Chocolate-covered peanut butter balls... a Christmas favorite

Chocolate, peanut butter, powdered sugar…. What’s not to like?
Chocolate-covered peanut butter balls have long been a holiday favorite of mine. First we would get them from a family friend, Darla Hamm. Then, to feed my insatiable appetite for the little treats, my mother got the recipe.
But now I’ve moved to Shelby and am starting my own bachelor kitchen. Neither mom nor Mrs. Hamm is here to cook for me so I’m learning to make my own chocolate-covered peanut butter balls.
The basic concept of chocolate-covered peanut butter balls is very simple. They are balls of peanut butter covered in chocolate. VERY simple.
Making the yummy snacky-poos [YOUR CALL ON WHETHER WE WANNA USE THE WORD SNACKY POO] is only a little more complicated.
Mix together a cup of smooth peanut butter, a teaspoon and a half of vanilla, two sticks of margarine and a cup and a half of powdered sugar. Then add in another cup of peanut butter.
Personally I find an extra half cup of sugar is necessary to keep the peanut butter from being too sticky, but I imagine that may depend some on the type of peanut butter used.
Roll the mix into grape-sized balls. I use the palms of my hands. Plop them on a baking sheet, put a toothpick in the top of each one and place them in a freezer.
While you’re waiting on the peanut butter to harden enough to dip them in melted chocolate, you can start melting the chocolate.
Double boil 12 oz. of chocolate chips and one ounce of paraffin. Using the toothpicks as handles, dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate and place them back into the freezer to harden. I like using two trays – having one in the freezer while I’m using the other one.
So far I’ve had to melt a second batch of chocolate because I still have batter left after more than a hundred balls. But that’s good since the sweets tend to disappear so readily. Especially in an office.