Granny's Sideboard Sweets

My Granny was the epitome of a Southern lady, and she loved Christmas.  Growing up, I always looked forward to visiting her and my Pop in Alabama at Christmastime.

Granny always kept an array of Christmas goodies on the sideboard in her dining room.  Coconut cake, red velvet cake, Japanese fruit cake, along with pecan, pumpkin, and chocolate pies covered the whole surface.  In addition to the cakes and pies, there was also divinity and fudge.  As a child, though, what I looked forward to the most were her homemade buckeyes.

When Granny became ill and could no longer make her goodies from scratch, she still made sure there were sweets on the sideboard-- even if it was only decorative bowl full of Reese's cups.  Her sideboard was never bare.

I still make Granny's buckeyes at Christmas.  I've made a few adjustments to the recipe over the years, but it essentially remains the same.  I've also cut the recipe in half, because I discovered that the full recipe makes 12 dozen buckeyes!

Here is my Granny's recipe as it was given to me.  I've made notes at the bottom to explain what changes I've made to it.

Granny's Buckeyes

1 lb margarine

2 lbs peanut butter

3 lbs confectioner’s sugar

2 packages chocolate bark coating

Melt margarine over boiling water.  Add to the peanut butter and stir until smooth.  Sift the confectioner’s sugar and add this to the peanut butter; mix well (batter will be very stiff).  Roll into small balls and lay on waxed paper.

Melt the chocolate bark over a double boiler or in the microwave (do not overcook).  Using a spoon and a toothpick, dip the balls into this mixture when it is melted and place on waxed paper until cool.  Makes about 250 small pieces.  Use ¼ recipe for family.

**Granny's original recipe called for chocolate chips and paraffin to create the coating.  I've substituted chocolate bark coating because I find it much easier to do.  My Granny used to make her buckeyes fairly large-- the size of a half-dollar in diameter, but I prefer making them more the size of a nickel.  Which is probably why I ended up with SO many.  I once watched two whole movies while I was rolling and dipping buckeyes-- Little Women and You've Got Mail, as I recall.

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P.S. The picture above is not my Granny's sideboard, in case you were wondering.  It's from Christmas with Southern Living.  And even though the sideboard in the picture is styled much fancier than Granny would have done, it still reminds me of her sideboard and makes me smile.