Vegan and Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

When I was a kid, my favourite Christmas food was chocolate covered peanut balls.  I would get to go to my Aunt's house and mix and roll what seemed like hundreds (though it was probably only dozens) of peanut butter balls, and she was always generous about eating as many as we made.

When I moved to Edinburgh, I started trying to replicate these, using the same recipe.  The first stumbling block came when I couldn't find parrafin in the grocery store.  Then, I found that eating more than one - and who would only eat one?? - made my teeth hurt because of all the sugar.

I've been trying variations ever since - so that's a good four or five Christmases of experimentation now.  I used to go for a ground almond one to replace some sugar, which tasted great, but the texture wasn't quite right...enter Minimalist Baker's peanut butter chips.

I made a batch of chips for my birthday chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, and when I tasted one I knew it would make the perfect chocolate peanut butter ball filling with a bit of tweaking!

So, here it is, a recipe with all the taste and texture I remember.  Since there's no wax in the chocolate, you'll need to keep these refrigerated, or in a cold house (they were fine at room temperature in my flat, which tells you something about our lack of heating...), but they're totally worth it!

Vegan and Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

adapted from Minimalist Baker's peanut butter chip recipe

Total time: 30 minutes

Serves: makes 12 balls



Ingredients:

2 cups unsalted creamy peanut butter

5 tbsp powdered sugar

100g (1/2 cup) melted coconut oil (unscented)

1 tsp vanilla extract

salt, to taste


200g/7 oz dark chocolate

1 tbsp melted coconut oil (unscented)


Blend together the peanut butter, sugar, 1/2 cup of oil, vanilla and salt.  Spoon tablespoon sized dollops on to parchment paper, and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.


Roll the peanut butter into ball shapes, and re-freeze for another 5 minutes.


Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and tbsp oil over a bain marie or in the microwave. 


Roll the peanut butter balls in the chocolate, and place back in the freezer for 5 minutes, to firm up.  Store in the refrigerator, or at cold room temperature.