Almond Butter Buckeye Balls Recipe - Paleo Grubs (2024)

FAQs

Why are my Buckeyes so sticky? ›

Why are my Peanut Butter Balls so sticky? First, make sure you're using regular peanut butter (rather than the natural peanut butter that's more runny). If it's too sticky still, you can simply add a little more powdered sugar until it's a nice consistency for rolling into small balls.

Once you're done, stick a toothpick into the center of each one and pop them into the freezer until they're nice and firm, about 30 minutes. You want them to be able to withstand being dipped into warm melted chocolate, and not start to fall apart. This amount of time does the trick!

Buckeyes are fine to sit out at room temperature on holiday cookie plates for up to 24 hours, though if you're keeping them around for longer than that, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator where they'll stay fresh for up to 2 weeks. Buckeyes also freeze super well.

Buckeyes are a confection made from a peanut butter fudge partially dipped in chocolate to leave a circle of peanut butter visible. Buckeyes are similar to peanut butter balls (or peanut-butter-filled chocolate balls), which are completely covered in chocolate.

Insect pests vary by site, but buckeye lace bugs, Japanese beetles, bagworms, and borer species can feed on buckeye trees. Infestations or feeding rarely become severe and usually do not warrant the application of insecticides.

Removing the shell and roasting the nut neutralizes its harmful tannic acid content and makes for a protein-packed snack. If not prepared properly though, buckeye nuts are toxic to humans, causing symptoms including weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, paralysis, and death.

To avoid a dry, crumby dough . . .

Mix together the peanut butter and butter first, and then stir in the powdered sugar one cup at a time, until you reach the right consistency. Usually about 3 cups of powdered sugar will do for approximately 1 1/2-2 cups of peanut butter.

According to folklore, the buckeye or nuts that fall from the tree resemble the eye of a deer buck, and carrying one brings good luck.

Remove the nuts from the leathery husks and store them in the refrigerator for 120 days.

Just as the trees finish flowering (sometimes before, especially in dry areas or dry seasons), the foliage will begin to show “autumnal” tints of soft yellow and tan, and the leaves begin to fall or wither.

Do buckeyes like sun or shade? ›

Culture: Red buckeye can be grown in shade or full sun, although its growth is shrubby and open in shade. It does well in all soil textures, and prefers a moist, well-drained soil that is slightly alkaline to acidic. It grows best in good, rich soil.

For deer, buckeyes are low on their preferred list of nuts. There are also no clear studies on whether deer can eat buckeyes. In contrast, squirrels eat them and are thought to be the only animals that can eat buckeyes without any effects. Nevertheless, some natives have found deer grazing on buckeye nuts.

Poisonous Plant: All parts of the plant (leaves, bark, fruit) are highly toxic if ingested – because of the glycoside aesculin, the saponin aescin, and possibly alkaloids. Symptoms are muscle weakness and paralysis, dilated pupils, vomiting, diarrhea, depression, paralysis, and stupor.

Toxic Principle The glycoside aesculin and fraxin and possible a narcotic alkaloid, present in the young growing sprouts, leaves and seeds are thought to be responsible for toxicity in animals. Experimentally, as little as 1/2% body weight of ground nuts fed to calves produced severe poisoning.

The seeds of yellow buckeye are poisonous to humans if eaten raw. Native Americans detoxified the seeds with a roasting procedure using hot rocks. Bookbinders have benefitted from the toxic properties of buckeye.

If your butter was too soft or if the peanut butter you're using is too thin, the filling can get a little soft and sticky as you're rolling. The refrigerator can fix that—stop what you're doing and chill the bowl of filling for 15 minutes in the refrigerator before trying again to roll into balls.

Dry your buckeye nuts in the sun for a few days. If you want to speed things up, you can dry them in an over at 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93.3 degrees Celsius) for two hours [source: Buckeyetree].

Any part of the plant, if ingested, is poisonous but just touching it is not harmful. Farmers have been known to remove the buckeye tree from fields where cattle graze to prevent the animals from eating any part of the tree. It can cause paralysis, vomiting, diarrhea, stupor.