Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Balls...

...otherwise known as, goodness in the form of an edible ball.

These are delightful and are currently holding the #1 spot in J's "Christmas Treat" ranking system. Ok, he doesn't really have one, but he did say these are his faves so far.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Balls

adapted from Christmas cookies.com

1 (18 oz size) jar of peanut butter

2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

about 2 cups chocolate chips

1-2 tbl shortening

In a medium sized bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips and shortening. Blend well until the mixture forms a dough. If you refrigerate this for an hour or so at this point, it will be much easier to work with. Roll into 1-inch balls, place on a parchment covered cookie sheet or pan, and pop back into the refrigerator.

Just before you're ready to begin dipping, melt the chocolate in the microwave (at 30 second intervals) or over a double boiler. Stir in the shortening, which will thin the sauce. Using a toothpick, fork, spoon...whatever your "dipping mechanism" is...dip the balls into the chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Refrigerate until hardened.

My notes: This "dough" is very sticky, so it is MUCH easier to work with when it's cold. It's worth the extra time to refrigerate it at each stage. The original recipe did not call for the shortening, so you could skip that ingredient if you want. However, I found the melted chocolate alone was quite thick and tricky to dunk the balls in...the shortening thinned it and made that process much easier.