When I was in grade 3, our teacher wanted the class to create a recipe book for our mothers on Mother's Day. The only catch was the the recipe needed to be presented in class and we weren't allowed the use of an oven.
So having drawn the dessert category, I remember being a little stumped. So I went home and searched through all of our cookbooks. It wasn't until I cracked open this very old French Canadian cookbook that had been passed down to my mother from her mother I found a recipe that needed no cooking.
These crispy little balls are wonderfully messy to make. The kids got a kick out of rolling the balls in the sugar and coconut. The messiest part of the job, which meant there was always something to lick off a sticky finger or ten!
Here's the recipe.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 cup rice cereal
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
splash of vanilla
splash of milk
Combine the butter and peanut butter. Add 1 cup of icing sugar. Mix well. Stir in the rice cereal and the chocolate chips.
Place the coconut in a shallow dish.
In a separate shallow dish create a slurry with the remaining icing sugar and a splash of each vanilla and milk. You want the mixture to be thick enough to stick to the balls and yet not running off. Adjust the thickness with milk.
Now here comes the messy parts. It helps to create an assembly line.
Roll the dough into little bite sized balls, then roll the dough in the icing sugar bath followed by the pool of coconut. Let the peanut butter balls firm up on a piece of parchment paper.
I hope you enjoy a piece of my childhood!
