These no bake Peanut Butter Balls are a delicious staple for the holidays and can be made in 20 minutes and are kid friendly. Whip these up early in the month and cut down on your baking stress.
If you’re going to be baking up some sweets for holiday gatherings, these treats are perfect! This no-bake recipe is loaded with peanut butter and chocolate AND you can make them all at once ahead of time. So it’s also a time saver…a win on all levels.
As mentioned above, these are excellent to make with the kiddos during the holidays (make sure to make the Chocolate Strawberry Christmas Trees too!) when they have more energy than you do 😀. Stage them at the table and give them the ingredients to start practicing measuring, stirring and forming the balls. You can melt the chocolate at the stove (unless your kiddos are a little older) but they can do everything else. Make some great memories!
🥜 Ingredients
Creamy Peanut Butter – This is the star of the recipe right here. You will want to steer towards a Jif brand or the like and not use the natural brands as you will have a harder time forming the balls.
Butter, Softened at Room Temperature – I point out the room temperature specifically because it does take an hour or two to get it to room temperature so you need to plan just a tiny bit for this recipe.
Powdered Sugar – This is the fine sugar that goes everywhere when you touch it in the kitchen but isn’t grainy when you eat it.
Rice Krispies Cereal – This is what is going to give you a little bit of crunch. Don’t leave it out, as the texture is a really nice addition.
Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips – This is the outside coating of your peanut butter balls. Melt it with a little bit of shortening so you can dip the peanut butter balls in it.
🍽️ Instructions
These are so easy to make that even your kids will love helping.
Step One: Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
Step Two: In a large mixing bowl, mix the peanut butter and softened butter together. Add powdered sugar and stir well to blend completely.
Step Three: Add cereal and mix until well incorporated. Cover and chill for 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and roll into two inch balls. Transfer to lined baking sheet.
Step Four: In a double boiler, melt the shortening. Add chocolate chips and stir until smooth and melted.
Step Five: Transfer the melted chocolate into a smaller bowl for easier handling. Then, dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate, using a spoon to help coat it evenly. Place the coated PB balls on the lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with your choice of holiday sprinkles before the chocolate coating hardens to jazz them up!
Store chilled in an airtight container for up to four weeks.
📝 Expert Tips
Use a double boiler to melt the chocolate so it doesn’t burn. This is a low and slow process where you have a little bit of water in the bottom of a pan and place a bowl that is LARGER than the pan ON TOP of the pan. Add the chocolate and shortening. The gentle heat from the hot water will slowly melt your chocolate so it doesn’t burn. Don’t have bowl touch the water.
Replace the chocolate and shortening with CandiQuick from the grocery store. I like to add just a couple block of the CandiQuick at a time and heat in the microwave for 15 second intervals and stir. The heat from the side of the glass cup when you stir helps melt it as well. DON’T OVERHEAT. I use a little at a time as it will harden on you and it can be messier to remelt again.
The microwave/CandiQuick technique works great for impatient people (like me) as long as you just do a little at a time. I say that a couple times because of years of frustration when I would try to heat up a ton and then the results were gloppy.
❓ Recipe FAQ
Add a little bit more oil/shortening to it and stir. It will thin out enough to be able to dip.
Use canola or vegetable oil. Sometimes people use a little bit of cream as well.
It sounds like your chocolate may have “seized.” When chocolate does that, it has come in contact with water or it has been overheated.
The chocolate at this point is gritty and lumpy. It sounds wacky but one of the techniques to try to fix it is to add a little big of shortening and stir quickly to get it all incorporated.
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Christmas Peanut Butter Balls Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Creamy Peanut Butter
- ¾ cup Butter softened at room temperature
- 3½ cups Powdered Sugar
- 3 cups Rice Krispies Cereal
- 12 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 tbsp Solid Shortening
- Holiday Sprinkles in Colors of Your Choice optional
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, mix the peanut butter and softened butter together. Add powdered sugar and stir well to blend completely.
- Add cereal and mix until well incorporated. Cover and chill for 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and roll into 2 inch balls. Transfer to lined baking sheet.
- In a double boiler, melt shortening. Add chocolate chips and stir until smooth and melted.
- Transfer melted chocolate into a smaller bowl for easier handling. Then dip the peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate, using a spoon to help coat evenly. Place the coated PB balls on the lined baking sheet. And if you’d like to, sprinkle with your choice of holiday sprinkles before the chocolate coating hardens to jazz them up!
- Store chilled in an airtight container for up to four weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
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