"Sugar Free" Buckeyes Recipe

I've made Buckeye candy for years.  Which I suppose isn't surprising as I'm from Ohio.  We've shared them over the years and one family who especially enjoyed them started having sugar problems, so I wondered if there was a way to make ones that were sugar free/no sugar added.  So I invented a recipe that they (& others) have really enjoyed.  So I thought I should share the recipe as I'm sure there are others in similar situations.  

Now, these aren't quite like traditional Buckeyes-they are quite soft as the sugar substitute doesn't set them up as much as powdered sugar in the original and the only sugar-free chocolate candy I can get in my small town is Hershey's bars which also doesn't set up as much as semi-sweet chocolate.  So, I normally keep them frozen-but the taste idea is there!  ~Sarah


Ingredients: 

3/4 cup & 2 Tablespoon peanut butter

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

31 Splenda packets

1 small package (3 oz, I think)  sugar free Hershey's bars  dark or milk chocolate 

1/2 Tablespoon Crisco 

Makes 3-4 dozen

Directions:

• Mix the peanut butter, vanilla, butter, and Splenda 
• Pour the above mixture into a wax-paper lined container-I use a sandwich sized Tubberware one.  (The idea is for the mixture to be about as thick as you want the Buckeyes to be.) 
• Freeze the mixture
• Once the mixture is frozen take it out and cut it into cubes as best you can, then separate and  refreeze
• Melt the chocolate and Crisco together.  I do this in a double boiler, but if you don't have one I've read it can easily be done in the microwave, just look it up.  You just don't want to melt it in a pan directly on the stove-top as it will tend to scorch. 
• Prepare plates covered with wax paper to put the finished Buckeyes on.
• Once the chocolate is melted, get out the peanut mixture chunks and quickly dip them one at a time in the melted chocolate then place them on the prepared plates.  I drop them in, then roll them around and get them out with a fork.  If they start getting too soft, put them back in the freezer for a bit.
• Freeze the finish products for about an hour, then they should be hard enough to eat or repackage to store in the freezer.

Note: I use a natural kind of peanut butter as many add sugar, but if you can find a more traditional one without sugar added, it may make it thicker.

Thanks to Elizabeth's sister Sarah, from Sarah's Scribbling, for guest posting her Sugar Free Buckeye Recipe.

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