'Tis the season, by which I mean the end of Fall semester, and consequently time for ritual bribery. Which is to say I make baked goods and take them to various departments on campus, partly in thanks for all the help I've received, and partly in thanks for all the help I'll no doubt need in the future. Plus, for all my (considerable) cynicism, I really do enjoy baking for large quantities of people, and it pleases me to hear from a few dozen people how much they loved whatever I made that year.
At any rate, this year I decided cookies were passé, and I was going to make candy. Mostly because I wanted an excuse to make buckeyes. So I started with this recipe, doubled it, and then kind of made it up as I went along. I agonized over my peanut butter choices for a while, because I had this strange urge to use the all-natural kind. (The hippiness of this town is getting to me, I think.) I came to my senses while staring at the shelves, though: This is candy. It's not supposed to be healthy. So I bought a giant tub of Peter Pan. Your mileage may vary.
Also, you'll note below that I tell you to use Rice Krispies or their ilk. I can't give you a measurement because I just kind of poured them in until I liked how it looked. Also, I had significantly less left in the box than I thought I did. So I supplemented with Cocoa Pebbles. Don't judge me! The result is awesome.
Anyway, while doing the chocolate dip, I encountered a weird issue. I don't have a double boiler, so I was using a medium saucepan floating in a giant pot. This works fine in the short term, but as it turns out, it isn't good for extended dipping. Let me explain: As I got in to the second cookie sheet of buckeyes, I noticed that the chocolate was getting oddly gritty. Not unpleasant, but it was solidifying in little chunks in the pan. So I idly wondered how to thin it out. I didn't want to add more shortening because that just seemed excessive, and I flashed back to my family's cake. "Well," I thought, "if I mix chocolate in with water there ... let's try it!" So I splashed just a tiny little bit of water into the chocolate.
Whoops. Chemistry fail. So the chocolate immediately seized, and I went a-Googlin', only to find that I'd done something pretty stupid. No big deal, but lesson learned, certainly.
Once I made a new batch to dip the rest, I had a fair amount left over, so I mixed in a half-bag of butterscotch chips that I keep around for pancakes, and then poured in a bunch of Rice Chex. The result is messy but tasty.
Oh! And seriously! Parchment paper is the most awesome thing for cooking ever! I cannot believe I've been living without this for years! Why wasn't I told?!
Anyway, on to the recipe:
Candy center
1 stick softened butter
~20 oz creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
~1 lb. confectioners' sugar
1-2 cups? of Rice Krispies or the like
Cream butter, peanut butter, and vanilla.
Add sugar until you like the consistency.
Add some sort of crisp rice cereal until you like the looks of that, too.
Roll into 1/2 inch balls, place on cookie tray lined with parchment paper. I say 1/2 inch because I always wind up making things bigger than I mean to and these work way better when they're roughly bite-sized.
Chill. My fridge is weird but they were in overnight and that seemed to work fine.
Candy coating
2 cups (1 pkg) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp shortening
Mix in double boiler. Insert toothpick into peanut butter ball. Dip, cover about 3/4 of candy. Put back on tray. Put back in fridge. Enjoy.
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