Being from Ohio, it's different now, because we live in North Carolina. Back home, everywhere you turned, you could find Ohio State Buckeye decor. Down here though, there are the Tar Heels, Wolf Pack, Blue Devils and Pirates. I have tried like mad to figure out what an Ohio girl has to do to get a decent Buckeye. What's a Buckeye you might ask? Our state tree is the Buckeye Tree. It's a big and beautiful tree actually, which has these pods that drop to the ground.
As a kid, the thing to do was to collect as many pods as you could and run home with them. There, you could open them up and see how many buckeyes each pod had inside. The buckeyes are a dark brown nut with a light brown center. We were always told growing up that their name was derived from the Native Americans who once walked the land. The nut looks like the eye of a buck/deer, hence the name..."Buckeye". The tricky part about a buckeye, is that they're poisonous. You can't eat them. What we did instead, was make candy buckeyes to look like the original, but ooooooh how they tasted.
One of my best friends from home, Tricia, always had the BEST recipe for Buckeyes out of any version I've ever eaten. The candy basically tastes like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but sometimes, people can make them too sweet, sometimes too peanut buttery...Tricia's are the perfect concoction.
She will tell you that it's not "her" recipe, but regardless, I call her every year to get it. I recently asked her if she wouldn't mind that I posted it and here it is: (Thanks Tricia!) :)
1 pound of peanut butter
1 pound of butter
2 pounds of powdered sugar
1-2 bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix the peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar together. (Some people put just a little bit of vanilla in too.) Form small balls and chill. Melt the chocolate and dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate, making sure not to cover the top. Let them rest/harden on parchment paper and then enjoy!
As Saturday brings the first football game for Ohio State this year, we'll be ready and waiting with our family, friends and food. Even though we'll be watching the game from the south, we'll be cheering them on with a plate of one of God's greatest gifts...The Buckeyes.