Hi friends! The last few weeks have been maddeningly busy. We’ve done a lot of work on our house and property, camped, traveled, been visited, and had animal crises. I hope I have a chance in the next couple of weeks to settle back into a regular blogging routine. With all the fresh produce hitting the markets, I have so many delicious recipes to share with you. Until then, please enjoy this short but sweet (har har. I crack me up.) recipe. And the sweet quick giveaway at the end. Read on!
Peanut butter + Chocolate= Bliss
I cannot think of a combination that makes me happier. There’s just something about the salt and the sweet and the creamy and the crunchy all together that makes my heart go pitter pat. And making Peanut Butter Balls is one of my favorite ways to get that peanut butter and chocolate fix. Chocolate chips, peanut butter, condensed milk and confectioner’s sugar all in one happy little portable package? It’s like an inside-out Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Oh baby. Since it’s made with peanut butter it’s healthy, right? (Don’t you DARE tell me it’s not healthy. Please don’t mess with my happy thoughts…) Even better, these little babies don’t melt in your hands!
This is one of the foods that we take camping with us every single time without fail. It just wouldn’t be a family camping trip for us without the ubiquitous Peanut Butter Balls. They are the perfect camping snack fare since they are high-protein and easily transportable. It’s not just camp food, though. It makes the perfect summer snack, too, since it requires zero cooking, and can be safely transported without a cooler.
Make these. Today. And then make another batch to fill the bowl since you hid in the broom closet so you could eat the entire first batch by yourself. No. Wait. That was me. Sorry.
For a photo-free, printer friendly version of this recipe, click here!
Peanut Butter Balls
For a healthier version of the recipe, use the honey and non-fat instant dry milk.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup creamy or crunchy style peanut butter (I prefer all-natural peanut butter)
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk or honey
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar or non-fat instant dry milk
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Add all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Stir well until evenly combined. At first you might think it’ll never come together…
Just when you’ve decided that you measured wrong, (“I mean, really, how am I supposed to roll THIS stuff?”) it’ll come together and look like this!
Do you have a disher laying around? (In other words, a scoop.)
Is this crucial to the recipe? Certainly not, but it definitely makes the process go a little quicker. If you don’t have one you can just scoop up portions of the peanut butter mix with a serving spoon. No harm, no foul!
Scoop a teaspoon of the mixture into the palm of your hand. Use both hands to roll lightly until it forms a ball. Set onto a plate or into a container.
Repeat with the remaining peanut butter mixture until you have used it all.
Store uneaten peanut butter balls in a tightly lidded container in the refrigerator. Can be left out at room temperature for several hours without problems! Like they’ll last that long…
But wait! I mentioned a giveaway, right? I love my disher. I use it all the time. It scoops cookie dough, meatballs, peanut butter balls (washed between each use, of course) and anything else I can think of that I want in adorable little scoops. I love it dearly. And I want you to have one if you don’t already. So just because I’m feeling full of beans today and also because my birthday is this week I’m giving away a small scoop disher like the one I used above. Specifically, this one:
Do you want it? Here’s what you do. Just leave a comment below. Tell me what you’d make using one of these. If you wouldn’t use it but would give it as a gift, let me know that, too. Or if you have no idea what you’d use it for just say something silly. Preferably in the form of a haiku. Because after Peanut Butter Balls and dishers, haikus are my favorite.
Da Rules and Da Info:
- Please have a continental U.S. shipping address handy. I can’t ship this to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada or Mexico. Sorry to my far away and/or cross-border friends.
- Please don’t be my relative if you enter. (Well, shoot, if you want to join the family we’ll welcome you. We just won’t give you a disher. Or maybe we will… Just not ’til Christmas.)
- You can comment as often as you like, but there will only be one entry per person. I mean it.
- Contest is open until Wednesday, 12 EST.
- This is a contest sponsored by yours truly. No corporations were exploited, harmed or otherwise injured in the course of this contest.
Why, I would make those peanut butter balls with that handy gagdet!
Can’t wait to make the recipe!
I just made the peanut butter balls
It took me about 10 mintues to make, roll, eat two peanut butter balls and lick the bowl clean! I’ll be bringing the rest (if they make it) to a bbq tonight. Thanks!
