• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Unpeeled logo

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Soup, Salad, Snacks
    • Dinner
    • Sides
    • Dessert + Baking
    • Vegetarian + Vegan
    • Beverages
    • Easy
    • Recipe Collections
  • Features
    • Articles
    • Profiles
    • Taste Tests
    • Food Writing Roundups
  • Lifestyle
    • Wellness
    • Food Travel Guides
    • Book Club
  • Cooking School
    • Cooking Technique
    • Baking + Pastry Technique
    • Wine Class
    • Better Know a Food
  • The Food + Grief Project
    • Food That Heals
    • Food That Remembers
    • F+G Articles, Interviews, Essays
  • About
Home / Recipes / Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeyes

Jump to Recipe

Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeyes

Share
Pin16
Tweet
Email
Print

Like homemade Reese’s Cups. But better.

wooden dish with chocolate peanut butter balls buckeyes

My favorite candy — and candy, generally — is the Reese’s Cup. (I am not alone in this opinion. See this Halloween candy ranking from New York Magazine; it’s worth the read.) So it is no surprise that I absolutely love buckeyes. These chocolate peanut butter balls of goodness are a no-bake dessert that looks great and tastes even better, with a soft, sweet peanut butter center with a hint of salt, enrobed in pure dark chocolate. Get the recipe.

You’ll also like: How to Hack Brownie Mix and The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

ingredients for buckeyes 10x peanut butter vanilla butter chocolate

According to legend, buckeyes were invented in the mid-1900s by Gail Tabor. According to Tabor, she invented the recipe and gave the peanut butter balls away to friends around the holidays. She also made them for Ohio State-Michigan football games, to much acclaim. The recipe eventually got out, and now we can all enjoy these tasty treats.

I think of buckeyes as the very best of peanut butter blossom cookies and Reese’s Cups, all rolled together. I like to coat mine in a good quality dark chocolate and garnish with flaky sea salt to put them over the top.

peanut butter balls being dipped in chocolate for buckeyes

Buckeyes are the official desserts of Ohio, designed and named after Ohio’s state tree: You guessed it, the buckeye. Now, the tree and its nuts are toxic. Luckily, this lookalike dessert is most decidedly not (barring a peanut allergy).

picture of buckeye nuts from Ohio buckeye tree

Buckeye nuts from an Ohio buckeye tree. (See the resemblance?) / Photo by Kathy Smith, SENR, CFAES

Recipe Notes: Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeyes

  • Chill the peanut butter dough thoroughly. They will be much easier to skewer, and will keep their shape.
  • Skewer the top of the peanut butter balls and roll them in chocolate. It will leave a hole in the top, but you can smooth it back over with your finger.
  • I use Valhrona dark chocolate, though any dark chocolate will do. Do not use melted chocolate chips, which will not set up with the same high-quality hard outer shell. Want to really do it right? Temper the chocolate. Here’s my article from Food52 on how to temper chocolate in the microwave. It’s easy, and you will get a smooth dark chocolate coating with real snap.
  • I like to drain these on a cooling rack instead of a baking sheet. A rack allows excess chocolate to drip through, instead of forming a pool of chocolate, which will result in “feet” instead of a clean-looking chocolate ball.

wooden dish with chocolate peanut butter balls buckeyes

Did you make these Chocolate Peanut Butter Buckeyes? How were they?

wooden dish with chocolate peanut butter balls buckeyes
Print Recipe

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (Buckeyes)

Like homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but better. Ohio's unofficial dessert.
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time0 mins
Cooling Time1 hr
Course: candy, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keywords:: buckeyes, candy, chocolate, dessert, easy, no-bake, peanut butter
Servings: 16 to 20 balls (depending on size)

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon peanut butter (not natural)
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 8 ounces (a little less will do) dark chocolate, chopped. Do not use chocolate chips.
  • flaky sea salt, to garnish (optional)

Instructions

  • Mix the powdered sugar, peanut butter, melted butter, vanilla, and salt until combined. I use my electric mixer with the paddle attachment, starting on low until crumbles form, then on medium until the mixture becomes more cohesive.
  • Scoop the peanut butter mixture into balls. Chill fully, covered, for about 1 hour, or overnight.
  • Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave in 30-second increments.
    PRO TIP #1: Do not get any water in your chocolate. Water is chocolate kryptonite and will make the chocolate seize up.
    PRO TIP #2: If using the microwave, melt the chocolate in 30-second increments until it is about halfway melted, then at 10-second increments, stirring, until fully melted. Chocolate can burn, so err on the side of checking and stirring often.
  • Skewer the peanut butter balls and dip in the chocolate to coat 3/4 high. Place on a cooling rack. If desired, sprinkle the chocolate with a touch of flaky sea salt before it sets up.
  • Serve chilled or at room temperature. Will keep, covered, for several days.

Filed Under: Dessert + Baking, Easy, Recipes Tagged With: buckeyes, chocolate, dessert, easy, no-bake, ohio, peanut butter

Sign Up for the Weekly Newsletter

Never miss a recipe.

More from Unpeeled

The Best: Zuni Café’s Caesar Salad

The Best: Zuni Café’s Caesar Salad

Très Authentic French Onion Soup

Très Authentic French Onion Soup

Summer Stone Fruit and Burrata Caprese

Summer Stone Fruit and Burrata Caprese

Reader Interactions

Share your comment here: Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Welcome to Unpeeled

The journal of cooking, baking, and the bonds we share through food. Learn More

Popular Posts

bowl of wonton soup with greens and scallions
sliced mango and citrus fruit on platter
wooden dish with native american wild rice salad with sweet potato corn and mushrooms
julia child in kitchen
unpeeled peach cobbler sliced on plate with tea
bowl of venezuelan chicken stew with corn cilantro lime in bowl with garnishes

Your inbox is hungry! Get the weekly newsletter.

Footer

About Unpeeled

Unpeeled offers trusted recipes, cooking and baking techniques, travel guides, profiles of women in food -- plus articles, essays, and more.

Features

  • Articles
  • Profiles
  • Taste Tests
  • Food Writing Roundups

Cooking School

  • Cooking Technique
  • Baking + Pastry Technique
  • Wine Class

Information

  • About & Contact
  • F.A.Q.s
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Copyright © 2020 Unpeeled Journal. All rights reserved.

  • Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Soup, Salad, Snacks
    • Dinner
    • Sides
    • Dessert + Baking
    • Vegetarian + Vegan
    • Beverages
    • Easy
    • Recipe Collections
  • Features
    • Articles
    • Profiles
    • Taste Tests
    • Food Writing Roundups
  • Lifestyle
    • Wellness
    • Food Travel Guides
    • Book Club
  • Cooking School
    • Cooking Technique
    • Baking + Pastry Technique
    • Wine Class
    • Better Know a Food
  • The Food + Grief Project
    • Food That Heal
    • Food That Remember
    • F+G Articles, Interviews, Essays
  • About
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter