Peanut Butter Balls

Peanut Butter Balls are a simple, no bake treat perfect for any time of year! Keep them simple or dress them up with festive sprinkles or a drizzle of chocolate!

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Call me crazy, but I’m gonna say it: I don’t love typical peanut butter balls or buckeyes. They tend to be really dense and too rich. However….(bear with me!), this recipe is one that I love!!! They’re not super dense (thanks to the marshmallow fluff) and have great peanut butter flavor and take just a few simple ingredients.

I hope you love these easy peanut butter balls as much as I do. These are a family favorite, especially during the holiday season!

What’s the difference between Peanut Butter Balls and Buckeyes?

The biggest difference is in their appearance. Buckeye balls aren’t coated completely in chocolate (to mock the appearance of the nut of the buckeye tree). Peanut Butter Balls typically have a full coating of chocolate.

What are Peanut Butter Balls made of?

• Peanut Butter – You can use creamy peanut butter OR crunchy peanut butter. It just depends what texture you’re going for! I would, however, recommend against using natural peanut butter as the texture will be different.
• Cream Cheese
• Vanilla Extract
• Marshmallow Cream – Also known as marshmallow fluff.
• Powdered Sugar
• Coating Chocolate – I prefer milk or dark chocolate but you could opt for white chocolate instead (it’s too sweet for me!).

How to Make Peanut Butter Balls

First, you’ll want to make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature so it combines nice with the peanut butter. In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese and peanut butter. Next, add the vanilla, marshmallow cream and powdered sugar.

Stir until combined, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl at least once. If the mixture seems really sticky, add a little more powdered sugar or until it’s a nice texture for shaping into balls.

Scoop the peanut butter mixture into one inch balls. My favorite way to do this is with a small cookie scoop – it’s easy and ensures that they’ll all be the same size.

Place the balls on a wax paper or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. You can go ahead and coat these in chocolate right away, but I find that it’s easier after letting them chill in the fridge or freezer for 30-60 minutes.

Now it’s time to make the melted chocolate. Follow the instructions on the chocolate coating package. Submerge the peanut butter balls into the chocolate and remove it with a fork. Let the excess chocolate drip off the peanut butter mixture and place back on the lined baking sheet.

Once the chocolate is set up, place the balls into an airtight container or right onto a beautiful holiday cookie tray!

What’s the best way to coat truffles and make them smooth?

I’ve tried several different methods of dipping truffles to make the chocolate smooth. Though I wish I could tell you there’s tool or trick to making them perfect, I’m afraid that’s just not the case. However, I do have some tips that’ll hopefully help out!

• First off, use coating chocolate rather than chocolate chips. Coating chocolate is simply made for this purpose, therefore its texture will give you a better, smooth textured result. My favorite to use is Ghirardelli coating chocolate if you can find it! I also like mixing a little bit of vegetable shortening (or coconut oil) in with my candy coating to make it a little easier to dip.
• Next, how you melt the chocolate is extremely important. I’ve learned that if you heat it up too quickly (ie in the microwave on full power), some of the chocolate will burn and it’ll clump up. Therefore you need to melt the chocolate on 50% power in the microwave OR in a double boiler on the stove.
• Don’t melt a ton of chocolate at a time, because as it cools, it’ll begin to thicken. I like to melt a few squares of almond bark at a time, then add more when needed. I’ve found that when I use a lot, it gets hard by the time I’m done so they don’t look near as pretty toward the end. 
• Move quickly! Take your time, but be ready to go when the chocolate is melted. No messin’ around once the chocolate is ready or it’ll start to firm up!!
• I like to use a fork to dunk the truffles. There are other tools out there, but I’ve found that a fork works just as well.
• I toss the truffle into the chocolate and then use the fork to make sure it’s fully enrobed in chocolate. Then I quickly scoop it out with the fork and tap it so some of the excess chocolate comes off, then carefully let it slide onto waxed paper.
• Practice makes….perfect? Well, not always, but it helps!
• And lastly, don’t worry if they don’t look perfect. They’re still going to taste delicious! 😉

Other Delicious Truffle Recipes

Monster Cookie Dough Truffles – If you love the taste of cookie dough, these little morsels are for you!! With peanut butter, M&M’s, chocolate chips and oats, these no-bake Monster Cookie Dough Truffles always hit the spot!

Cookie Dough Truffles – These no-bake goodies are chocolate chip cookie dough with chocolate coating, making them the best holiday goodies….ok, any time of the year!

Funfetti Truffles – These have the flavor of a funfetti cake, but in a bite-sized truffle! With just four ingredients, they’re super easy to make and different sprinkles can used to fit the occasion!

Salted Caramel Brownie Bites – A soft and fudgy brownie surrounds a smooth caramel then has a chocolate coating and a sprinkling of sea salt. These yummy bites really are the most delicious little morsel!

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