Peanut Butter Balls

The other day, my husband was at the grocery store picking a few things up on his way home.
When he called me from the store, he mentioned something about doughnut gems... I countered with Oreos...
We talked a couple of times during this shopping trip, and last I remembered, we were at mint cookies.

When he got home, there were no cookies or doughnuts to be found. Instead, there was a huge bag of dark chocolate chips form the bulk section and a huge jar of all natural peanut butter. He figured he would get those, and I could come up with something to make.

Well, I did!

Peanut Butter Balls! Yum!
Now, I've made them before. Both in the form of balls and in the form of squares. I've made both the kind with crushed graham crackers and the kind without. I was never really excited about how they turned out with the natural peanut butter, but I had a few ideas this time.

First, I added a little more powdered sugar than I had last time. Then, I upped the fat (butter... margarine) a bit. For the last step, I was excited to use my coconut oil in the coating!

Here's what I did:

Cream together natural peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter.

Divide the mixture into 4 parts. Roll each part into

a "snake" (come on... you remember doing this with play-doh)
cut into 1 inch pieces.

Roll the pieces into balls and pop them in the fridge for about a half an hour,

or you can put them in the freezer for 15 minutes. ;-)

I don't have a pic of the next part. Sorry! But you make a coating with chocolate chips and coconut oil, then dip the peanut butter balls. Return them to the fridge until set.

Lastly, TRY to share.

Peanut Butter Balls
Makes 3 dozen small-ish balls or 1 1/2 dozen large ones.
What You Need:
generous 1/2 cup all natural peanut butter
generous 1/2 cup powdered sugar
generous 2 TB softened butter or margarine (I used Smart Balance)

1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips (you can use milk chocolate, if you prefer)
3 tsp. coconut oil (you can use shortening or vegetable oil if you don't have coconut oil)

What You Do:

1. Cream together the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter or margarine in a medium sized bow.
2. Shape into balls (see the easy way, above).
3. Refrigerate the balls for about 30 minutes.
4. Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together on a double boiler or in the microwave. Be careful not to burn.
5. Dip balls in chocolate, then refrigerate until set.

I store mine in the fridge because it is hot... and they are really yummy cold!Enjoy!