Vegan buckeyes

These puppies are awesome. Super simple, quick to make and definite crowd-pleaser. I made 36 of these for a party last night and every single one of them disappeared. There are variations of this recipe that have rice crispies in them, but I opted for a smooth peanut butter center vs. crunchy.

I modified this well-reviewed recipe to make it vegan. The only non-vegan ingredient was butter, so I replaced butter with Earth Balance.

Vegan Buckeyes
Makes 36 small buckeyes or about 24 large buckeyes

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup Earth Balance, softened (about 15 seconds in the microwave with soften a stick perfectly)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioner's sugar
8 oz of bakers semi-sweet chocolate squares

1. In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, Earth Balance, vanilla and confectioners' sugar. The dough will look dry. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet or large plate.
2. Chill balls in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes (or less, check on them). 
3. Melt baker's chocolate in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl for about 1 min 30 sec (check on it every 10 secs)
4. Let the chocolate cool for about 1-2 minutes. Dip frozen peanut butter balls into the chocolate. I like to completely cover the buckeye, but you can make them look traditional by only dipping a portion of them in the chocolate. Put the chocolate-coated buckeyes back on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet or large plate and refrigerate until serving.

5 ingredients

 What the dough will look like before you form into 1 inch balls

  Buckeyes ready for the freezer

 Buckeyes ready for the freezer

 Chocolate-covered buckeyes

 Finished buckeyes