I was wondering who all broke down and made these in light of recent events. I made some myself last week, with chopped up cherries (mmm… good idea!) The first batch of chocolate burned. The 2nd was okay… I didn’t have shortening so I used butter, which must have made the concoction too thick. So they came out looking a little uneven. But damn they tasted good.
My daughters and I make buckeyes every year. Our legions of fans grows every year so now we have to triple the recipe!
Buckeyes
Our recipe is very simple but is time consuming:
1+1/2 cups peanut butter (we use Jif - do not use crunchy peanut butter)
1+1/3 cup of butter at room temp (microwave to soften, but don’t make it liquidy)
1 pound confectionary sugar
Get your hands in the bowl to mush all three ingredients into a big dough ball the consistency of playdough. Don’t overplay with the dough because the butter will soften and you don’t want the butter to soften.
Freeze or fridge the dough for several hours until the dough is firm enough to easily roll into 1" balls. (My daughter gets impatient and ends up making 1 1/2" balls, which we term “buck balls.”)
Freeze the balls for several hours. You want the dough to be frozen because otherwise once you dip them into chocolate, the butter melts and you end up with a huge mess on your hands.
Now is the time to melt the chocolate over a double broiler. The secret to our success is using milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet.
18 oz.-24 oz. milk chocolate chips
2-3 T melted paraffin (I break off about a 2" hunk of Gulf Wax and melt it w/ the chocolate)
Once the chocolate is completely melted, use a toothpick to grab a ball and then quickly coat it with chocolate, rotating the ball so that all but the top of the ball is coated with chocolate. Place them in a single row on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.
When you’ve coated all the balls, rinse the leftover chocolate out of the double broiler while it’s still liquidy because once it stiffens it’s a buggah to clean up.
After you’ve coated all the balls, use a dab of peanut butter to fill in the hole where your toothpick penetrated the balls lest they take on the unfortunate appearance of an engorged penis head peeking out of its foreskin.
Flash freeze them if you need to handle them immediately. Once the chocolate solidifies, you can put them into a common bowl. Cover and freeze them until you need to serve them. Once you’ve had them frozen, you’ll never go back.
Thank you PunditLisa! That sounds remarkably like the recipe I got from allrecipes.com. Of course, I always read the comments and noted that most people reduced the sugar by 2 cups and added more peanut butter.
- I used 2c PB and 4c confectioner’s and the filling came out perfect.
- Knowing to freeze the balls before dipping is also very helpful.
- Buckeyes!
I didn’t wake up in time to finish the buckeyes myself, but I’m taking last night’s small batch to work today and leaving Mr. Brown and the kidlet to finish up the rest.
olivesmarch4th, I thought of you speculating about how many made buckeyes and that’s why I made this thread.
Sunglasses, I don’t have any shortening either (we just moved in a couple weeks ago), but I thought of putting a wee bit of oil in the chocolate, but husband nixed the idea, saying it wouldn’t set on the balls. That’s when we went the microwave route and screwed the pooch. 
Ivylad took his buckeyes from his mom’s to my dad’s last night (we traveled to see family) and put them in my dad’s fridge.
It wasn’t until we got home that we realized we’d left them there, along with two Scotch eggs. Fortunately, his sister had given me a little bucket of buckeyes that she’d made, so Ivylad will not have to suffer buckeye withdrawal.
Are they really poisonous? Don’t have time to look now, but I thought the early settlers tried to grind them into flour like acorns and were unsuccessful. Too bad, because they were plentiful and could have saved many from privation. Is this true?
ETA: I mean real buckeyes, not chocolate ones. Duh.
I have not yet had a chance to make the Eyes of the Buck. Maybe after New Year.
I tend to get very lazy and just make Buckeye Bars instead. They are difficult to cut.
I am eternally lazy and just buy mine from Harry London instead.
Not allowed to have buckeyes. Stupid diabetes. I blame what’s-his-name.
I bet a bunch of Ohioans are making little Buckeyes right now…
I saw the previous trainwreck and wanted to make these for Xmas but didn’t have time.
I’m excited to see that they can be frozen. Do they keep well frozen after they’ve been dipped?
That would mean I could (a) make a full recipe and dole them out on occasion, otherwise we’d never get through a batch, and (b) make them in advance for Xmas gifts.
They sound absolutely yummy.
Wilfred Brimley?
I am not Endora, dear. If I write “what’s-his-name,” it’s because I can’t recall the name of the person I’m referring. It’s all that middle-age decreptitude. 
I’d always heard they were. A quick trip to wickipedia gave the following:
The fruits contain tannic acid, and are poisonous for cattle, and possibly humans, although they are often eaten by squirrels and badgers. Native Americans would blanch them, extracting the tannic acid for use in leather.
Absolutely.
Ha, a lot of Americans didn’t know what they are either, myself included. Well, I know what a real buckeye is, and that it’s a state slogan, but that’s it. A candy with wax in it?!
It’s a peanut butter ball dipped in chocolate that has wax in it to help harden it.
Still making buckeyes. The paraffin is working great and I’ve got another tip.
After refrigerating the peanut butter filling, we still had difficulty with it sticking to our hands while rolling balls as it warmed to room temp. This has resulted in spiky, rough balls. This time hubby is using confectioner’s sugar on his hands as he forms the balls. Voila! Round, smooth balls.
My SO is similarly afflicted so I just substitute cashew or almond butter into any peanut butter recipe and it works perfectly, especially cashew. You can get cashew butter (and cashew-macadamia butter, which is AMAZING) at Trader Joe’s. I’m thinking of making some cashew buckeyes, just because the cashew butter chocolate chip cookies were such a hit. He’s beginning to see why everybody spazzes out for peanut butter stuff…
Mmmm. Haven’t had these in years - for similar reasons. But it did just occur to me that soy nut butter - which my peanut-allergic kid LOVES - might work.
Not quite sure if I"m the longest buckeye eater on here, but I"m sure I’ve been eating them since 1978. A neighbor made them when I lived in Columbus and I was hooked. Of course, 4th grade me could eat all he wanted and not have to worry about the calories.
Once you buy the paraffin, you’ll have a lifetime supply. I’ve had to buy it several times since I’ve tossed it when I’ve moved.