baked's buckeyes

this year for my easter treat, i decided it was finally time to tackle cake pops. if you hadn't already figured it out, it did not end well. oh it started great. i had a boxed white cake mix shoved in the back of my pantry that i baked monday night. tuesday i tackled this blackberry buttercream, substituting raspberry for blackberry (which was amazing and will hopefully make another appearance in my kitchen soon). wednesday, when it was time to put it all together, i added too much buttercream. way too much. inedible. mush. so in the trash it went.

now it's thursday, 8:00pm, and i'm looking for a quick treat i can bring in to work. and if you remember last easter, something chocolate - preferably with peanut butter - that i can bring to my parents' for the weekend too. last weekend, while flipping through baked explorations, waiting for my monkey bread to cool down from hot-caramel-lava so that i could eat it, i stumbled upon these beauties.

growing up, buckeyes made appearances at a lot of our holidays. except in our house, they're simply peanut butter balls. nothing fancy. and more times than not, mom added rice krispies to them for a little crunch. which sounds great and really isn't bad at all on day one. but eat one of those suckers on day three or four, and you're chewing through soggy krispies. no thank you.

another well known fact: i hate soggy food. or sog, as i affectionately call it. dip a cookie in milk. are you freakin crazy!? tiramisu? a ball of mush. ick. nachos at the bottom of the pile covered in salsa & meat sauce? no way. so yea, i was a little skeptical when i saw the baked boys put graham cracker crumbs in theirs for texture.

but surprisingly, it works. i had one of the few stragglers that survived the weekend in the work refrigerator and they weren't soggy. bonus. sorry mom, but krispies are out.

buckeyes
adapted from baked explorations
1 hour, makes 36

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 1/3 of a box or one of the plastic sleeves)
3 cups confectioners sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 pound dark or milk chocolate, chopped

1. in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. add the graham cracker crumbs and mix until combined. alternate adding the sugar and melted butter until everything is combined. the mixture will be slightly dry. refrigerate while you prepare the chocolate.
2. in a double boiler (or in the microwave on 20 second intervals) melt the chocolate.
3. line a sheet pan with parchment paper. using a melon baller, small cookie scoop, or tablespoon measuring spoon, form balls of peanut butter mixture and set on sheet.
4. using a spoon and a fork, dip the balls in chocolate. use the spoon to flip them around to coat each side. carefully use the fork to lift the coated ball out of the chocolate. lightly tap the fork with the spoon so extra chocolate drips off. use the spoon to carefully slide the ball off the fork onto the parchment paper. repeat with the remaining balls.
5. refrigerate buckeyes until the chocolate sets and store in the refrigerator.