Peanut Butter Balls

My love affair with sweet-and-salty continues.  Peanut butter and chocolate is an old flame that never died.  Try putting together past and present affairs and it spells disaster.  Disaster to everything that's important in life-- waistline, hips and butt.   I look forward to the future when you can press some buttons and decide where you want those calories to go.   I'd start with b--bs.  Then I'd make Naddy eat 100 peanut butter balls and press "everywhere!"  That would be awesome.  But that's crap.  It'll never happen.  So let's just practice restraint.   One ball a day, two at most.  (Note to self:  make larger balls next time).  

These are just actually homemade Resee's balls.  Resee's peanut butter cups are not easy to find where I live and the thought of making candy appealed to me.  This is really easy and fun to make.  The only part where I had trouble was the chocolate.  I only had unsweetened chocolate bars and I kept adding cream, sugar and milk to get the taste I right.  You can always use milk chocolate or bittersweet chocolate to eliminate the hassle of doing what I did.  The texture might be better too.   It's just that I can't postpone making this for another day as if my life depended on this materializing.  But if you have more EQ than I, then I suggest you prepare ahead and do this when you've got proper ingredients at your disposal.  

A:  12 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

B:   1/4 cup cream cheese, softened

      1 1/2 cups peanut butter (I used Resee's peanut butter no less)

C:  1 cup graham cracker crumbs

D:  3 cups confectioner's sugar

      1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled

*Salt: optional.  1/2 teaspoon or more if you want it a little salty.  I used a combination of fine sea salt and flaky kosher salt.  I just kept adding until I was satisfied.

Melt A in a double broiler or in a heat proof bowl over a pan of boiling water.  Stir until they are completely smooth and set aside to cool.

Mix B until combined.  Add C and mix using a spatula.  Add D and mix using a spatula until there isn't enough powder to fly around once you start using the mixer.  Mix on low to medium speed until ingredients are well combined.  If they don't come together, just press/knead by hand (preferably clean, lol).  Shape into balls and  dip into the cooled melted chocolate.  I used a stick and teaspoon to dip and scoop out the balls.  Chill until they are set. (Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen).  I halved the recipe and I made more than enough for three people to share.

Restraint is the key word here.  Stop yourself from popping the peanut butter mixture while shaping them into balls.  Stop yourself from eating everything in one sitting.  I've had two balls already when I asked myself  why I even bothered making these if all it does is torture me. I have a number of reasons why I shouldn't make and eat these.  But there's only one reason to make these balls: they are delicious.  Life is too short to worry about getting fat.  Just practice restraint, exercise more and forgive yourself.