Healthy Buckeyes

Welcome to part deux of Fooduzzi’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Week! Did you catch my EPIC popcorn recipe on Monday? To say I’m obsessed is an understatement.

That being said, I am convinced that one simply cannot have a “Chocolate Peanut Butter Week” without including the king of all chocolate peanut butter confection: Buckeyes.

My mom and I always participate in a community cookie exchange around the holidays. We I scour the interwebs for ~~days~~ weeks for the perfect recipe that will stand out amongst the crazy amounts of M&M, chocolate chip, and powdered sugar-dusted treats we receive. One that will reign supreme over those little cookie press cookies. One that our neighbors will talk about until the following year, where we go ahead and kick butt yet again.

I guess you can say I’m a wee bit competitive.

Anyway, last year, my mom and I decided to make Buckeyes. Two-and-a-half pounds of powdered sugar, four sticks of butter, and an entire Costco-sized bag of chocolate chips later, we had 10 dozen buckeyes lining the island in our kitchen. It was a gloriously sticky-sweet occasion.

But it got me thinking, could I, in the name of all things “nutritious and delicious,” come up with a recipe worthy for you, my wonderful Fooduzzi readers? And actually be able to call them healthy?

In short: yes. Yes, I could.

And yes, gosh darn it, I did.

Consider these Healthy Buckeyes as a gift to you for being so fantastic these past six months of blogging. I can honestly say that starting Fooduzzi has been the single best thing I have ever done, and that I have so much love for my readers. Thank you for following along on my whole food journey. Here is a simple “thank you”… via chocolate peanut butter. Aka. the best kind of “thank you” there is.

These Healthy Buckeyes resembles my super popular Whole Food Peanut Butter Eggs that I posted around Easter time. This recipe, however, uses a little more maple syrup and oat flour to give it that perfect sweetness and chew typical of the classic Buckeye. I also cut the peanut butter in half, purely because I didn’t want more than four of these things around the house, tempting me all day long. That being said, this recipe easily doubles-triples-whathaveyous, so you’re free to go crazy with these Healthy Buckeyes!

Of course, I enlisted the power of my favorite refined sugar-free chocolate dipping sauce to coat the outside of these Healthy Buckeyes. I’ve used it in so many recipes before…like this one. and this one. and OH MY THIS ONE. Sure, you could use chocolate chips in a pinch, but I really enjoy using this simple to make chocolate sauce because I know exactly what’s in it! I also added a touch of peanut butter to this batch to reinforce that magnificently addictive nutty flavor. When in doubt…add peanut butter. To everything.

So these Healthy Buckeyes. They’re pretty amazing. But not as amazing as you all. Here’s to you, a whole foods diet, ridiculously delicious food, and, best of all, chocolate and peanut butter. Yes, three cheers for this amazingly perfect duo.