easy peanut butter and chocolate buckeye spiders

A twist on the traditional Buckeye (an Ohio favorite), these sweet and peanut buttery delights are given a creepy, crunchy bite thanks to pretzel spider legs and edible eyes. Or hit the easy button and substitute store-bought cake doughnut holes as alternative to making your own peanut butter candy balls.

What You’ll Need

Makes approximately 2 dozen

• 1 pound sifted powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cups Peter Pan creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 stick unsalted softened butter
• 3/4 package of chocolate bark (the ones that look like the little ice cube trays)
• Swirl pretzels broken into 3 pieces

Let’s Do It

Start by preparing the peanut butter dough by hand mixing the peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar to form a smooth-yet-stiff consistency

Shape dough into 1 1/2″ diameter balls and place on baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper

Break the pretzels into leg-sized pieces

Insert pretzel pieces into cookie balls, 4 to a side, and then place tray in refrigerator to harden, 20–30 minutes

Melt your dipping chocolate per package instructions. Remove balls from refrigerator and use a spoon to apply a small dollop of dipping chocolate to the top of the spider bodies

Apply 2 round sprinkles for eyes, and then refrigerate the spiders for an additional 30 minutes to set

And your spiders are complete!

You can also use store-bought cake doughnut holes as an alternative to making the peanut butter candy balls