Two love affairs: peanut butter & recycling

I am obsessed with peanut butter.  Buckeyes are simple, delicious and you can not eat just one, end of story!

Ohio put them on the map by dipping them to resemble the nut from a buckeye tree.

Handmade candies for Easter baskets!





Buckeyes
1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (smooth, but you can use chunky if you are looking for more texture)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (from about 14 graham crackers)
Salt, pinch
3 cups confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks or 5 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
12 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped

Make the filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter together until combined. Add the graham cracker crumbs and beat for 10 seconds. Add the sugar and butter, and mix on the lowest speed until it stops floating off everywhere, then increase the speed until the ingredients are combined. Scrape down the whole bowl well, then mix again. The mixture will be quite sturdy and a little dry — perfect for shaping. Set it aside while you prepare the coating.

Make the coating: Melt the chocolate either over a double boiler, stirring until it is completely smooth or in a microwave in 30 then 10 second increments, stirring before you start it again until it is completely smooth. Let it cool to tepid (about 100 degrees)

Assemble the candies: Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Scoop out slightly more than one tablespoon’s worth of filling  and use your hands to form it into a ball. Place the ball on the prepared sheet and repeat the process until all of the candies have been shaped. They can sit close to each other but make sure they are not touching

Using a fork or large skewer, dip each ball into the chocolate and roll it about so that almost the entire candy is coating, leaving a small circle uncoated. Play around with a few practice pieces and don't worry if they aren't perfect because they are still yummy.

Let them set up and they are good to go. They can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a week, if they last that long.

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Recycling is so important but reusing is even better. I have a blast thinking up ways to use things differently instead of just throwing everything away.

Aluminum cans make adorable flowers pots. Wine bottles are great flower bed dividers, the bottles are from my last job I couldn't drink all that wine! We replaced all of our widows and I made small greenhouses out of them. Bike baskets are perfect window boxes.

Create something!

Cowbell's soups for the weekend:

local roasted winter squash and apple
local sausage & beef 3 bean chili

See you at the kitchen!
Cheryl