Home-made Chocolate Peanut-Butter Balls (aka “Homemade Reeses”)

Home-made Chocolate Peanut-Butter Balls (aka “Homemade Reeses”)
Over 27 years ago, I attended the ordination party of my friend and colleague Rabbi Paula Winnig. Before they became popular, her mom was already making these "to-die for" home-made chocolate peanut-butter balls. I had to have the recipe. She wrote it on the back of the ordination program for me. Somewhere I still have that handwritten recipe. Everyone LOVES these! My cousin will call and ask: "Can you please make just 4 for me?" (Because she's afraid she doesn't have the willpower to refrain from eating the entire batch). It's a fun recipe to make with young children: lots of squooshing and mooshing of ingredients together. I have adapted the original recipe a bit. I recommend making them at least one day in advance (everything needs time to "meld together" for optimum taste). They freeze beautifully and also taste great frozen.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Melt butter or margarine in a LARGE microwave-safe bowl (cover the top with a paper towel so it doesn't splatter). It usually takes 1 minute.
  2. Add the peanut butter, Rice Crispies, Confectioners Sugar (and if desired) peanut-butter chips to the bowl with the melted butter or margarine. (I usually wear gloves for this next part).
  3. Using your hands, smush and mush all the ingredients together until they are well mixed together. I use talcum-free latex gloves for "smooshing" everything together and rolling the mixture into the round balls.
  4. Roll the mixture into walnut-size balls and place on a plate. (It will look like the pic.) It should make about 50-60 pieces.
  5. Place the plate of peanut butter balls into the refrigerator for at least a half or one hour (or overnight) until they harden.
  6. Place the semi-sweet chocolate + approx 4 TBS canola oil (if using the Ghirardelli melting chocolate, I don't think you need the canola oil) in either the top of a double boiler with water in the bottom pot, OR in a microwave safe bowl. If in a double boiler, turn stove on medium until chocolate melts. If in microwave, melt on HIGH for 1 minute at a time, stirring well after each minute until chocolate is melted and smooth.
  7. Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil.
  8. Carefully roll each peanut butter ball in the melted chocolate until totally coated. Let the excess drip off.
  9. Place on foil-covered cookie sheet. Repeat until all of the peanut butter balls are coated in chocolate. DO NOT LET THEM TOUCH EACH OTHER ON THE COOKIE SHEET.
  10. Place in the fridge until the chocolate is totally hardened.
  11. Store finished product for a few days in the fridge or freeze for longer period of time.

Notes

Can place in individual candy liners. When freezing – can layer many layers in your freezer dish: place a single layer, with parchment paper or freezer paper or wax paper separating the layers.

One thought on “Home-made Chocolate Peanut-Butter Balls (aka “Homemade Reeses”)”

  1. This looks amazing and fairly simple to do. I have never made stuffed anything but these look simple enough to try sometime. I love how you made garlic zucchini noodles to go with the dish. That’s my favorite way to eat zucchini noodles. I use my spiralizer weekly. Definitely one of the best birthday gifts I have received.

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