Peanut Butter Balls

Peanut Butter Balls are a Benedict family tradition. Every year growing up both my mom and my grandma made a batch or two of these “cookies.” We would eat them all throughout December and then on Christmas Eve they were the star of the Christmas cookie platter both at my Grandma’s house and then later at parents’ house when opening presents.

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!

This year I made the balls extra huge. This was out of laziness and with the hope that if I made them extra huge I wouldn’t eat as many. (This technique doesn’t work, in case you were wondering.)

These actually taste best frozen, in my humble opinion. My entire family eats them this way.

Food Snob

‘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.