Wanna know a secret?
My mom totally burned me out on buckeyes when I was a kid. She made them every Christmas for years — so many that I eventually made myself sick from eating peanut butter balls, stealing spoonfuls of melted chocolate, and hiding the finished treats in Tupperware out in the garage.
You can imagine how thrilled she was when, on the rare occasion she needed last-minute cookie trays, she opened those containers to find only crumbs. I definitely earned coal and a treadmill in my stocking every year.
But I hadn’t wanted a buckeye in about 15 years. Still, you know how I feel about peanut butter and chocolate—they’re irresistible together.
Good news: these aren’t traditional buckeyes. Or maybe they are, but with a twist. They have a doughier texture and a major crispy crunch thanks to crisped rice cereal mixed into the filling. I found this recipe on a faded scrap of paper among some of my old favorites and decided to try it. Thank goodness I did.
These are soft and doughy inside with plenty of crisp throughout. Basically, they’re peanut butter balls upgraded with crunchy bits and dipped in chocolate. They take cookie dough truffles up a notch and give buckeyes a crunchy makeover. I made them for my brother’s birthday, but we ate them all before we could deliver them—typical.
Crispy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles
Yield: 50 to 60 balls (if teaspoon-sized)
Ingredients
- 2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup crisped rice cereal
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and butter until smooth and creamy. With the mixer on low, gradually add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Increase the speed once the mixture starts to come together. You should have a cookie-dough-like consistency; if your peanut butter is very smooth and sticky, add 1–2 tablespoons more powdered sugar at a time until the texture is right.
- Using a spatula, gently fold in the crisped rice cereal so it distributes evenly. Be careful not to crush all the cereal—leave as much crisp as possible. If you like extra crunch, add a bit more cereal.
- Roll the dough into balls about a teaspoon-size (mine were slightly more than a teaspoon) and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Some balls might look crumbly or have little cereal bits sticking out; just roll them as smooth as you can, squeezing gently if needed.
- Refrigerate the balls for 60–90 minutes to firm up. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between, or use a double boiler. Dip each peanut butter ball into the melted chocolate, return to the parchment, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. Store the truffles in the refrigerator.
- Optional: For a peanut butter drizzle, melt 1/2 cup peanut butter chips and drizzle with a spoon over the chilled truffles.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
You will want one. Or ten.