Frozen Peanut Butter Balls

Awhile back I was trying to find some easy lunch and snack ideas. I like to search on Amazon and then read the reviews so I know what might be good. Most books get a trial run at the library and some make it to my "buy" list. Anyway, one that seemed to have a lot of good reviews was The Good to Go Cookbook. The following recipe is one we've had from there a couple of times with a few (accidental at first, but now preferred) changes.

She calls them Power Balls and serves then chilled, using the freezer as a more long term storage method. We like ours straight out of the freezer, so we refer to them as Frozen Peanut Butter Balls.

You will need:

1/2 C crushed cereal

1 C peanut butter

1/2 C honey

1 C nonfat dry milk

roughly 1/2 C oats or other cereal/other topping

To crush the cereal, I'd suggest doubling the pre-crushed amount. Crushing the cereal in a bag with a rolling pin is a fun way to have the kiddos help out. Once the cereal is like a rough powder, I added it to the bowl to mix with the other ingredients. The original recipe doesn't do this. Instead it is uses the cereal to roll the balls in.

A trick I use for both the honey and the peanut butter to help get them out of the measuring cup a bit easier is to spray them with cooking spray. Dump the honey and peanut butter in with the cereal.

Stir, stir, stir.

Slowly add the dry milk. For some reason my kids thought powdered milk was hilarious. Lucky for them they haven't spent their childhood drinking it like I did. (Blech!)

Once it is mixed smooth, roll it into teaspoon sized balls.

Then, if you are using the optional oats, roll them around in a shallow bowl filled with oats until covered and place on a lined cookie sheet.

 Others topping that might be good are mini chocolate chips, shredded coconut, sprinkles, etc.

While momma is bringing the pan over to chill the peanut butter balls either in the fridge or freezer, the kids help can "clean up."

I didn't catch either boy in the act of eating the treat, but you can see some residual evidence here, and the satisfactory smile of a tasty snack having been consumed.

They store in the freezer well, but my kids gobble them up so fast (or as fast as I let them) that they don't last long enough for me to worry about their "shelf life." They really enjoy this alternative cold treat.

Activities for Summer #8