Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls — EASY, NO-BAKE chocolate peanut butter balls that are a holiday favorite!! They have it all: Salty, sweet, crunchy, with chocolate and peanut butter! Great for cookie exchanges or impromptu parties!!
Easy Peanut Butter Balls Recipe
Back in October, I asked on my Facebook page and on Instagram for family favorite holiday recipe submissions from all of you. I said that if I thought the recipe looked good I would make it and possibly post it on my website in December. And here we are.
This recipe comes from Ashley C. and she told me she and her mom make these every year and said about the recipe, “I think it is from a church cookbook of my Grandma’s. They are sort of like buckeyes, but crunchy and so much better!”
I loved the crunchy peanut butter twist as well. It gave them great texture and I also added sprinkles. Because of course I couldn’t resist holiday’ifying them even more.
These chocolate peanut butter balls are so easy they’re no-bake, which I especially appreciate around the holiday season when I am already baking so much. They remind me of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Stacks I made last holiday season that went viral on social media. Peanut butter, chocolate, sprinkles, no-bake, easy.
The original title of this recipe was Martha’s Candy (aka Peanut Butter Balls). I did some digging and there are recipes out there for ‘Martha Washington Candy’ and this seems to be very similar to many of those. The ratios of peanut butter, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, etc. vary slightly.
What’s in Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls?
To make these chocolate-covered peanut butter balls, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Graham cracker crumbs
- Crunchy peanut butter
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Chopped pecans
- Chopped chocolate
- Holiday sprinkles
How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
To make these peanut butter balls with graham crackers, simply combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Then, use a small cookie scoop to form the peanut butter balls.
Set the peanut butter balls in the fridge while you melt the chocolate. Once the chocolate is melted, carefully dip the peanut butter balls into it using two forks or a toothpick.
Once all the peanut butter balls have been dipped in chocolate, top them with holiday sprinkles before the chocolate fully hardens. Let these chocolate peanut butter balls rest at room temperature until set.
Can I Double This Recipe?
I halved the recipe that Ashley sent and still made 48 balls. That was plenty of rolling and dipping for my daughter and I on a Saturday morning but if you’re making these no-bake peanut butter balls for a cookie exchange, the recipe is easily doubled, tripled, etc.
Can I Prep These in Advance?
Most certainly! These chocolate-covered peanut butter balls should stay good up to a week at room temperature.
What Type of Chocolate Should I Use?
I used half Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus and half Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Pound Plus. Semi-sweet chocolate chips may be substituted, although I prefer melting actual chocolate bars because the chocolate coating doesn’t set up as fast and melts smoother than chocolate chips do.
Tips for Making Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
I didn’t need to add any additional nuts like the pecans Ashley uses because my mixture was on the dry side and it couldn’t have handled any more dry ingredients. But that could be because I used extra crunchy peanut butter. If your mixture is too wet/too dry, that’s easily rectified with more graham cracker crumbs or nuts/more peanut butter.
I definitely recommend using a peanut butter like Jif or Skippy rather than a natural peanut butter because you don’t want it separating.
I included the original recipe in the Notes/Tips section below if you’d like to see the little tweaks I made.
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- ¾ cup graham cracker crumbs
- ¾ cup about 6 ounces crunchy peanut butter (I used extra crunchy)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- ¼ cup chopped pecans, if necessary or desired
- about 8 ounces chopped chocolate or as needed, melted (see item 1. in the Notes and Tips below)
- holiday sprinkles, as needed
Instructions
- To a large bowl, add the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, graham cracker crumbs, peanut butter, vanilla, optional salt, and stir to combine. Depending on how dry your mixture is, you may not need to add the pecans, but play it by ear. If the mixture is on the wet side, definitely add them and/or add additional graham cracker crumbs.
- Using a 1-inch cookie scoop (highly recommended for ease and speed), scoop out approximately 48 equal-sized balls, and place them on a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Roll each between your palms to smooth them out and compact them.
- Set aside in the fridge while you chop and melt the chocolate. I place the chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 15 seconds bursts until it can be stirred smooth; use a double boiler if you prefer.
- Using two forks or a toothpick, dip each ball in chocolate, shaking off the excess, and place on the parchment. Repeat until all balls have been dipped.
- Evenly sprinkle the balls with sprinkles, to taste.
- Allow chocolate to set up at room temperature or place the baking sheet in the fridge to speed it up.
Notes
- *I used half Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus and half Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Pound Plus. Semi-sweet chocolate chips may be substituted although I prefer chocolate in bars because it doesn’t set up as fast and melts smoother than chocolate chips do.
- Recipe adapted from Ashley C.
2 sticks melted butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 box powdered sugar
1/2 cup pecans
1 12 oz jar crunchy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
paraffin wax 1. Mix together first 6 ingredients and roll into balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or more). 2. Melt 1 6-oz package of nestle semi-sweet chocolate bits and 1/2 of 1 stick of paraffin wax in top of double boiler. Then dip balls (using toothpick) in choc mixture and place on waxed paper to cool.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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