Fabulous holiday goodies to make, enjoy and definitely to share

Growing up, I was always so proud of how beloved a doctor my dad was. His patients just thought he hung the moon, and around Thanksgiving and Christmas, their fondness for him manifested itself in a huge, seemingly never-ending array, of edible goodies: homemade fudge of all kinds, cookies, rum cakes, pound cakes, jams, sausage, honey, nuts, caramel corn. It was a veritable cornucopia of sugar-infused love, and I loved it. Probably because of those memories, I still feel that the holidays aren't quite the same without goodie bags and boxes just waiting to be opened and enjoyed. I recently talked about my Aunt Renee's rum balls which I will soon be making, but I also want to share with you one of my dearest friend's home-state specialty, the Buckeye.

SJ hails from OH, and last year gifted me a bag of these chocolate-peanut butter delights. I tasted one, and immediately hid and did not even consider sharing the rest. Not a huge fan of peanut butter in general, I was nonetheless immediately smitten with these light yet sinful treats. The buckeye is the state tree of Ohio and produces a nut that looks like this.  Imagine it rendered in peanut butter whipped with powdered sugar and then dipped in chocolate. Aah. SJ has generously agreed to let me post this recipe though she warns that despite its relative simplicity, a lot of the production is by feel, how you decide to dip, and so forth. hey, even if they don't look like this, they're probably going to taste pretty darn good, yes?

Off to post both recipes!