Aaaand here is another stocking stuffer idea: Buckeyes! Yes, just another excuse to make sweets really. And these are sweets with a kick. If you’ve never heard of Eliot’s Adult Nut Butters, you should definitely seek them out. Peanut butter, Almond butter and Sunflower seed butter with a kick — they make honey sriacha, garam marsala and the type I used here, chocolate chili. Very yummy. I added a little bit of additional chili powder and sprinkled on some sea salt to round out the sweet and salty combo. Very yummy!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Eliot’s Adult Nut Butters Chili Chocolate Almond Butter*
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3 to 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, as needed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
Sea salt, for sprinkling
Directions
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the almond butter, honey and the butter until light in color and airy in texture. Add the vanilla and chili powder, and stir to combine.
Add in the confectioners’ sugar to the almond butter mixture, a little at a time, and beat until the sugar is incorporated and the dough holds together when compacted. If the mixture is still wet — as might be the case because this almond butter has a lot of natural oils — you’ll need to add more confectioners’ sugar. Make sure to add the sugar slowly: You can always add more but you won’t be able to go back.
Using a small cookie scoop, shape the dough into small balls that are about the size of a compacted tablespoon. Place each ball on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Put the baking sheets in the freezer to firm up for 20 to 30 minutes. When the almond butter balls are sufficiently chilled, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 20-second intervals or in a double boiler until it is smooth and glossy.
Dip each frozen ball into the melted chocolate, coating each as much as you’d like, placing them back on parchment covered baking sheets. This is a little tricky so that you don’t drop them completely into the chocolate. Sprinkle the buckeyes with flaky sea salt while the chocolate is still melty; that’ll help the salt to adhere.
Put the sheets back into the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes, until the chocolate has set and the buckeyes are firm.
* This is sort of the impetus for this recipe, so if you can, seek it out (it’s not too far to find in specialty shops, but even Amazon sells it). If you can’t find it, you can use regular almond butter, but add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/2 teaspoon additional chili powder.
