Classic Buckeyes

How to Make Classic Buckeyes

While peanut butter buckeyes are impressive to look at and even better to eat, you’ll see how easy they are to make with our step-by-step recipe. Follow the recipe for the specifics, so your classic buckeyes will turn out perfect, but here are the basics.

Make the Filling

Mix the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until powdered sugar is no longer visible and mixture is well blended.

Form the Balls

Form the filling into 1-inch balls by pinching off small pieces of dough with your fingers or portioning out with a small cookie scoop and rolling between the palms of your hands. Stick a toothpick into each ball and freeze about 30 minutes until firm.

Dip the Candy

Melt chocolate chips with vegetable shortening in the microwave on HIGH for 60 to 90 seconds and stir until smooth. (Check out our article for additional tips and methods for melting chocolate chips.) Dip the balls into the mixture, leaving a small portion of the peanut butter filling showing at the top. Chill on sheet pan for at least 15 minutes before serving.

How to Store Buckeyes

After preparing our classic peanut butter buckeyes recipe, it's important to store them properly to maintain freshness and quality. They can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container by placing the candies in a single layer, separating each layer with waxed paper to prevent them from sticking together. Store in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks. When you’re ready to serve your classic buckeyes, place on a serving plate, and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. You can also freeze peanut butter buckeyes in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Allow to thaw at room temperature before serving.

More Candy Recipes

Now that you’ve made your first batch of our classic buckeyes and mastered the art of candy making, you might be interested in expanding your chocolate horizons with a few of our other candy recipes.

Chocolate Truffles are a great choice if you want to stick with the dipped chocolate treat theme. We can’t recommend this recipe enough. With a creamy chocolate filling, you can decorate these beauties with drizzled white chocolate, chopped nuts, sprinkles, or whatever looks good to you.

Chex Mix® White Chocolate Bark is a sweet treat you pull together quickly and nibble on to your hearts content.

Buckeye Fudge is another east way to get your peanut butter chocolate buckeye fix. Peanut butter chips, peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk, and peanuts are blended together and pressed into a 9-inch baking pan to make a peanut butter fudge layer. Rich chocolate ganache is then poured over the top. Delicious!