OHIO BUCKEYES CANDY

RECIPE: Buckeyes candy
From Lynn Bronikowski, proud Ohioan. Makes 50.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, plus more as needed
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Toothpicks

Directions:
Beat peanut butter, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Beat in the confectioners' sugar until dough is stiff, firm, and dry with no lumps; add more sifted sugar as needed.

Roll dough into about 50 1-inch balls and place on wax-lined cookie sheets. Press a toothpick into the top of each ball and chill in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

Place chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth.

Hold the toothpicks and dip frozen peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate, leaving a small portion of peanut butter showing at the top.

Return to the cookie sheet, remove and discard the toothpicks, and refrigerate until ready to serve.


Wine Pairings and Why: Odd as it seems, sweet foods are the most difficult to pair with wine. Sweetness, as one or more sugars such as fructose or sucrose, combines with the majority of wines (themselves dry) to cause sensations on the tongue of bitterness, astringency and acidity. Drink a dry white Burgundy with vanilla ice cream and discover a terrible experience. But if you pair the level of sugar in the food with a corresponding (or slightly higher) level of sweetness in the wine, that works. A good example is pairing an apple tart with a medium-sweet muscat. But the overall guideline is that sweetness in food requires the same level of sweetness in wine. With some moderately sweet desserts, that wine would be a Moscato from Italy or this country or a Piedmontese  Brachetto d’Acqui. With very sweet desserts, a Port, or a Bordeaux Sauternes, or even a Bual or Malmsey Madeira from Portugal.

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DAVID SWANSON’S SPICY EGGS

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ROASTED PINEAPPLE AND PROSCIUTTO, QUEEN MARY 2