‘Tis the season for Christmas cookies.
Every year when I was growing up, my favorite cookie to eat this time of year was my mom’s peanut butter balls. They are the best! I’m still not quite sure why we only make and eat these at Christmas, but it’s been that way my entire life. I made these last year the day after Thanksgiving. Since I had to work on Black Friday and the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year and I was in the middle of moving and unpacking, my cookie making has been seriously lacking. I didn’t even make the Peanut Butter Balls this year. Sis and her friend Gia made them.
Everyone in my family agrees these taste best when frozen preferably if you have a sub-zero freezer. Refrigerator freezers don’t seem to get them cold enough.
ingredients.
- 2 c. crunchy peanut butter
- ½ c. butter, softened
- 2 c. powdered sugar
- 4 c. Rice Krispies® or crisp rice cereal
- 3 c. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
- 4 T. vegetable shortening or paraffin wax
directions.
- In large electric mixer bowl, beat peanut butter, butter and sugar on medium speed until thoroughly combined. Add KELLOGG’S RICE KRISPIES cereal, mixing thoroughly. Portion mixture, using rounded teaspoon. Shape into balls. Place each ball in paper cup. Refrigerate.
- Melt chocolate morsels and shortening in small saucepan, over low heat, stirring constantly. Spoon 1 teaspoon melted chocolate over each peanut butter ball. Refrigerate until firm. Store in airtight container in the freezer.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 
i want these now! 🙂
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Next time you come to town we can make these 🙂
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Reblogged this on Le Food Snob and commented:
This year I decided to try something a bit different. I made peanut butter balls using a half and half mixture of bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate. I basically used the last of the chocolate chips in my house (one full bag of bittersweet chips, a half bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a half bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips). After adding the mini chips to the double boiler I waited what seemed like an inordinate amount of time for the chocolate to melt and it never did. It was almost as if the mini-chips just would not melt down. Or perhaps I burned them. So I googled, “how to get rid of lumps in melted chocolate” and found a few blogs that advised to add a teaspoon of boiling water at a time while rapidly whisking the chocolate. I had to try this method. I’d used the last of my chocolate chips and did not feel like spending $5 or $6 for more. I was skeptical of this method because I always thought adding liquid to chocolate made it seize up. But the method worked! I whisked and whisked and whisked as fast as I could after adding only one teaspoon of boiling water and it resulted in smooth melted chocolate. Success!
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