A flavor explosion of nut butter, chile, and chocolate in a “cookie”!

• 3/4 c creamy nut butter, room temperature
• 1/3 c butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c Hacienda Maize Fire-Roasted Chile Jammin’ Jelly™
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 c. powdered sugar (See Notes*)
• 10 oz c chocolate chips
• 1 TBSP Crisco or solid coconut oil (See Notes*)

Using an electric mixer, blend nut butter, Jammin’ Jelly and butter together until smooth. Add vanilla and 1 c powdered sugar. Blend. Continue adding powdered sugar in increments to taste and texture you enjoy. Look for a pea-sized or half-pea-size texture.

Once combined, roll dough into 3/4″ balls (makes about 100, which you can do in stages). Smaller 3/4″ is better than larger. Place rolled balls on parchment-lined cookie sheet and chill 1+ hours.

At one hour/later, melt chocolate and oil/Crisco in the microwave. At one minute, stir chocolate and oil and proceed in 30-second intervals until almost fully melted. (You want a few chips left partially-melted to set chocolate crystals.) Leftover chocolate mixture can be re-used in the same manner or drizzled on anything you wish.

Tilt all the balls to one end of the sheet. Using a toothpick, dip nut butter balls into melted chocolate to coat all but the “eye,” tap off excess chocolate at the base and space again on parchment-covered tray. Refrigerate until chocolate is set. Remove from fridge, let warm, then smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Decorate top, if you wish, with melted chocolate applied with toothpick

Serve and enjoy! Store leftovers (if any) in the fridge.

! Savor !

*Notes: sugar can be adjusted and balanced with the consistency of your nut butter. Lighter on the sugar means a more buttery taste experience, but greater difficulty in dipping. More sugar makes the dipping easier, and mellows the chile flavor for better/worse ;-) As to the oil choice for the chocolate dip mixture, Crisco is vegetable shortening and coconut oil is virtually neutral in flavor. The purpose of the oil is ease in dipping and to keep the chocolate from drying out.

After many iterations, each one fantastic, we believe we’ve found the “sweet spot” on the sugar. DO enjoy and experiment to find the best blend for you!

Buckeye cookies are widely known, and while buckeye trees are prolific in Ohio they are also well-suited for Colorado’s climate. See this article from #TheGreeleyTribune: https://www.greeleytribune.com/2013/07/16/master-gardener-ohio-buckeye-tree-can-fill-up-big-yards-in-dry-environments/

There is a town called “Buckeye” in Colorado. Directly north from Fort Collins on Hwy 287, where the road ends and you have to turn right or do a 180. If you’ve ever been to the town of Starbuck in Washington state, it’s somewhat like that. ;-)