Pretzel Buckeyes!!!

I have a couple confessions to make. Lets get the kitchen fiasco one out of the way first.

For a baking class, Hannah and I were making cream puffs. Neither of us had done it before and the recipe we were using was a bit ambiguous. We had followed the instructions but our dough looked and smelled a lot like play dough. And our cream filling was, um, not creamy. However, we were going to see this through and began to add our eggs, the crucial ingredients that give cream puffs their light airiness. In order not to disrupt the people in the room adjoining the kitchen, we took the mixer to the laundry room. We began beating the eggs, successfully being quiet.  But then Hannah goes to rinse her hands off and I'm left to beat the eggs. Lets evaluate what we have thus far: inexperience, unique method, and unexpected results. Have a bad feeling yet? 

I take the mixer and turn it on but nothing happens. I look around to see, oh, Hannah had unplugged it.  I innocently plug it back in. Whoosh! Our "play dough" starts flopping off the whirring beaters and onto the floor and anything else near our makeshift bakery. Avery and get it off before bursting into silent laughter. It was my best (and only) ab workout that day.  For several minutes we were gasping for breath, unable to explain exactly what happened to Hannah and Chloe. I wouldn't blame them if they thought something was wrong with us. We cleaned up and even though we carefully piped what dough we had, the cream puffs deflated after being out of the oven. It was a very memorable experience, but needless to say, I've been avoiding eggs, beaters and the oven for a couple days! So I turned to a no bake and that's where my next confession comes in.

I had never made buckeyes before.  I've eaten my fair share, but creating them was new territory.

Can I say it was delicious territory as well?  I love that this recipe calls for a cup of peanut butter.  I see many peanut butter flavored recipes that have 4 times as much sugar as they do peanut butter and I wonder how much peanut butter flavor there really is.  You don't have to worry with this recipe.  The peanut butter flavor is loud and clear.

This is a twist on the buckeye, adding a salty crunch to the smooth peanut butter.  In fact, without the chocolate, I thought it tasted like a Nutter Butter.  Remember how much I like frozen peanut butter? This is that times ten. Crunchy, creamy, nutty, sweet, and so incredibly addictive. You cannot eat just one. Sharing is highly recommended, but not necessary. I was not the genius who came up with this idea, but I am indebted to Sweet Pea's Kitchen for it!

It is fairly time consuming as you make the filling, press it in between dozens of pretzels, and then dip all of them in chocolate. The end result is so delicious, so every extra minute is completely worth it. Trust me on this one.

Pretzel Buckeyes
Recipe Source: Adapted slightly from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp. softened butter, divided
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Pretzels
12 oz. dipping chocolate melted (or 12 oz. chocolate chips, melted)


Stir peanut butter, 2 tbsp. softened butter, sugars, and vanilla together.  Press teaspoons of mixture between two pretzels and place on baking sheet.  Continue until peanut butter mixture is gone.  Freeze for 10 minutes.  Melt remaining butter with chocolate chips and stir until smooth.  Dip pretzels in the chocolate and freeze again.  Let pretzels sit a little before serving.