Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Balls

These little confections always have a place among my family's Christmas festivities.  The silky, rich chocolate coats the slightly crunchy peanut butter ball, epitomizing a classic flavor combination. 

Not only are these treats delicious, albeit quite addictive, but they are incredibly simple to whip up.  

The simplicity of the recipe allows children and grown-ups to enjoy reaching into the mixing bowl together, which is exactly how my sister and I learned this recipe.  Some children will enjoy the messy job of working the peanut butter into the dry ingredients (my sister) and other children will enjoy shaping each peanut butter ball to uniform sizes (me).

With a couple of these chocolate-dipped peanut butter balls, a steaming cup of hot cocoa, and a toasty fire, you will be ready to snuggle in for a long winter's night.

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients

1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 cup graham crackers, finely ground (homemade version here)

1 cup creamy peanut butter

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preparation Instructions

In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix confectioner's sugar and ground graham crackers together on low speed. Add peanut butter and mix on low speed until combined and a dough-like mixture forms. [Note: if mixing by hand, mix peanut butter into dry ingredients with your hands.]

With small ice cream scoop, form dough into rounds.

Melt chocolate in double boiler over low heat. When chocolate is completely melted, dip peanut butter balls halfway in chocolate. When evenly coated, scrape bottom on side of bowl and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining balls. Chill until chocolate is set.

If not serving immediately, transfer to airtight container and keep refrigerated.