Easy to Make (No Bake) Peanut Chews
How to Make Peanut Chews
This recipe was originally given to me by my grandmother. She had made them for us once when my sisters and I visited her in Southern California. This was many years ago and when my children were growing up, I made these for them and it was always a favorite in our household. My children would help with the preparation which was always a fun family bonding time.
The recipe consists of only 4 ingredients, peanut butter, corn syrup, dried milk, and powdered sugar.
Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best and I think this would have to go into this category. There is no baking which is always a plus when you have kids. These simply need to be chilled before serving.
Making Peanut Butter From Scratch
I live in a small village in rural Brazil where peanut butter is not available so I make it in a food processor. Let me show you how I do this. If you prefer to use ready made peanut butter, you can skip down the page a bit.
The nuts will need to have the shell and husk removed. Removing the skins is laborious but necessary. I do this by pouring the required amount into a colander and placing the colander over a bowl. You just put your hand in and rub the peanuts together. The skins will fall through the holes of the colander and into the bowl. Keep going until all of the skins are removed.
Place the skinless peanuts into the bowl of the food processor with the chopping blade in place.
Begin by using the pulse button if you have one.
Once the nuts have begun to break up, you can use a low speed. When the nuts have reached the size of crumbs, then you can add oil. The type of oil is up to you, peanut oil is an obvious choice but I have used sunflower, corn or canola oil. Don't use olive oil for this recipe.
Keep adding oil slowly until you reach the desired consistency. It may be necessary to stop the machine periodically and use a rubber spatula to blend in any that peanut mixture which has been trapped in the edge of the mixing bowl. Now is the time to add salt and sugar or another type of sweetener. Both of these will be to taste.
Cook Time
Time for chilling
Because these need to be chilled, I have set this at 2 hours. This will depend on your refrigerator.
Peanut butter chews
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Peanut butter, your choice
- 1 Cup Corn Syrup (treacle)
- 1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar (icing sugar)
- 2 Cups Instant dry milk powder
Instructions
- Mix peanut butter and corn syrup, stir until mixed thoroughly. Add dry milk powder and powdered sugar. The mixture will be very stiff. keep mixing until well combined.
- Now you may notice in the picture on the right, that there are large white lumps. This is my powdered sugar. Here in the tropics the humidity is high and I didn't keep it in an airtight container, hence the lumps.
- Once the mixture is thoroughly combined, it will have a glossy appearance. Now you are ready to begin making the balls. Pull off just enough mixtures to make balls about an inch in diameter.
- Roll between your palms until you have a smooth shiny ball and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Continue doing this leaving a small gap between the cookies.
- If your kitchen is warm, you may find they flatten slightly. Don't worry about this, we will be placing them in the refrigerator where they will firm up. After they have chilled slightly you can always re-roll them if you wish.
- If you are preparing these for guests, I would suggest using mini-cupcake cases. They make these more attractive and easier for your guests to handle.
Cookies, Old or new recipes?
Do you like to experiment with different types of cookie recipes?
Finding Cookie Recipes
I love having a variety of cookie and dessert cookbooks. It is always nice for your family or guests to be surprised by something different at the end of their meal or as an afternoon treat.
The places I find new recipes are on the internet or in books. I love to hunt out old cookbooks with recipes that have been forgotten. I look at thrift shops, garage sales and even when the library has a day they sell off some of their old books. Ebay is also a great source of interesting recipe books.
© 2012 Mary Wickison
