This buckeye balls recipe is a Midwest holiday tradition! Easy, no-bake creamy peanut butter filling covered in rich chocolate that resembles the nut from the buckeye tree. For more peanut butter fun, try my peanut butter eggs or Reese’s peanut butter hearts.

A pile of buckeye balls on parchment paper

I once flew home and spent the week in Chicago as a surprise to my father – he thought he was getting a package, but instead he got me. Thankfully, he was okay with the trade off.

And I brought treats with me, like some sort of sugar-delivery Santa. One container of Cranberry Bliss Fudge and a container of this Midwest tradition: Buckeye Balls.

A pile of buckeye balls on parchment paper with a bite taken out of one

What are buckeye balls?

Have you heard of Buckeye Balls? When I moved to New England, I discovered that people had NO IDEA what I was talking about.

Eventually it came to light that most people knew what they were, just by a more literal name of “Peanut Butter Balls”. It made me feel better to know that other people appreciate these easy, no-bake treats.

Okay, there’s another key to these – the design of the chocolate coating. If you want them to be truly traditional buckeye balls, you have to leave a small circle of peanut butter exposed on the top so that they look like that poisonous nut.

I’m not gonna lie – I’m not sure WHY we always wanted to make a food that looks like a nut that could kill you, but I’m still on board with it. They’re just so freaking good.

Bowls with ingredients for buckeye balls

A bowl of peanut butter dough for buckeye balls

Ingredients for traditional buckeye balls

For the classic buckeye ball recipe, you’ll need:

Creamy peanut butter
Unsalted butter, room temperature
Powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
Semisweet or dark chocolate
Coconut oil or vegetable shortening, if needed to thin chocolate out more

Balls of buckeye ball dough on a baking sheet

Buckeye balls are a holiday tradition

I used to make these with my family every single Christmas. It was the one recipe us kids were allowed to do ourselves, and it always turned the kitchen into a big, peanut buttery, chocolatey mess.

It was amazing.

What kind of chocolate should I use?

As for the chocolate, I could definitely have gone the route of trying to use raw cacao powder (aff link) and coconut oil, but it all came back to the texture – it just wasn’t smooth enough.

So, I kept the chocolate coating simple – just use good chocolate. This is key, and I’m not just trying to sell you on spending more money (trust me, that’s not my goal in life).

You have to use a good chocolate in order for these to be a success. Sub par chocolate will just make them… sad. And you don’t want sad dessert, now do you? Of course not.

Making a healthier peanut butter filling

If the quantities of butter and powdered sugar in the peanut butter filling makes your stomach churn a little, I have some good news: I went on a mission to make them as healthy as I could and still retain its creamy, decadent texture.

Over time, I’ve put more effort into utilizing the bag of coconut flour and coconut sugar that I have in my pantry. They’re both so useful in so many things, but they’re not a 1:1 substitution for most things, which means I just have to do quite a bit of trial and error.
I tried using both the coconut flour and sugar and discovered that the sugar just made things grainy, which is the exact opposite of what I’m going for.
Eventually I realized that just using a liquid sweetener like honey or maple syrup maintains the creamy texture, and you can use a lot less than you would with solid sweeteners.

Thankfully, I finally got the quantities right for this recipe:

1 ½ cups peanut butter, organic or otherwise
¼ cup honey, maple or agave syrup
½ cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

How to store buckeye balls

Place your set buckeye balls in airtight containers (with parchment paper between layers) in the fridge or freezer.

If you’re like me, you’re going to pop one of these in your mouth every time you walk past your fridge, and then suddenly the container is empty.

Pro tip: Use clear containers where you can see the how many are left – they’re essential to help you with your self control – don’t say I didn’t warn you! ;)