These scrumptious little candies are easy to make and they disappear quickly. Filled with graham cracker, pecans, coconut, and peanut butter; after you roll them into balls, dip them in a creamy milk chocolate coating, then finish with a bit of dark chocolate on top.

Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients:

Center:

2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar

1 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 7 full graham cracker sheets)

¾ cup pecans, finely chopped

½ cup shredded or flaked sweetened coconut

½ cup unsalted butter

½ cup creamy peanut butter

Coating:

10 ounces milk chocolate

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening (optional, not used if tempering chocolate)

4 ounces dark chocolate

Tip: Use standard measuring cups and spoons or scales for accurate measuring.

Directions:

Center:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs, pecans, and coconut; mix together. Set aside.
   
   
2. In a small heavy-bottomed pan over low heat, combine butter and peanut butter; stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until melted. Add to powdered sugar mixture. Stir well to combine all ingredients.
   
   
3. Shape dough into small balls, about 1” in diameter.  Tip: A small ice cream scoop is ideal for making uniform-sized candies. Cover balls and refrigerate until well chilled, 1 to 2 hours.
   
   Coating:
4. Line 2 large baking sheets or jelly roll pans with parchment paper or wax paper.
   
   Note: It is always preferable to temper chocolate when the chocolate is used for dipping candies. In place of steps 5 and 8 below, See Tempering Chocolate – How to Temper Chocolate for information about how to temper the chocolate to be used for dipping these candies.
   
   If you don’t want to go through the steps of tempering the chocolate, the following directions are for melting chocolate (not tempering.) See Melting Chocolate – How to Melt Chocolate for additional information about melting chocolate.
   
   
5. In top of a double boiler over hot water, melt milk chocolate and shortening; stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to combine. Set aside to cool.
   

Tip: Create a double boiler by filling a saucepan with 2 inches of water and bringing it to a simmer. Turn the heat off and place a glass bowl, stainless steel bowl, or ceramic bowl on top of the hot water; the upper pan should not touch the water.

6. Place the cooled bowl of chocolate over a pan of hot water to keep the chocolate a liquid consistency for dipping.
   
   Dipping:
7. Place one ball at a time in the chocolate, gently turn it over with a fork or candy dipping fork. Use the fork to lift the ball out of the chocolate and tap the fork on the rim of the bowl to allow excess chocolate to drip back into the pan, and then draw the underside of the fork over the rim of the pan to remove any drips of chocolate. Gently place the chocolate coated ball on the prepared baking pan, pushing the ball off the fork with another fork.  Let balls sit until the chocolate is dry and firm. Tip: refrigerate chocolate coated balls about 30 minutes for the chocolate to become firm. However, if the chocolate has been tempered the balls do not need to be refrigerated as the chocolate should set quickly.
   
   
8. In top of a double boiler over hot water, melt dark chocolate.
   
   
9. Using a small spoon, place a small amount of dark chocolate onto the top of each milk chocolate coated ball. Place balls on baking pans; let sit until the chocolate is hardened.
   
   
10. Store in an airtight container so they won’t dry out.
    
    Makes about 4 dozen Peanut Butter Balls
    
    TheBakingPan.com
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