BUCKEYES: cookie recipe exchange

Mel from The Larson Lingo is hosting a virtual cookie recipe exchange and this is my entry. (Awesome! I'm a day late!)




I was born in Ohio and most of my extended family still lives there. I grew up eating buckeyes every December and it's not Christmas to me unless there are buckeyes in the fridge.

But but BUT Laura!!! Buckeyes are not cookies. Yes, you would be correct but...

Buckeyes are superior to EVERY OTHER holiday exchange cookie EVER.

Once you start making these and giving them to other people, you will notice the following year you never lose any friends. Everyone wants buckeyes. Everyone wants to exchange cookies with you. Come December 1, you'll get the question, "Have you made buckeyes yet?"

The secret to buckeye deliciousness: there is absolutely nothing healthy in them.

The main ingredients (and butter, because I'm terrible at staging recipe photos).



Oh yes, you're going to eat wax and you're going to LOVE IT.

To make one batch (72) of buckeyes, you will need:

• 1/2 lb butter, softened
  
• 1 lb peanut butter
• 1 1/2 lb powdered sugar
• 1/2 cake paraffin wax
• 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (MUST be semi-sweet)
• Buttload of toothpicks
• Waxed paper
  

You can not make buckeye dough by hand. You need a stand mixer or a hand mixer. Put softened butter in your stand mixer and beat until fluffy. Add in peanut butter and combine, scraping a couple of times.

PUT YOUR DUST GUARD ON YOUR STAND MIXER. Trust me on this one. Let's just say it was a good thing Jon was not in town when I learned this lesson.

Slowly pour powdered sugar into peanut butter/butter mix until it forms a relatively stiff dough. If you don't put in enough powdered sugar, the dough will stick to your hands. It is better to err on the side of too much powdered sugar. Take out a little piece and try to make a ball. Are your hands a peanut buttery mess? Then add more powdered sugar.

If you taste the dough at this point, it will be too sugary sweet. That is why you need to use semi-sweet chocolate chips.

HOW TO MASS PRODUCE BUCKEYES

Here's where you will love me for providing instructions! To make evenly-sized balls, I use my cookie scoop to scoop out balls onto cookie sheets. After you've scooped all the balls, roll them with your hands into nice balls.



Once all your balls are formed, pop them in the fridge for an hour or more. These can be made hours or days ahead of time! If you're planning to make a double (or triple or more) batch, this would be the time to make more buckeyes.

Because... a double batch will not fit in a stand mixer. TRUST ME ON THIS. This is another awesome lesson I learned through experience.

Once they're chilled, you're ready to dip them in the chocolate. First chop up your wax into smaller chunks. Melt the wax in a double boiler. (Don't have a double boiler? Then put a bowl over a pot of simmering water.) After the wax is totally melted, stir in chocolate chips and melt. Once everything is melted, turn off your double boiler.

I save time by sticking toothpicks into every single buckeye, then dipping them into the chocolate:




Hold the buckeye over the pan for a little bit to let any chocolate drip off. Line up buckeyes ON WAXED PAPER on your counter. After finishing them all, take out the toothpicks.



Since these contain butter, they need to be stored in the fridge. The beauty of using wax with the chocolate is they firm up quickly. By the time you are done dipping them, you can put them in tupperware in your fridge! If stacking them in multiple layers, use waxed paper in between. (I cut up the wax paper I used for staging them.)

I like to let mine come to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving them as the peanut butter and chocolate melt in your mouth.

I know Smitten Kitchen made a fancy version with crushed graham crackers and dark chocolate and cream cheese but seriously? Some things are perfection in their unhealthy (and delicious) state.

If you would like to know how I gain my 5 pounds every December, it is buckeyes for breakfast, buckeyes for snacks and buckeyes for dessert. And every year, it is SO WORTH IT!