Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Balls

Make these delicious small balls and make them last the whole weekend

Makes: 20 to 24 balls

1 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1 ½ cups graham crackers crumbs
¾ cup mini chocolate chips or Heath bits
1 – 1 ¼ cup chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate)

1) Take your graham crackers and blend to crumbs in a food processor until you get 1 ½ cups. Add graham crackers crumbs to the 1 cup of peanut butter. Mix it up good. You want the mixture to be dry enough to be able to form balls. Add a little bit more peanut butter or cracker crumbs to achieve this consistency if need be.
2) Form 24 even sized balls with your hands and place on a wax paper covered plate, cutting board or baking sheet. Freeze for 30-60 minutes.
3) Melt the chocolate in the microwave until just melted (do not overcook!) or use a double boiler and stir chocolate until melted. Placed mini chips or crushed Heath bits in a small bowl. Note: You can use whatever topping that you would like including nuts, crushed Oreo…etc.
4) Using a toothpick or fork dip the peanut butter balls in the melted chocolate, one at a time, and then toss in the topping until covered. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.

Note from a Housewife

Make these delicious small balls and make them last the whole weekend
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Homemade Graham Crackers Recipe

My Source: Cupcake Project who got the graham cracker recipe from Free Range Living and She got the recipe from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.
I am reprinting the recipe below along with all of the baking notes.

Graham Crackers Recipe: Graham Crackers Don’t Have to Be Square

Yield: 36 2 1/2 inch squares

Ingredients
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup honey (Some graham crackers use half honey and half molasses. You might consider trying that as a variation.)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup graham flour (If you can’t get ahold of graham flour, there are plenty of graham cracker recipes that use regular whole wheat flour such as this graham cracker recipe from Baking Bites. You may also be able to directly substitute whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I haven’t tested it and I make no promises.)
3/4 C all-purpose flour

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Combine the butter, egg and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
Stir in the honey and blend.
Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture.
Add the salt, graham flour, and all-purpose flour to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too “tacky” add a little more graham flour.
Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. For convenience in handling, cut the rolled dough into three or four sections that will fit on your cookie sheet. (To make my life easier, line cookie sheets with parchment paper and roll the dough directly on the cookie sheets. That way you don’t need to worry about the dough breaking when you lift it onto a cookie sheet.)
With a knife, score the dough, without cutting through, into 2 1/2 inch squares. (Boring! Since your graham crackers are not store-bought, they don’t have to be square. Use your cookie cutters to make them any shape you want!)
Prick each square a few times with the tines of a fork. (I did this because those little pricks do make them look like graham crackers, whatever shape they are.)
Using a spatula, place the sections of scored cracker dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I didn’t have to do this since I rolled right on the cookie sheet.)
Bake on the first side for 8 minutes, then turn the cracker over and bake for another 6 or 7 minutes. (Cheryl of Free Range Living said that she found that flipping wasn’t necessary. I agree. I left out the flip step.)
Remove from the oven and cool on racks. (They weren’t quite crispy when I removed them. However, they hardened up as soon as they cooled.)

The Cupcake Project