Halloween Sweet Treats: Peanut Butter Eyeballs

I married into a family of Buckeyes, the Ohio State kind. As a Wisconsin Badger, I've taken a lot of crap through the years as the Buckeyes climbed to the top of the sports rankings. In anticpation of the two teams meeting on the field or on the court, my father-in-law without fail tells me he's going to have "badger stew". So when I ran across the recipe for Peanut Butter Buckeyes a few years ago, I couldn't resist making them for a chance to devour their mascot.

When I was trying to come up with some scary homemade candy ideas for Halloween, the recipe for the peanut butter buckeyes seemed to be the perfect starting point for making eyeballs. The buckeyes are a sweetened peanut butter filling rolled into balls, then partially covered in semi-sweet chocolate. For the eyeballs, I painted an iris on the peanut butter filling and replaced the chocolate with white chocolate for the whites of the eye, then added a chocolate chip for the pupil. The plain white seemed a bit bare, so I painted on some blood vessels with red food coloring. Not bad for a little experimentation.

Next time I think I will try using mini chocolate chips - I think they would make more realistic pupils and would be easier to press into the cold peanut butter filling.

Peanut Butter Eyeballs

Filling:
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cups smooth peanut butter (preferably all natural, containing no hydrogenated oils)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 teaspoon Diamond kosher salt)

Coating:
6 ounces white chocolate, broken into pieces

Decorations:
Food coloring, a small clean paint brush, mini chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, stir together powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt until combined. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet that fits into your freezer. Paint blue, green, and brown iris on the eyeballs using food coloring. Place a few drops of the desired color on a small square of waxed paper, then dabbing the paint brush into the food coloring, paint a circular iris on each peanut butter ball. It doesn't have to be perfectly round, as the white chocolate will form the outer border of the iris.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl set over a small pot of simmering water. Remove from heat.

To dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate, stick a toothpick into the center of the iris, then swirl into the chocolate, leaving the iris visible. Allow the chocolate to set. Remove the toothpick and place a mini chocolate chip in the center of the iris, covering the hole left by the toothpick. To make them extra ghoulish, paint red blood vessels on the whites of the eyes using the paint brush with red food coloring.

Happy Halloween!