5-Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls

These super easy 5-ingredient peanut butter balls are a must-make around the holidays. Creamy peanut butter combines with powdered sugar and butter to make a simple and scrumptious filling that is rolled into balls and chilled. Ghirardelli melting wafers provide a perfect, shiny chocolate coating- no tempering required. Add these truffles to your Christmas dessert spread and watch them disappear!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 40

Cooling Time: 25

Total Time: 1 5

Yield: 32 truffles

Equipment (Shop on Amazon)

Medium Mixing Bowl
KitchenAid Hand Mixer
#100 Cookie Scoop (2 tsp)
Pre-Cut Parchment Sheets
Half Sheet Pan
Serving Fork (my preferred utensil for transferring the truffles to a sheet pan- more on this later)
Toothpicks

Ingredients

▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
▢ ½ cup creamy peanut butter
▢ 3 tbsp salted butter softened
▢ 10 oz Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Flavored Melting Wafers (shop on Amazon)
▢ 2 tsp shortening (either original or butter-flavored)
▢ Extra chocolate to drizzle on top of the truffles (optional)
▢ Chocolate sprinkles (optional- shop on Amazon)

Instructions

Add the powdered sugar, creamy peanut butter, and salted butter to a medium mixing bowl. Mix on low/medium speed until well combined (approx. 2-3 minutes).
Little note- Ensure that the butter is softened, NOT melted. If the butter is too melty it may make it difficult to scoop the filling and shape it into balls in the next step.
1 cup powdered sugar, ½ cup creamy peanut butter, 3 tbsp salted butter
Add parchment to a sheet pan. Scoop the filling using the #100 cookie scoop (2 tsp- leveled). Lightly roll the filling between your palms to form a small ball before placing it on the parchment.
Place the sheet pan with the balls of filling on it in the freezer for 25 minutes. This is very important! If you do not chill the filling, the balls will lose their shape as soon as you put them in the melted chocolate.
When the filling has about 5 minutes left in the freezer, prep your chocolate for dipping. Place the Ghirardelli melting wafers in a medium bowl with a wide mouth, along with the shortening.
Microwave the chocolate and shortening in 20-second increments at half power, stirring vigorously in between. It should take about 7 or 8 of these 20-second increments to get the wafers to their melting point, depending on your microwave.
2 tsp shortening, 10 oz Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Flavored Melting Wafers
At this point, your chocolate should be melted and the filling should be done chilling. Grab a few paper towels, a fork, and some toothpicks. Prep another sheet pan with parchment paper.
It's time to dip the truffles. Place one ball of chilled filling in the bowl of melted chocolate wafers and gently move it around with the spoon to ensure all sides are coated. Scoop the truffle up with the fork and gently tap the handle of the fork 6-7 times on the side of the bowl to get some of the excess chocolate off. Scrape the bottom of the fork off on the side of the bowl as you transfer the truffle over to the sheet pan.
Use a toothpick to gently push the truffle off of the fork and onto the parchment. Repeat these steps for each truffle, wiping the fork down in between truffles.
You can read my tips and tricks for dipping the truffles in the notes section at the end of this recipe card.
The chocolate will harden quite quickly, so you can enjoy these truffles right away! You might also choose to decorate them using some more melted chocolate, sprinkles, or both. Store the truffles in an airtight container in the fridge.

Notes from the Happy To Be Here Kitchen

My Tips & Tricks For Perfect Truffles:

Make sure the filling is cold enough. If the filling is not cold enough, you will notice it melting and the peanut butter balls will almost immediately lose their shape when placed in the melted chocolate. The fork will also likely dig into them, making quite a mess.

If you get partway through dipping your truffles and notice that the filling is becoming too soft, pause and throw the sheet pan of filling back in the freezer for a few minutes.

Use a fork with fewer tines. In fact, the fewer tines on your fork, the better for dipping these truffles. Of course, you need the fork to hold up the truffle, but you also want space for excess chocolate to fall through and back into the bowl. I have also found that it's easier to transfer the truffles off a fork with fewer tines. I prefer to use a large serving fork with three tines, like the one I linked in the "Equipment" section.

Clean your fork in between truffles! I have found this to be very important. If you let chocolate build up on your fork, it will likely cause sticking when transferring truffles to the sheet pan. I wipe the fork off with a paper towel after every or every other truffle (at the most).

Use a clean toothpick. Much like the fork, you may notice extra sticking if there is too much chocolate built up on your toothpick. Have a good 6 or 7 clean ones ready to go just in case.

Make sure your chocolate is melted enough. You may find the chocolate becoming thicker partway through the process of dipping all of the truffles. In that scenario, pop the chocolate back in the microwave for 15-20 seconds at half power to loosen it up again.

Fill in any gaps with chocolate. If you transfer a truffle over to the sheet pan and notice a small hole or gap in the chocolate coating, simply fill it in with a bit of extra chocolate using a toothpick before it has completely hardened.

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