Print

Salted Chocolate Peanut Butter Bonbons

Prevent your screen from going dark

Makes 36 balls 1x

Time 30 minutes

In How to Cook Everything Fast, recipe directions are separated into “prep” and “cook.” Here, we’ve made that distinction with italics for prep-work and plain text for cooking. This reflects the most efficient order and timing of tasks.

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 4 ounces dark chocolate
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup powdered sugar, plus more as needed
  • Salt (the flaky kind is best here)

Instructions

  1. Put 2 tablespoons butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl.
  2. Chop 4 ounces chocolate; add it to the bowl.
  3. Microwave the mixture on high heat, checking and stirring occasionally, until the butter and chocolate melt, a minute or two.
  4. Add 1 cup peanut butter and stir until it’s evenly incorporated. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and stir until the mixture is smooth.
  5. Put a piece of wax or parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet. Use 2 teaspoons to drop 1-inch balls of dough onto the sheet. Sprinkle with a little salt.
  6. Put the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze just until the balls firm up a bit, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve right away or store in an airtight container for up to a couple days in the refrigerator or several weeks in the freezer.

— Recipe from How to Cook Everything Fast

Recipe variations

Salted Chocolate Almond Butter Bonbons One logical spin on the original. Use almond butter instead of peanut butter.

Chocolate Coconut Bonbons Omit the salt. One quick extra step gets you a giant leap closer to a Mounds bar. Replace the peanut butter with unsweetened shredded coconut. Put it in a food processor with 1 tablespoon water and let the machine run for 30 seconds or so. Stop and scrape down the sides. You’re looking for the texture of nut butter, so if you’re not there yet, repeat, adding water 1 teaspoon at a time until you are. Then proceed with the recipe from Step 3, substituting the coconut paste for the peanut butter.

Chocolate Cherry Bonbons Works with any dried fruit really. Omit the salt and peanut butter. Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan and add 1 cup dried sweet or tart cherries. Remove from the heat, cover, and steep until the fruit is fully tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well, reserving the liquid. Purée the cherries into a paste following the directions in the preceding variation, using the reserved soaking liquid to reach the desired consistency. Proceed from Step 3.