Peanut Butter Balls

These 5-ingredient little nuggets take a while to make, but they’re easy and totally worth the time investment. A family recipe, these Peanut Butter Balls are a favorite among family and friends. Make them once, and they’ll be requested every year after that!

A family favorite recipe and part of the Christmas traditions I’ve taken from my husband’s upbringing, these Peanut Butter Balls were one of the first recipes published here at Books n’ Cooks. Oh, how little I knew last then. I didn’t even include a photo – how embarrassing! 

Despite making these every year – sometimes even multiple times per year – since publishing this post so many years ago, it took me a decade to finally update the post with photos (and a recipe card). Back in the day, I checked The Great Google for similar recipes, but found none that included graham crackers, making this recipe a bit different from all of the Buckeye and Peanut Butter Ball recipes out there.

While my mother-in-law makes multiple candies each holiday season – including these Oreo Truffles (yet another post that needs to be updated!) – this recipe recipe is by far the family favorite. 

Recipe Notes:

• You can substitute creamy peanut butter instead of chunky –  you just don’t get the slight crunch in texture.
• I’ve used a variety of melting chocolate for this recipe, including Wilton Candy Melts and a chocolate bark available at my local grocery store. Use your favorite – you can’t go wrong.

Print

Peanut Butter Balls

These 5-ingredient little nuggets take a while to make, but they're easy and totally worth the time investment. A family recipe, these Peanut Butter Balls are a favorite among family and friends.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour

Refrigerate/Set: 4 hours

Total Time 5 hours

Servings 144 candies

Calories 118 kcal

Author Liz

Ingredients

• 1 box graham crackers
• 3 sticks unsalted butter melted
• 18 oz. chunky peanut butter
• 1 lb. confectioner's sugar
• 2-3 bags of chocolate candy-melts

Instructions

1. Line two baking sheets with wax paper or parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In a food processor, crush graham crackers until a fine powder. Transfer to a large bowl and, with a wooden spoon, stir in remaining ingredients until well-mixed.

3. Use a small ice cream scoop or a couple of tablespoons to portion out dough. Roll into small balls - mine were walnut-sized but you can make them as big as golf balls.

4. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

5. Melt chocolate candy-melts in a microwave for 1 minute. Stir until smooth, microwaving t additional 15-30 intervals until candy melts are completely melted.

6. Using a fork, dunk peanut butter balls into chocolate. Allow excess chocolate to drip back into bowl before placing peanut butter ball back on wax paper for chocolate to harden, about an hour (refrigerate again if you want).

7. Store in an airtight container until serving.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition calculated based on 3-12 oz. bags of candy melts.

Recipe adapted from a family recipe.

This post was updated in December 2019, to enhance reader experience. At that time, a recipe card and photos were added, but the recipe remained unchanged.