This Vegan Buckeye Balls makes healthy peanut butter balls with a soft peanut butter fudge partially dipped in a crunchy chocolate shell. This buckeye candy is a great vegan treat for any occasion or as a vegan Christmas dessert.
Buckeye balls, also known as no-bake peanut butter balls, are peanut butter fudge balls usually made of butter, powdered sugar, and peanut butter. They are partially covered with a chocolate shell and look like the nut of an Ohio Buckeye tree. My version is made with only plant-based ingredients!
It’s a great chocolatey alternative to my Banana Peanut Butter Balls, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls, and No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This is a healthy buckeye balls recipe without shortening or powdered sugar. Instead, these buckeye cookie balls use a combination of healthy gluten-free flour and unrefined sugar to achieve the similar peanut butter fudge texture of a classic buckeye recipe but good for you.
Let’s see the ingredients you need to make this easy peanut butter balls recipe:
- Natural Peanut Butter – with no added oil, no added sugar. Make sure you are using a fresh jar with oil on top to make fudgy dairy-free buckeye balls. You can also use sunflower seed butter for a nut-free option, but the flavor will be slightly bitter. Also, this recipe can be used to make paleo buckeye balls too if you swap peanut butter for almond butter.
- Maple Syrup – or agave syrup or sugar-free maple-flavored syrup if keto.
- Coconut Oil – you must use coconut oil. Any other vegetable oils wouldn’t work in raw vegan desserts.
- Almond Flour – or oat flour for a nut-free option. These vegan peanut butter buckeyes won’t work with all-purpose flour simply because it’s not safe to eat raw wheat flour. Almond flour is basically ground almonds, and it’s a safe flour to use in raw vegan treats.
- Coconut Flour – you can replace coconut flour with four times more almond flour, so here, replace 2 tablespoons of coconut flour with 8 extra tablespoons of almond flour. These raw vegan peanut butter balls will be extremely soft if you use only almond flour. It means they will be much more difficult to roll into balls and can slightly flatten.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
- Vegan Chocolate Chips – dark chocolate chips or vegan milk chocolate chips; choose your favorite option.
How To Make Vegan Buckeye Balls
- First, add all the liquid ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir until smooth.
- Then, stir in the flour until cookie dough forms. You can also use a food processor to combine all your ingredients together, but it’s not necessary.
- Finally, scoop out 1 tablespoon of batter and roll in a ball between your hands.
- Place each ball onto a plate or flat surface covered with parchment paper to prevent them from sticking to the plate.
- Freeze the plate to firm up the balls – about 15 minutes.
- This is very important, or the balls will be too soft, and they won’t dip easily into the melted chocolate.
Dipping Into Chocolate
To dip these vegan peanut butter bliss balls halfway into chocolate, I recommend using:
- A tall jar – to store the melted chocolate in a tall glass or jar. It makes it easier to dip these no-bake vegan peanut butter balls.
- A toothpick – to hold the peanut butter ball and dip it into the chocolate.
To make perfect chocolate-covered peanut butter balls with a chocolate void on top, you need:
- Insert a toothpick in the center of the frozen peanut butter ball.
- Hold the toothpick and dip the ball into the melted chocolate, rotating the ball to only cover the sides.
- Return the chocolate-covered peanut butter ball onto the prepared plate, covered with parchment paper.
- Freeze the plate to firm up the chocolate shell.
Storage Instructions
These Vegan Buckeye Balls can be stored in the fridge for about a week. You can freeze these no-bake peanut butter balls in a sealed container for up to 2 months. Thaw them at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.
Serving
These peanut butter and chocolate balls taste like a peanut butter cup with a fudgier peanut butter filling. They are delicious vegan truffles for Christmas, Thanksgiving, or any occasion.
But they also are great as a healthy snack as they contain similar nutritional properties as most vegan energy balls recipes. In fact, these are very similar to my other healthy peanut butter balls recipes: vegan cookie dough balls or protein balls.
The only difference here is the texture. These no-bake peanut butter balls or buckeye balls, call them as you love, are extremely fudgy!
Frequently Asked Questions
These vegan buckeye balls are soft, fudgy peanut butter balls with a crunchy dark chocolate shell.
