
4 ounces margarine (1 stick, or 1/2 cup)
12-16 ounces chocolate (use the Shufra or Leiber’s semisweet chocolate bark)

To make the peanut butter truffle centers, just mix together the peanut butter, powdered sugar and margarine. Shape unto balls. The recipe will yield about 50-52 balls that are each .75 ounces. If you make smaller .5 ounce balls, your yield will of course be greater. Chill the balls on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Set up another parchment lined baking sheet.

Meanwhile, melt your chocolate in bowl set over a pot of hot water (or you could use a chocolate melting machine from the craft store). Here is the thing, real chocolate needs to be tempered, chocolate flavored bars made without cocoa butter do not need to be tempered. Check the ingredients on the bar of chocolate. If the ingredients state hydrogenated shortening (palm oil, coconut oil, etc.) instead of cocoa butter, you have the right product. If you use real chocolate with cocoa butter, you will need to temper your chocolate or store the balls in the fridge for the chocolate to set up and stay nice looking.

Dip your peanut butter balls in the chocolate and set them on the clean parchment sheet you have set aside. The chocolate will set up pretty fast, but you might notice problems such as cracking or bald patches on the underside. These problems can be addressed with double dipping. After the chocolate sets up, redip the balls. I am thinking about trying to use an icing grate for my peanut butter balls next time to prevent “feet”, or the pooling of chocolate around the base of the balls. If you try an icing grate or cooling rack and it works, let me know!

After the balls have been dipped to your satisfaction, you can decorate with drizzles of melted white chocolate (you can get pareve/dairy-free white chocolate. This is made with the same hydrogenated shortening as the semisweet. Both chocolates are really “bark chocolate” or dipping chocolate, not real chocolate, which would need to be tempered).

 

Tags: Candy, chocolate, peanut butter, peanut butter balls