How To Make Peanut Butter Balls
Peanut butter balls were a staple in our school lunchrooms. Word got around fast on the day the lunch ladies were making them and we all looked forward to the single serving we got on our trays come noon meal. Single serving for everyone but my brother.
My brother, who never once passed up a chance to be unusually cruel to me, managed to singlehandedly wrap every one of the hair netted lunch ladies around his little finger. While we all surfaced with our single peanut butter ball, Bill waltzed to his table with at least three. Alright, so maybe he wasn’t always unusually cruel. He did let me be a backup singer when he was singing Buddy Holly, but that wasn’t my point here.
This is a great snack for children and grown ups alike. They are kept in ziploc bags in the freezer and when we manage to have any (they are eaten so fast!), I often see my husband or son coming back from the freezer with a handful at a time. Full of all sorts of goodness, its one snack that will not only tide your family over until you can finish up supper, but one you can feel good about letting them have.
Note about honey: If you have children under the age of two, substitute corn syrup as raw honey poses health risks.
I can go into why but don’t I go off on enough tangents as it is?
I make a LOT of these at a time so I need a dishpan.
Feel free to half this recipe!
Ingredients
- 2 C honey or corn syrup
- 3 C creamy peanut butter
- 5 C dry milk powder
- 6 C quick oats
Instructions
- Mix all together with hand mixer. Form into balls with hands and freeze on waxed paper lined cookie sheets until hardened. Store in freezer in ziploc bags. (Makes about 100)
Nutrition
If my brother shows up, only let him have one. ~grins~
Messeis Wow, molasses sounds GREAT for these! Oh how funny about your husband!!! Bless their hearts, they’ve no idea how often we pull the wool over their eyes! Molasses and cocoa…thats stuck in my head now. Sounds heavenly
HillaryGood points, Hillary. In moderation, corn syrup is fine. In fact, I rarely ever use it except for peanut butter balls. I can’t see being able to pass off brown rice syrup or agave syrup on my kids (I don’t think I’d be too keen on trying them myself to be honest!) but those are great suggestions for anyone who is concerned about corn syrup or wants to go more natural with their diet.
I’m all over the hydrogenated oils! Again, for those who are concerned though, great points. I’m sure these can easily be made with a natural peanut butter.
A lot of budgets don’t allow for it, though.
In the immortal words of our own Paula Deen “I’m a cook, not a doctor”. Hehe!
Smuckers ( I know you don’t buy what they’re selling) makes a very reasonable priced natural peanut butter. I buy it so there is not sugar/corn syrup/ ickiness in my peanut butter. Low carber here can you tell.
I’ve made these with splenda, but I’ve never used the oat meal. But I have added cream cheese. I know sounds odd but peanut butter mixed with cream cheese is AWSOME! They are indeed a great portable protein snack/meal.
Thanks for posting, it reminded me I haven’t made any in a long time.
I love peanut butter balls as much as the next gal, but just a friendly reminder…while honey may not be suitable for young children, is corn syrup really suitable for anyone? It is very unhealthy and there are a number of better substitutes (ie agave syrup or brown rice syrup). Also, check your peanut butter label for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. These cause artery blockage.
I haven’t thought of these in years. Only we used (in Texas) molasses instead of honey and I seem to remember rolling them in coco powder at the very end. I can’t wait to make these for my kids. Thanks for the memories.
Also the brown sauce comment made me laugh. My husband is from NY and doesn’t always like what Texans call things so I am constantly changing names.
(Sorry I deleted the other post so for editing reasons)
Terri: YAY! I’m glad you liked them! I LOVE having them on hand for a quick protein rich snack to keep me going when ye olde blood sugar takes a nosedive!
I probably do make mine kind of big, I do that with everything. I am about to post a tutorial of my favorite cookie in the whole wide world…which I make almost the size of your head! hehe!
I don’t do small batch cooking 😀
Whenever I cook, you’d swear an army was coming to dinner.
Thank you for letting me know how they turned out!!!!
Christy
Christy! I made these last night and they are SOOOO good! I loved them. I must say that I did 1/2 the recipe… and still ended up w/ 60 balls.. I must make them smaller than yours! But they are very good.. we all love them. I think I need to invest in a dish pan to mix in though.. I had to use my HUGE spaghetti pot! LOL Thanks again!
Terri
You know, sometimes you just have to lie to men for their own good.
Take my husband for example. He doesn’t like gravy. He won’t eat gravy. He swears he HATES gravy. So, I don’t use gravy on our roast. I don’t put gravy on beef tips when I serve them over rice. I don’t even use gravy when I make the Salisbury steaks from Mommy’s Kitchen(in my blog links). What do I do instead?
I use brown sauce .
hehe
That’s not raw oatmeal, honey! it’s flaked nuts!
That’s not raw oatmeal, honey, I toasted it beforehand!
Just make something up. God love them, they have their uses but discerning culinary tastes seldom make the list!
LOL!! Just had to say that my Dh swears he HATES spaghetti, so one night I made ‘noodles with tomato sauce’ and he ate it up! So I don’t tell him what is in anything I cook till after he had eaten it, fewer problems that way.LOLOLOL
LOL!!! That’s ALL the men in my house (and I am the only woman!) If you don’t tell them what’s in it or what it is, they’ll generally eat it and love it. And if it’s something recognizable that they swear they hate (i.e., mushrooms), well, that’s why God made food processors! 😉
LOL!!!!!! LOVE IT
Well Im going to whip some up. My husband thinks it sounds awful with the oatmeal uncooked but from your description it must not be a deterent!