Buckeye Fudge Candy Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is buckeye candy made of? ›

Buckeyes are peanut butter fudge balls dipped in chocolate. Unlike classic peanut butter balls, a circle of peanut butter is left visible. The finished product resembles the nut that grows on the Ohio buckeye tree.

If the fudge is very soft and slightly chewy then it is possible that it did not quite cook to soft ball stage and next time the mixture should be cooked to a slightly higher temperature (soft ball is 112-116c/235-240F and a sugar or candy thermometer can help).

How to Store Buckeyes. 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.

Sugar Crystals Formed

It's important to beat the fudge ingredients to develop the right texture, but you won't get smooth, creamy fudge if you beat it when it's too hot. Beating fudge when it's still over heat creates sugar crystals, aka the grittiness you feel in the fudge.

Buckeyes are similar to peanut butter balls (or peanut-butter-filled chocolate balls), which are completely covered in chocolate. Named for their resemblance to the poisonous nut of the Ohio buckeye tree, the state tree of Ohio, this candy is particularly popular in Ohio and neighboring states.

Life Savers was first created in 1912 by Clarence Crane, a candy maker from Garrettsville, Ohio (and father of the famed poet Hart Crane).

You have to control two temperatures to make successful fudge: the cooking temperature AND the temperature at which the mixture cools before stirring to make it crystallize. Confectionery experiments have shown that the ideal cooking temperature for fudge is around 114 to 115 °C (237 to 239 °F).

Of course, there's no secret about the appeal of fudge—it's the chocolate. That's what draws people in, but once in a fudge shop, they learn of the many varieties and combinations of flavors available these days. Taffy has many flavors too, but its appeal is in its chewy, light texture.

Fudge usually behaves this way when it's not cooked to a high enough temperature (due to oversight or a faulty candy thermometer).

Carrying buckeye seed is an old custom. They were carried as a folk remedy to ward off rheumatism, hemorrhoids and other assorted ailments. But mostly, it was considered a lucky charm. An old saying went, “You'll never find a dead man with a buckeye in his pocket.”

Why do people keep buckeyes? ›

During September, buckeyes, which are large, shiny brown seeds, can be found underneath Aesculus trees. According to legend, carrying a pocketful of buckeyes brings good luck. Early Native Americans called these seeds buckeyes for their resemblance to the eyes of male deer, known as bucks.

The Buckeye's Place in History. As well as the belief in the good fortune of its storied seed, the buckeye has been held to cure rheumatism and other, more minor ailments. Pioneering farm families also made soap from the kernels of buckeye seeds, and many a child's cradle was carved from the wood of this tree.

By letting the fudge cool without stirring, you avoid creating seed crystals. Stirring would help sucrose molecules "find" one another and start forming crystals. Stirring also introduces air, dust, and small dried bits from the walls of the saucepan—all potential seeds for crystal formation.

Cream of tartar is used in caramel sauces and fudge to help prevent the sugar from crystallizing while cooking. It also prevents cooling sugars from forming brittle crystals, this is why it's the secret ingredient in snickerdoodles!

It's actually just a scientific process called “chocolate bloom”. There are two types of this bloom: sugar bloom and fat bloom. Sugar bloom happens when moisture comes in contact with the chocolate - it dissolves the sugar crystals on the chocolate's surface, leaving a white, powdery look.

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.

Sweet, salty, crumbly-yet-smooth peanut butter balls dipped in dark chocolate, buckeyes are the retro no-bake confections that taste like peanut butter cups and look like seminude chocolate truffles.

Chocolate buckeyes are peanut butter bonbons partially dipped in chocolate. Part of the light-colored filling is left un-coated giving the candy the appearance of a buckeye nut. While the buckeye nut is poisonous, the buckeye treat is delicious.

buckeye, any of about six species of North American trees and shrubs in the genus Aesculus of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae). The name refers to the resemblance of the nutlike seed, which has a pale patch on a shiny red-brown surface, to the eye of a deer.