Buckeyes

The tasty treat, not the team.

As you can tell, with two food posts in a row, I've been cooking during my absence. Cooking is my stress outlet. I am student teaching right now and although I love it - it can be very stressful!

Every Christmas my Aunt Toey and cousin Polly make buckeyes. This Christmas, due to our vacation, I missed our family Christmas and the buckeyes. I started craving them and decided to try to make them myself. It's not very difficult to make but takes some time.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 cups confectioners' sugar
• 4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl you need to mix together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners' sugar. I used a natural peanut from Whole Foods - one where the oil sit on the top - and I found that it make this mixture very thin. I would recommend using a peanut butter that does not require you to stir.

Then, you will roll the dough into balls - whatever size you'd like - and place them on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Place a toothpick into the top of each ball - this will be used for dipping - and then put the cookie sheet into the freezer for 30 minutes. I would recommend making sure your cookie sheet fits into your freezer BEFORE you put the peanut butter balls on there...just a word of advice from someone whose cookie sheet did not fit.

Before you take out your peanut butter balls you will want to melt your chocolate. I've always been told a double broiler works best but I think melting the chocolate in the microwave works just fine. Then, all you have to do is take the balls out of the freezer and dip them in the chocolate. Leave a little peanut butter showing at the top so it looks like a buckeye. Let them cool of course before eating and I suggest storing them in the fridge.

I used white chocolate because my husband isn't supposed to have caffeine - and well milk chocolate has some caffeine in it. They taste good either way!

Crock-pot Cake

Have you ever heard of making a cake in the crock-pot? Well, I hadn't until a teacher at school had her 4th grade make some. Ohhhh boy is it good and easy!

Here's what you will need:

• 1 box of Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• 8 ounces of sour cream
• 12 ounces of chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
• 1 package of chocolate pudding
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of water
• 3/4 cup of vegetable oil

The first thing you want to do is spray your crock-pot with non-stick cooking spray. Then, you combine all of your ingredients in a mixing bowl. I used my stand mixer and would suggest mixing all the ingredients expect the chocolate chips together first and add those last. 

Then, all you have to do it put the mix in your crock-pot

And cook on low for 4 hours with the lid on - don't take the lid off if you can help it.

Once finished, serve with ice cream and enjoy! It's a very rich and tasty cake! My husband had a large bowl...

...and literally 5 minutes later it looked like this:

And then he asked for another!

I think next time I make this I'm going to try making a vanilla or strawberry cake - I'll let you know how it turns out!