Peanut Butter {Chocolate} Balls

I am not obsessed with sweet treats but I do enjoy a good quality chocolate treat from time to time.  The combination of peanut butter and chocolate is pure genius and has been around for a long time. It's simply hard to resist!

These treats are the cleaner version of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Are they one of your faves? If so, this recipe is for you! And, in my opinion, much better than the Reese's cups. Plus, you get to lick the spoon (are spoons in our case, since we all had to have one) in the process!

This recipe comes from the book Clean Start, by Terry Walters.  

Peanut Butter {Chocolate} Balls

1 cup {natural} peanut butter

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup rice cereal, plus more if needed

2 cups gluten and dairy free chocolate chips or 12 ounces dark chocolate

Place peanut butter and maple syrup in food processor and pulse to combine. Fold in crispy rice cereal. If your peanut butter is particularly runny, add more cereal until mixture holds together in balls. Form penny-size balls and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets.


Melt chocolate chips or chocolate in a double boiler or in small pot over very low heat. Drop 3-4 balls into the chocolate and roll them around until covered completely. With a teaspoon, scoop out each ball individually, holding it against the side of the bowl to allow excess chocolate to drip off. Place each chocolate-covered ball back on lined cookie sheet. Repeat until all balls are coated and refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour). Serve cold or room temperature.


Makes: 30 balls

NOTE: I made mine a little larger than suggested because I used the small scoop from Pampered Chef. I think I came out to 24 of them. 


Also, please be careful when selecting your items for this recipe, one wrong move and you've went to the {dirty} side. For example, Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal has added chemical preservatives. I actually used Koala Crisp by EnviroKidz Organics which was already flavored chocolate so I probably went overboard on sugar on this one! I found it at my Kroger in the All Natural Foods Section.