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~
With being pregnant (first timer), the cravings are all over the place. Well this mornings craving is peanut butter balls. Oh goodness…so tasty!
I would like to add that a 16 oz bottle of honey is the 2 cups needed for this recipe, a 28 oz jar of peanut butter is the 3 cup, and an 18 oz can of oats is the 6 cups of oats(with a few extra tablespoons :). It saved me time to measure them out as I make these about every 2 weeks. Soooo good!
Christy, I have to try this recipe for the peanut butter balls. So many people hseem to have fond thoughts of cafeteria foods, domeone should come out with a cookbook (or section) of those recipes. Loved your stories of your husband’s food dislikes. Where do they get these things? My hubby would taste/smell mushrooms and onions no matter what I did with them!
Kove your blog and recipes!
Correction to the previous message. Think that I need an Edit button! 🙂
Christy, I have to try this recipe for the peanut butter balls. So many people seem to have fond thoughts of cafeteria foods, someone should come out with a cookbook (or section) of those recipes. Loved your stories of your husband’s food dislikes. Where do they get these things? My hubby would taste/smell mushrooms and onions no matter what I did with them!
Love your blog and recipes!
The [presumed] original of this recipe first hit the public in a cookbook made by the La Leche League, predominantly of recipes from cafeterias throughout the Western world. This one came from a cafeteria somewhere on one of the Hawaiian islands, and used granola instead of the oats, but it spread VERY quickly throughout the States.
Oats are a far better choice, no matter which type you use. Old fashioned or steel cut will give it a more chewy texture, add slightly more nutrition, and make them slightly more filling, decreasing the danger of eating them by the pound. 😉
I process my oats first, so the whole recipe can be made in a high powered food processor. NOTE: some blades will cause a metallic taste due to the honey. Consider blending the honey with either the PB or dry milk first…dry milk is likely to be most effective.
Agave nectar is purely awesome. Drinks made with it are top-sellers and favorites at our house, and would go sooo nicely with peanut butter. Stevia or milk thistle **may** work if adding cocoa powder or cinnamon. Mom won’t use Splenda in her tea for more than a week, but she makes these with it fairly often.
They make soy products that roughly equal to dry milk powder, and still have that level of nutrition.
My grandmother first made these, from that book, and now we all have made them. I’m the only one to have ever had a batch make it to the freezer, just once. I was home alone when I made them. 😉 Since they normally lasted less than 24 hours (okay, 12, if that), we always just kept them in the empty oats container, using the fridge only in the summer. [We’re not pigs, but we have a familial magnesium deficiency, and these are awesome for that!]
Hubby would NOT eat “food in his food” until I came along. No marinara on any pasta, even lasagna he hated, no garden on a dry sandwich…now he eats 5+ingredient pizzas, LOVES my garden marinara, and lots more. Get creative, use blenders and processors, and DON’T GIVE UP!
This has got to be the most sensible recipe blog I have seen so far, and I’m beyond grateful I found it. THANK YOU!
I have to use gluten free oats which are not quick cook. Any ideas how to work around that? This would be awesome to have on hand.
Oh just use them and they’ll be fine! I’ve used old fashioned oats when i didn’t have quick on hand. In fact, they’ll probably be even better!
These are so easy & delicious! Thank you for always having the step-by-step instructions with pictures. You always make things look so easy 🙂
Christy I love your site!!! I love your spunk, personality, sense of REALITY (hello! hydrogentated oils will have to be fine in moderation!), and the easy to follow directions! I am making the peanut butter balls today for gifts, and love this healthier alternative to my family’s rice krispie peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate. And I don’t know what HOLE I grew up in, but MY cafeteria did not have such wonderful goodness! HA! We had congealed salad Thursday. Woohoo, really gets the kids worked up, you know?
Do you have any plans on some kind of community forum? I’ve been testing recipes on my blog, http://luckygirlsweetsnstuff.blogspot.com/, and would love any kind of feedback!
I look forward to your new stories everyday! Thanks for giving us a sneak peek into your life! Keep em comin’ Christy!
I am following the weight watchers diet and i eat well. (I love food which is how I became overweight to begin with! 🙂 I just keep foods I like on my diet and work around my preferences the best I can. I hope you don’t mind, but I usually figure out the pt value per serving so I know what I am getting myself into. This is 2 pts per serving according to my calculations. If anyone figures it differently feel free to let me know! I just gotta make sure I make 50 balls from the half recipe! I got a goal and I will make it happen. 🙂
I am definitely going to try this. Since they can be stored in the freezer it may take me a while to eat them but I will eat them! Thanks for all you do for us Christy! 🙂