Home-made Chocolate Peanut-Butter Balls (aka “Homemade Reeses”)February 26, 2016
Over 27 years ago, I attended the ordination party of my friend and colleague Rabbi Paula Winnig. Before they became popular, her mom was already making these "to-die for" home-made chocolate peanut-butter balls. I had to have the recipe. She wrote it on the back of the ordination program for me. Somewhere I still have that handwritten recipe. Everyone LOVES these! My cousin will call and ask: "Can you please make just 4 for me?" (Because she's afraid she doesn't have the willpower to refrain from eating the entire batch). It's a fun recipe to make with young children: lots of squooshing and mooshing of ingredients together. I have adapted the original recipe a bit. I recommend making them at least one day in advance (everything needs time to "meld together" for optimum taste). They freeze beautifully and also taste great frozen.
Ingredients
- 16 oz good quality extra chunky peanut butter do not use all natural peanut butter for this (use Jiff or Skippy)
- 1¾ sticks butter or parve margarine, melted approximately ½-lb minus 2 tbsp.
- 1¾ heaping cups rice crispies
- 1 lb confectioner's sugar 10x
- 10 oz peanut butter chips like chocolate chips, but pb-flavored (optional)
- 16-24 oz good quality semi-sweet chocolate or bittersweet for parve. Note: Ghiradelli makes an excellent melting chocolate. (If you have extra melted chocolate at the end, it freezes well in a microwave safe container and you can use it the next time you want/need to coat something in chocolate.)
- 2-4 tbsp canola oil
Instructions
- Melt butter or margarine in a LARGE microwave-safe bowl (cover the top with a paper towel so it doesn't splatter). It usually takes 1 minute.
- Add the peanut butter, Rice Crispies, Confectioners Sugar (and if desired) peanut-butter chips to the bowl with the melted butter or margarine. (I usually wear gloves for this next part).
- Using your hands, smush and mush all the ingredients together until they are well mixed together. I use talcum-free latex gloves for "smooshing" everything together and rolling the mixture into the round balls.
- Roll the mixture into walnut-size balls and place on a plate. (It will look like the pic.) It should make about 50-60 pieces.
- Place the plate of peanut butter balls into the refrigerator for at least a half or one hour (or overnight) until they harden.
- Place the semi-sweet chocolate + approx 4 TBS canola oil (if using the Ghirardelli melting chocolate, I don't think you need the canola oil) in either the top of a double boiler with water in the bottom pot, OR in a microwave safe bowl. If in a double boiler, turn stove on medium until chocolate melts. If in microwave, melt on HIGH for 1 minute at a time, stirring well after each minute until chocolate is melted and smooth.
- Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil.
- Carefully roll each peanut butter ball in the melted chocolate until totally coated. Let the excess drip off.
- Place on foil-covered cookie sheet. Repeat until all of the peanut butter balls are coated in chocolate. DO NOT LET THEM TOUCH EACH OTHER ON THE COOKIE SHEET.
- Place in the fridge until the chocolate is totally hardened.
- Store finished product for a few days in the fridge or freeze for longer period of time.
Notes
Can place in individual candy liners. When freezing – can layer many layers in your freezer dish: place a single layer, with parchment paper or freezer paper or wax paper separating the layers.
This looks amazing and fairly simple to do. I have never made stuffed anything but these look simple enough to try sometime. I love how you made garlic zucchini noodles to go with the dish. That’s my favorite way to eat zucchini noodles. I use my spiralizer weekly. Definitely one of the best birthday gifts I have received.