Aside from peanut butter balls, I would use the scoop for cake balls, melon balls and peanut butter cookies!
Peanut Butter Balls
Scooped up with a divine tool
Feed the hungry horde
OK, it’s a bad haiku, but possibly a divine tool. With that disher, I would make more White Chocolate Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies for my family. And melon balls. And these peanut butter balls, of course!
Love your column in the R-E! It’s a must-read! (Why has it taken me so long to find your blog?)
I had one once and it broke, but I used it for everything, cookies, mini cupcakes, melon balls. I love these cookies too!
I would make mini dessert shots – could do super-small scoops of ice cream and squirt in whatever sauce I had on hand! I love this site – lots of fun. I’m a yooper too so the Michigan references are always fun too!
I love my dishers too! I have three.
(So don’t enter me into the contest.) Hmm. If I make these for my girls, I might just replace the chips with mini chips – better chocolate distribution ya know.
I would make mini dessert shots with super-small scoops of ice cream in shot glasses with a drizzle of whatever sauce I had on hand! I love this site btw!
I would almost certainly make these peanut butter balls!
A disher? Never knew what it was called. I would use it for uniformity in drop cookies. Thanks for a sweet giveaway.
This sounds wonderful! I will definitely try it with honey and powdered sugar today.
I think I have the only kid on the planet that doesn’t like peanut butter. If I didn’t actually experience the birthing process, I would say she was adopted.
Paul and I, however, would like a batch of these, pleeaassse.
A friend of mine (very health conscious) made these for my son last spring and I had been searching for a recipe since. All the ones I’ve found have been super high in sugar but your recipe seems to be healthier than any others I’ve found. Thanks for posting it. Also, I wanted to mention that I ended up on your blog by way of Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen. I saw one of your comments where you mentioned having 5 boys. Did I remember that right? Wow. I’m a mom to 3 boys. Kudos to you! Please tell me, once you’re outnumbered, does it feel the same having 3 or having 5?
Lisa- Oh. Once you make them it’s all over. Trust me. They’re addictive.
Traci- Did the rest make it to the bbq?
Vicki- Good ideas, all! It’s a fun little critter to have around.
Lori on Little Traverse Bay- That wasn’t a half bad haiku at all! And thanks not just for reading, but for coming by and commenting. I love hearing from R-E readers. You guys are fabulous!
Deanna- Agony! I don’t know how I’d do without one of these little beauties now!
Mary Bunker- What a cute idea. Must steal it now. Thank you! Long live the Yoop.
April- I think love you. Thank you for being so generous and honest.
Megan- Oh yes. But see note above to Lisa…
Marilyn- I’m nothing if I’m not educational
Ranee- They’re very good that way! They’ll still satisfy the sweet tooth!
Amy- Um. They didn’t knock you out? No switching opportunities? (I kid. For the first 3 years my kids didn’t like pizza. I panicked. Then all of a sudden they loved it. I am not questioning it. Don’t lose hope. She might spontaneously change…)
Ivanna- You remembered right. And thanks for clicking through! Were you one of those kindly souls who voted for me? And truly, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Once you’re outnumbered it just doesn’t matter how many are outnumbering you. My Aunt (who shall remain nameless unless she claims credit) once told me, “Going from zero to one kid was life changing. Going from one to two was great because the baby had someone to play with. Going from two to three I went crazy and from three on it didn’t matter anymore since I was already nuts.” She told me that when I was pregnant with my fourth.
hi, i’m 14 i’m bored, so i guess i’ll make some peanut butter balls . Bye
hi, i’m 14 i’m bored, so i guess i’ll make some peanut butter balls . Bye.
i love both peanut butter and cheeze as the filling of my morning sandwhich.’.;
I make my version of Peanut Butter balls mostly around the holidays. They are always a hit. I will try your recipe,(especially the healthier version) and will let you know how my family likes them. I would certainly use the scoop to make the peanut butter balls, because I think it would speed up the process, as well as making the balls uniform. I could also see where it would be very useful for making cookies, meatballs, and truffles.
Thank you,
Rose