Peanut Butter Balls

And now it's time for the second of the four holiday cookies I promised you. These are probably the easiest of the bunch, as they are not even baked. These have been a holiday tradition in my family for as long as I can remember, and are almost always gobbled up first among the cookies. That may also be because they're nice and bite-sized! We have used various recipes over the years, some including graham crackers, but these seem to be the best.

Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients

• For the balls:
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 cups powered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• For the topping:
• 2 cups (1 package) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups (1 package, may be slightly less than 2 cups) butterscotch chips
• Optional: 1 Tablespoon parafin wax

Cooking Directions

1. Mix together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter until well blended. You may have to get in there with your hands! After it's well blended, take small pieces and roll them into balls. Set out on parchment paper (or wax paper).
2. After those are done, mix together the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in a microwavable bowl. Heat in 1 minute increments, stirring in between each minute. As they get more melted, just do 30 second increments so you don't overdo it. The parafin wax makes the chocolate runnier if you want to dip the balls completely (which I never have any luck with!). However, I usually just take a spoon and drip some chocolate on the top of each one. You also can test out how much of all of those chips you actually need, because I always tend to have leftover chocolate. You'll need to let these sit for a while, maybe an hour or two, to let the chocolate harden. But don't worry, it won't be too hard. They will be soft and delicious!

Peanut butter balls surrounded by some of the unglazed pumpkin cookies. Note these are not the amount of  balls you would get doing the above recipe. You'd have about twice as many, depending on what size you make them. I halved it this time around.

After dousing the balls in chocolate. What to do with any leftover chocolate? I used it to cover the tops of some of the pumpkin cookies I ran out of glaze for, and was told it was delicious. You can also use the extra chocolate to make chocolate-covered pretzels or peanut clusters.

Mmmmmmmmm......

These are super easy, though not for those who don't like to get their hands a little sticky!