Chocolate and peanut butter balls, also known as Buckeyes, are a great addition to any Christmas cookie box, photographed on Dec. 21, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Chocolate and peanut butter balls, also known as Buckeyes, are a great addition to any Christmas cookie box, photographed on Dec. 21, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Spread Christmas cheer with cookies

I’ve always enjoyed holiday baking and sharing, but wanted to do it on another level this year.

By Victoria Petersen

For the Peninsula Clarion

Over the weekend, my boyfriend and I baked probably hundreds of cookies. We placed the cookies into small boxes, and spent a few days delivering them to friends and family around town. It felt so great to see my friends’ and family’s faces and talk to them, if only for a moment, outside the doorway. I’ve always enjoyed holiday baking and sharing, but wanted to do it on another level this year. Since so many of us have suffered so much this year, it seemed like a tangible way for me to spread cheer, and do something nice for the people I care about.

I think everyone had the same idea as me. A few of the houses where we dropped our cookies turned around and gave us a cookie box or a card in return. Many of my friends said they’ve never made cookie boxes for Christmas before, but felt compelled to this year as a way of connecting with those they haven’t been able to spend time with.

This column calls back to a column I did in April, when I wrote about baking and sharing treats with friends and family to feel close, when we were in one of the most isolating stages of the pandemic. It’s the holidays, and it still feels isolating right now. I’ve been finding it hard to connect with friends recently. Questions like, “how are you doing,” are triggering responses more emotional than they’ve ever been, and I feel the same energy coming from others, too. With all of the stress I’m feeling, dropping off some cookies feels like the best way to show I care right now.

Our boxes had some Kalifornsky Kitchen cookie classics inside of them, like the raspberry marbled cookies from last week’s column, and the snickerdoodles and ginger molasses cookies from previous editions. My boyfriend made homemade marshmallows and his favorite corn cookies, from Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar cookbook. She’s a queen of cookies. We also made white chocolate matcha and raspberry bark and chocolatey cookies.

The easiest recipe of all was for chocolate and peanut butter buckeye balls. They are essentially chocolate and peanut butter truffles. They are made of only four ingredients, and they come together quickly. It’s like biting into a homemade Reese’s. They aren’t cookies, but they will make a nice addition to your cookie box.

Ingredients:

1 jar of creamy peanut butter

1 bag of chocolate chips

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

2 cups of powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Scoop out all of the peanut butter into a medium-sized bowl, and add a small amount of powdered sugar and mix it in. Gradually add the rest of the powdered sugar until you have a mixture that is someone pliable. This may take some, or all of the powdered sugar recommended.

2. Once the peanut butter mixture is pliable, roll globs of the mixture into small balls, mine were a little bit bigger than a quarter. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Continue rolling the mixture into balls until the peanut butter is all gone. Place the rolled peanut butter balls into the freezer on the baking sheet, and let them firm up for about 20 minutes.

3. While the peanut butter balls are freezing, place all of the chocolate chips into a microwave safe container, and add the coconut oil. Heat for 30 seconds. Using a fork or spoon or small spatula, mix the partially heated chips and oil together. Heat in 30 second intervals until the consistency of the chocolate is thin enough to dip and coat the peanut butter balls with.

4. When the chocolate is ready, take out your peanut butter balls. Using a fork, or a toothpick, or even your fingers, lower the peanut ball into the chocolate, making sure it gets coated in the chocolate. Place the freshly dipped ball back onto the parchment. Continue this until all of the balls are coated, and place the baking sheet back into the freezer to harden up.

Two cookie boxes our household received from nearby friends, photographed on Dec. 21, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Two cookie boxes our household received from nearby friends, photographed on Dec. 21, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

More in Life

"Octopus" is an acrylic painting by new co-op member Heather Mann on display at Ptarmigan Arts in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Ptarmigan Arts
July First Friday in Homer

Homer’s galleries and public art spaces celebrate with new and ongoing exhibits.

Frank Rowley and his youngest child, Raymond, stand in knee-deep snow in front of the protective fence around the main substation for Mountain View Light & Power in Anchorage in 1948 or ’49. This photo was taken a year or two before Rowley moved to Kenai to begin supplying electrical power to the central peninsula. (Photo courtesy of the Rowley Family)
Let there be light: The electrifying Frank Rowley — Part 2

In July 1946, the soft-spoken Rowley was involved in an incident that for several consecutive days made the front page of the Anchorage Daily Times.

This nostalgic sauce is so shockingly simple, you’ll never buy a bottle again. Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion
America’s favorite culinary representative

The original recipe for ranch dressing was invented and perfected in Alaska, out in the bush in 1949.

Graphics show the nine finalists in three age groups for the Soldotna “I Voted” sticker design contest. (Provided by City of Soldotna)
Soldotna announces finalists for ‘I Voted’ sticker contest

Public voting will be open until July 20 to determine the winners.

Homer’s Cosmic Creature Club performs at the 2024 Concert on the Lawn at Karen Hornaday Park. (Emilie Springer/Homer News file)
July events to provide entertainment and fun on lower Kenai Peninsula

Events include the Highland Games, Concert on the Lawn, local art camps and the Ninilchik Rodeo.

Nick Varney
Unhinged Alaska: Flashback dreams and the cold sweats

When summer arrives, every personage in the known cosmos suddenly seems to remember that they have kindred living in Alaska.

File
Minister’s Message: Freedom is not what you think

If freedom isn’t what we first think it is, what is it?

This is the Kenai Power complex. The long side of the plant faces the Frank Rowley home, seen here at the right side of the photograph. (Photo courtesy of the Rowley Family)
Let there be light: The electrifying Frank Rowley — Part 1

Frank Rowley made one of the most important steps toward modernization in the history of Kenai.

This cake stacks colored crepes for a brilliant rainbow breakfast. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
Crepes of a different color

This rainbow cake celebrates Pride with layers of colored crepes.

”Thread of Light” is an acrylic painting done this year by Dan Coe on display through June at the Art Shop Gallery in Homer, Alaska. Photo by Christina Whiting
Fine art in invented spaces

Anchor Point artist showcases his skills with exhibit of acrylic paintings.

A variety of peony blooms grow vibrantly on Pioneer Avenue on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
6th annual Peony Celebration begins July 1

The festival will run in Homer through Aug. 17.