These no bake peanut butter balls require just 6 base ingredients, then decorate as you like to create snowman or reindeer characters. Using natural peanut butter and sweetened with honey instead of powdered sugar, these peanut butter balls are a healthier holiday treat.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (for easier cleanup). Make room in the freezer or refrigerator for the baking sheet.
Crush the puffed rice cereal. You can do this in a food processor, or if you want to make it fun for kids (and clean less dishes), place the cereal in a large freezer bag and roll with a rolling pin.
In a large bowl, combine the crushed cereal, peanut butter, honey and salt. Mix until all ingredients are evenly distributed. It should look like a big ball.
Using a small cookie scoop or spoon, make 1-inch balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes (25-30 minutes in the refrigerator). While the balls are chilling, prepare your snowman and/or reindeer decorations.
When the filling is just about ready to come out of the freezer, prepare the chocolate. Place the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat heating and stirring in 30 second increments until completely melted.
Coat each ball in chocolate. Use a fork to help turn the ball in the chocolate to coat evenly. Use the fork to lift the ball out of the chocolate and gently shake it back and forth a bit over the bowl to remove excess chocolate and place back on the baking sheet. Decorate each ball while they are still wet so the decorations will stick. Place the baking sheet back in the freezer for 15 minutes to set. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator, until ready to eat.
Notes
Be sure to stir the peanut butter well if the oil has separated. You want it to be well combined and creamy, or your filling may be too runny.
If you find the balls are getting too sticky when you're rolling them, put the filling back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so, to firm it up again.
If you want to make both characters at once, halve the recipe for the chocolate coating: 1/2 cup white chocolate chips + 3/4 teaspoon coconut oil for the snowmen and 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips + 3/4 teaspoon coconut oil for the reindeer.
Nutrition estimate reflects the base peanut butter ball, before adding decoration.