Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Candy

Chocolate Cream Pie Murder

## Ingredients

* ½ cup peanut butter ***(I used Jif)***
* ¼ cup salted butter ***(½ stick, 2 ounces)***, softened
* ¼ cup finely chopped salted peanuts ***(measure AFTER chopping)***
* ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups powdered ***(confectioners')*** sugar ***(do not sift)***
* 1 small box food picks or long toothpicks
* 2 cups ***(12-ounce by weight package)*** semi-sweet chocolate chips ***(I used Nestlé)***
* 1 rounded Tablespoon salted butter, softened

**Hannah's 1st Note: If you can't find food picks in your grocery store, you can buy them at a party store or a restaurant supply store. Most food picks look like toothpicks, but they have a colored cellophane decoration on one end and you've probably seen them used on cheese platters or on platters of little appetizers.**

## Directions

* No need to preheat oven—this is a NO-BAKE recipe.
* Prepare your pan by lining a cookie sheet with wax paper.
* Use a wooden spoon or fork to mix the peanut butter with the ¼ cup softened butter in a medium-sized bowl.
* Sprinkle the ¼ cup finely chopped salted peanuts on top and mix them in thoroughly.
* Add the vanilla extract and mix that in.
* Add the powdered sugar in half-cup increments, mixing well after each addition.
* Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least one hour so that the mixture will firm up. ***(Longer than one hour is fine, too.)***
* Using impeccably clean hands, roll pop-in-your-mouth-size balls from the peanut butter mixture.
* Stick a food pick into each ball and place the completed balls on your prepared cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

**Hannah's 2nd Note: The food picks will make it easier for you to dip the balls in melted chocolate chips once they've firmed up in the refrigerator again.**

* Place the cookie sheet with your Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Candy in the freezer for at least 1 hour. ***(Overnight is even better.)***
* When your candy balls are frozen, prepare to melt your chocolate coating. ***Leave your candy balls in the freezer until your chocolate coating has melted and you are ready to dip them.***
* Place your 2 cups of chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the rounded Tablespoon of butter on top. ***(I used a 1-quart Pyrex measuring cup to do this.)***
* Heat the chocolate chips and butter on HIGH for 1 minute. Let them sit in the microwave for an additional minute and then stir to see if the chocolate chips are melted. If they're not, continue to heat in 30-second increments followed by 30 seconds of standing time until you can stir them smooth.
* Take the cookie sheet with the candy balls out of the freezer and set it on the counter. Using the food picks as handles, dip the balls, one by one, in the melted chocolate and then return them to the cookie sheet. Work quickly so that they balls do not soften.
* Place the cookie sheet with the Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Candy in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.
* When you're ready to serve, remove the candy from the refrigerator, arrange the balls on a pretty plate or platter, and leave the food picks in place so that your guests can use them as a handle when they eat the candy.

**Hannah's 3rd Note: If you plan to serve these at a party, you can either leave the food picks in place or pull them out and use cake decorator frosting with a star tip to cover the hole with a pretty frosting rosette. Then, if you like, you can place the candy, rosette up, in fluted paper candy cups.**

Yield: Approximately 3 dozen Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Candies. The quantity depends on the size of the candy ball.