They are slightly sweet with a strong peanut butter caramel flavor from the maple syrup.
They don’t taste like coconut, even if the recipe uses coconut flour and a touch of coconut oil.
If you really don’t like coconut flavor, use refined coconut oil in this recipe.
You can replace coconut flour with 4 times more almond flour, but the balls will be very soft and much more difficult to shape.
These vegan buckeye balls can be keto-adapted using sugar-free fiber syrup instead of maple syrup.
The texture of the peanut butter balls will be slightly dryer and firmer with this option.
This is because the sugar-free maple-flavored syrup contains way more fiber than regular maple syrup.
However, this is a great option to make vegan keto peanut butter balls. If you are on a vegan keto diet, this will be a great treat.
For a fudgy texture, reduce coconut flour to 1 tablespoon.
More Raw Vegan Treats
I love to create raw vegan treats as a quick and easy vegan dessert or healthy snack. Below are my favorite 20 minutes vegan treats recipes
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Vegan Buckeye Balls
Ingredients
- ½ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - fresh, drippy, no added oil or sugar
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup - or agave syrup
- 1 teaspoon Melted Coconut Oil - or Cocoa Butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ¾ cup Almond Flour - packed, leveled up
- 2 tablespoons Coconut Flour - packed, leveled up
Chocolate cover
- 1 cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
Instructions
- Cover a large plate with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine peanut butter with coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Stir in almond flour and coconut flour to form a thick batter.
- Slightly oil your hands, scoop out 1 tablespoon of batter and roll into a ball.
- Place each ball onto a plate covered with parchment paper.
- Repeat until no more batter left.
- Freeze the plate with the peanut balls on it until the balls are firm but you are still able to insert a toothpick in the center of each ball – about 15 minutes.
Chocolate shell
- Just before removing the plate from the freezer, add the chocolate chips and coconut oil into a tall microwave-safe glass or jar and microwave by 30 seconds burst, stirring between each burst until the chocolate is smooth and melted.
- Remove the plate from the freezer, insert a toothpick in the center of one peanut butter ball and dip into the melted chocolate leaving a circle uncovered by chocolate on top of the balls.
- Place the balls back onto the plate covered with parchment paper.
- Repeat until all peanut butter balls are covered with chocolate.
- Freeze the plate again to firm up the chocolate shell – about 5-8 minutes.
Storage
- Store the buckeye balls in the fridge, in a sealed container, or freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw 1 hour before serving
Notes
- Replace maple syrup with sugar-free maple-flavored syrup
- Replace vegan dark chocolate with sugar-free chocolate chips
- Vegan keto Macro per balls using the above keto option :
- Calorie: 115 kcal, Fat: 12.4 g, Sat, Fat: 3.6 g, Net Carbs: 3.3g (Carbs: 14.3 g Fiber: 11g), Sugar: 1.3 g
Could I just use almond flour? I don’t have any coconut flour and really like to make it now
You can but the balls will be softer and won’t hold their shape as well.
can you substitute GF flour for the almond flour? I have someone with nut allergies. Coconut is ok.
Gluten free flour is not edible raw so I wouldn’t recommend that. Coconut flour works but you will need about 4 times less than almond flour because its so high in fiber! Other optionwitha 1:! ratio, is to use oat flour instead of almond flour. Enjoy
Why two types of flour? Just curious…
for texture, if you only add coconut flour they are very dry and crumbly and only almond flour make the balls soft and fatty, they don’t hold their shape. Enjoy the recipe
Delicious and easy!
Easy to make and such a yummy snack! I only used 2 tablespoons of maple syrup as I don’t like my snacks too sweet, but this made the mixture a little dry and more crumbly. But it still worked and my non-vegan hubby enjoys it too!
I tried this andd OMG IT IS SOOOO GOOD
Thanks you ! Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
you state to use a fresh jar of natural pb with the oil on top … why?… are you pouring off this oil or mixing it in as normally would prior to use?… thanks
The oil on top of a jar refer to a fresh jar, it means peanut butter that is runny, not hard and oil. When you open a fresh jar of peanut butter you know it’s good if the oil is on top, then your stir the entire jar before measuring. Enjoy, XOXO Carine