I love chocolate and find that these chocolate butter and peanut butter candies are perfect when the cravings hit. I make them tiny so as not to overdo the indulgence and they are so rich a little bit goes a long way. I love the Ghiradelli brand for chocolate or another favorite from Costco is the Caco chocolate chips that are yummy. No baking in this recipe. Mix, melt the chocolate and allow to set. This recipe is my fastest and takes about 15 minutes to mix and then the dipping fun begins.

¼ cup of butter

1 ½ cups of peanut butter

3 cups of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2-4 T. of water

2 cups of chocolate chips to melt

Cream the butter and peanut butter together until well blended. Add the vanilla extract and the powdered sugar. Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time. Check the dough. I’ve made these before and we added too much powdered sugar too fast. You can sift the powder sugar to get the lumps out and that will help in the yumminess of your cookies, as well as cut down the mixing time. If you have a Cuisinart mixer – like I do, the mixing takes care of itself with the big dough hooks. This dough should be fairly stiff but not dry. It should roll into a ball immediately, however you may wish to refrigerate or freeze the dough in order to keep it fresh.

When ready – roll into tiny balls – about ½ teaspoon each. You can use a larger spoonful if you wish to have more than bite-size balls. Place on a cookie sheet that has wax or parchment paper. Place into the frig until they are cold. Approximately one hour. I’ve rolled frozen balls before, however you have to work fast or the hot chocolate will set too fast and you won’t have that nice chocolate sheen.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the easy way, in a glass pyrex measuring cup (4-cup size or larger works well here) in 30 second intervals that you stir with a fork, until the chocolate is melted. Once completely melted, take the chocolate out, and be sure all the chips are melted.

I have dipping chocolate down to a science and it is easy, if done correctly. Here is my trick. (Two people make this go faster) – one person drops the cold peanut butter balls into the chocolate and taking two forks, I roll them around and roll them up the side of the glass container until to the top and easily scoop it out and place it on the wax paper. No fork marks! If you are doing this yourself, just take your time. If you need to reheat the chocolate in-between (if you live in a colder climate this may be necessary), do it. Otherwise your coating will be lumpy.

These can be frozen once coated but they are not as good. It is better to roll them all out, freeze them and then allow them to thaw in the frig until you are ready to roll them. Or, make your dough in November (and make lots! Because they are a great treat no matter when you eat them), and pull out batches of dough to defrost when you want to make these.

*Healthier alternative:

Use organic peanut butter

Add Flax Seed: Grind up flax seed until it is very fine. You can add up to 4 tablespoons of ground flax but you may need to reduce the amount of powdered sugar.

Add Chia Seeds: Either grind or leave whole. This is a great source of Omega 3

In case you didn’t know, I love my mixer! This is very similar to mine, except mine is white.