Buckeye Bark
If you're like me, you love that peanut buttery chocolate goodness of a homemade buckeye melting in your mouth. There is nothing like it. But the process is a pain. Rolling all those perfect little balls and then trying to dip them without leaving a hole or smudging the chocolate? Nearly impossible.
My mom usually makes a white chocolate peppermint bark, but decided not to this year. This got me thinking, why not do this with chocolate and peanut butter? I searched around and other people have thought of and used this idea before, I wasn't exactly re-inventing the wheel.
Ingredients:
16 oz jar crunchy PB (you can use creamy if you like, I use the crunchy and added a little bit of creamy to it)
2.5 lbs of dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tsp vanilla
1 lb powdered sugar
6 TBS melted butter
Veggie or canola oil
Lay parchment paper out on a flat cookie sheet. Combine half of the chocolate chips and about 1TBSP veggie or canola oil. Melt the chocolate in your preferred manner (microwave, double boiler, stove top, whatever) Just be sure that there is no water in the bowl or the chocolate as this will cause your chocolate to chunk up and just be a mess. Spread the melted chocolate evenly (about 1/4" thick, don't let it get too thin, but also remember you have two more layers!) Put this in the freezer to set up.
In a food processor mix together your peanut butter, melted butter, and vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar until the peanut butter dough is a consistency you like. I use less powdered sugar than in the buckeye balls because you don't have to form it, and you need to be able to spread it. Spread evenly over frozen chocolate layer and return to freezer.
Melt the remaining chocolate (combine with 1TBSP veggie or canola oil). Pour over frozen layers and spread evenly. Return to freezer. Allow this to set for 2 hours. Break bark into bite size pieces. I had to score mine with a large knife prior to breaking it. Store in a cool place (we put all our cookies in a shelf in the garage during the winter, but we live in OHIO where its cold), can also be frozen or stored in a air tight container in the fridge. Enjoy!
