Photo by T. Mike Fletcher
Yield: About 45
3/4 cups cream peanut butter
¼ cup (½ stick) butter, at room temperature
½ pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons solid vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
Mini M&M’s
Place the peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until very smooth. Line a rimmed baking sheet with waxed paper or foil. Roll into balls (a bit more than a teaspoon apiece) and place on the baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least an hour or until hard.
Place the chocolate chips and vegetable shortening in a microwave-proof bowl. Heat on half power for about 1½ minutes. Stir well. If not melted and smooth, heat at 50 percent power for 20 to 30 seconds. Stir again. Remove only a couple of peanut butter balls from the refrigerator at a time. Insert a toothpick skewer into the top of one of the balls. Roll one side in the chocolate, then the other, leaving some of the peanut butter exposed in the shape of an eyeball. Don’t worry about making them perfect – remember these are monster’s eyeballs. They are anything you make them. To get the toothpick out easily, slide the tines of a fork over the toothpick and press gently. Place on a lined cookie sheet. Press an M&M into the exposed peanut butter where the hole from the toothpick was when softened.
Store in the refrigerator but serve at room temperature.
By Helen Fletcher, The Ardent Cook
