Recipe: Peanut Butter Buckeyes Cookies Dipped in Chocolate

From Denny: Since I've learned so many of my readers enjoy peanut butter with their chocolate I'm working on loading this blog with lots of yummy recipes to satisfy that craving! :) Here's another winner from the Jif site (my favorite commercial peanut butter).

Warning: These super sweet cookies can be addicting! :)

Buckeyes Cookies

Prep Time: 30 min

Yield: 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Smucker's® Creamy Natural Peanut Butter, stirred OR Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar

• 1 (12 oz.) package (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 2 tablespoons Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening


Directions:

1. COMBINE peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on LOW until blended. Add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating until blended. Beat in additional powdered sugar until mixture, when shaped into a ball, will stay on a toothpick. Shape into 1-inch balls. Refrigerate.

2. PLACE chocolate chips and shortening in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on MEDIUM for 30 seconds. Stir. Repeat until mixture is smooth. Reheat as needed while coating peanut butter balls.

3. INSERT toothpick in peanut butter ball. Dip 3/4 of ball into chocolate, leaving top uncovered to resemble a buckeye. Remove excess. Place on wax paper-lined tray. Remove toothpick. Smooth over holes. Refrigerate until firm.

Recipe: Gertie's Loving Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookies

From Denny: These little lovelies are great for a make and take event or after school snacks. Awww, come on, so what if the kids are grown up or you don't even have kids, make them anyway and indulge with a tall glass of milk or a cup of steaming hot coffee or tea. They are worth every bite! :)

There is a sweet story that goes along with these cookies from the family of the lady who made them: Harvey Hittner of Decatur, who said his mother, Gertrude, "put love in her cookies, " including this peanut butter variety. "My mother was known all over New York as the greatest cookie maker, " he said. Just before she died, she had baked her peanut butter cookies. "We put a batch in the freezer and ate them sparingly over the next year. Every time we tasted one, we felt Mom smiling down on us."

From: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Hands on time: 20 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Serves: 45

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter, room temperature

1 cup chunky or crunchy peanut butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

About 45 jumbo semisweet chocolate morsels

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the margarine, peanut butter and sugar until very light. Add the egg and beat well. Add the flour and baking soda and beat just to combine. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and place 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Gently flatten each ball with the tines of a fork pressed in one direction and then across at 90 degrees to make a checkered pattern. Place one chocolate chip in the middle of each cookie.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are golden on the edges (not browned).

Notes:

These cookies freeze extremely well. Bake a double batch and store some in your freezer for whenever you want to share a little love.

Nutrition:

Per cookie: 101 calories (percent of calories from fat, 54), 2 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 6 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 6 milligrams cholesterol, 71 milligrams sodium.