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Peanut
Butter Balls: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the peanut
butter, unsalted butter, and salt in a microwaveable bowl, and heat in the microwave for
about one minute or until just soft (check and stir the ingredients every 20
seconds). Stir in the vanilla extract and confectioners sugar and mix until it
has the consistency of a dough (add more sugar if necessary).
Roll the dough
into 1 inch (2.5 cm) round balls. Place on the cookie sheet and refrigerate for
about one hour, or until firm.
Melt the chocolate
and shortening in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Dip the
balls, one at a time, in the melted chocolate, making sure the entire ball is
coated with chocolate. Then, with two spoons or a dipping fork, remove the
peanut butter ball from the melted chocolate, allowing any excess chocolate to
drip back into the bowl. Place the chocolate covered balls back on the baking sheet. When all the balls have
been dipped in the chocolate, place in the refrigerator until the chocolate has
set. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. To serve: place in small
fluted candy cups.
Note: If you want
to make Buckeyes: place a toothpick into each peanut butter ball and dip, one
ball at a time, into the melted chocolate, leaving the top quarter of each ball undipped.
Makes about 40
pieces, depending on size.
Sources:
Jones, David.
Candy Making for Dummies. Wiley Publishing, Inc. New Jersey: 2005.
Peery, Susan
Mahnke. The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook. A Fireside Book. New
York: 1986.
Smith, Andrew F.
The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford University Press.
New York: 2007.
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