With our low-carb peanut butter buckeyes, you get the best of both worlds. You get to appease your cravings for sweets during the holiday season while sticking to your keto diet or any low-carb or low-sugar diet you're on.
Our no added sugar recipe for peanut butter buckeyes is perfect for people with diabetes or insulin resistance. With a little know-how and the right recipes, you don't have to live a deprived lifestyle.
Tips For The Best Results
For the best possible results, use a powdered sugar substitute. If you don't have one on hand, that's okay. We like using a powdered sugar substitute in this recipe for low-carb peanut butter buckeyes so that the sugar dissolves completely. You can use granulated, but expect a little crunch in the buckeyes.
The good news is, you can make powdered sugar at home with any blender or food processor. Even a hand-blender will work to powder sugar. Just pre-measure the sugar and then run it through your blender until it's as powdered as possible. Do make sure you get the lid on tight because otherwise, you'll have white dust all over your kitchen. (Yeah, I did that with our Vitamix. Oops!)
Which Sugar Substitute Should I Use?
Our favorite sugar substitutes for this low-carb peanut butter buckeyes recipe includes BochaSweet, Lakanto's monk fruit blend, allulose, erythritol, and stevia. BochaSweet has the closest taste to sugar. When using allulose, it is only about 70% as sweet as sugar, so we add liquid stevia drops until we are happy with the sweetness level.
We avoid maltitol, isomalt, and xylitol because it causes GI distress in many people. Maltitol and isomalt may also spike blood sugar.
Artificial sugars such as Splenda (sucralose), aspartame, and others we avoid for various reasons. I, Health Coach Tara, personally get migraines and hangover symptoms when I accidentally eat Splenda or sucralose. I have become an avid ingredient list reader after a few episodes like this. It was, in fact, one of the most significant contributors to the debilitating migraines I suffered from for fifteen years.
Which sugar-free chocolate is the best for the keto diet?
Low-carb peanut butter buckeyes feature a delicious chocolate shell, and one of the most commonly asked questions about this recipe was what chocolate to use. To provide you with a fast answer, I will list the best to the worst of the sugar-free chocolate chips available on the market.
BEST:
OKAY:
- Lily's Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips
- Chocolate chips containing inulin, which can spike blood sugar in some people.
WORST:
- Hershey's Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips
- Any chocolate chips containing maltitol spike blood sugar in most people and causes GI distress with a moderate serving.
More options for sugar-free chocolate chips will hit the market in 2021. Watch our YouTube channel "Tara's Keto Kitchen" for an update coming in the first quarter on this.
Ingredients You Need
To make these low-carb peanut butter buckeyes, you'll need the following ingredients. Scroll down for the full printable recipe.
- sugar substitute, powdered (you can do this at home)
- peanut butter powder (Try Lakanto's Peanut Butter Powder)
- salt
- no sugar added peanut butter (check the ingredients list or make your own)
- butter
- vanilla extract
- keto-friendly chocolate (see notes)
- coconut oil
Tutorial Video: Low-Carb Peanut Butter Buckeyes
If you like keto recipes like this one, be sure and subscribe to our YouTube channel "Tara's Keto Kitchen". We post a new keto recipe each week.
📖 Recipe
Low-Carb Peanut Butter Buckeyes
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar substitute powdered
- ¼ cup peanut butter powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup no sugar added peanut butter
- 6 Tablespoons butter softened
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Shell
- 4 ounces keto-friendly chocolate see notes
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
Instructions
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together sugar substitute, peanut butter, softened butter, peanut butter powder, vanilla, and salt. Blend until ingredients are combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Chill the peanut butter mixture for 20 minutes in the refrigerator until firm and easy to handle.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Choose a baking tray that will fit in your fridge.
- Shape the dough into 1 teaspoon sized balls and place on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Place these in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill.
To Make The Chocolate Shell
- If you aren’t using keto-friendly chocolate chips, then shave or grate a chocolate bar so it will melt easily.
- Then, in a microwave-safe bowl combine shaved chocolate and coconut oil and microwave on power level 5 (50% power) for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat in 20-second intervals until the mixture is smooth. Be careful not to overheat the mixture. Stir for at least thirty seconds in between heating times once the chocolate becomes melty.
- Now it’s time to coat the balls with the chocolate. Insert a toothpick into the top center of the peanut butter ball and dip into the melted chocolate. Place the buckeye onto the parchment paper and remove the toothpick. Repeat. Once all buckeyes are dipped, smooth over the toothpick hole at the top.
- Chill buckeyes until the chocolate has firmed up. 10-20 minutes.
- Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to enjoy.
Notes
Which chocolate is the best for the keto diet?
BEST: OKAY:- Lily's Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips
- Chocolate chips containing inulin, which can spike blood sugar in some people.
- Hershey's Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips
- Any chocolate chips containing maltitol spike blood sugar in most people and causes GI distress with a moderate serving.
Lakanto's Peanut Butter Powder
If you're using Lakanto's Peanut Butter Powder, reduce the sugar substitute in this recipe by ¼c. So, use ¾ cup sugar substitute instead of a full cup. Nutrition Facts * *Nutrition facts provided as estimates only. We use erythritol for the sweetener for consistency purposes when calculating nutrition facts with the exception of stevia which is calculated as such. The nutrition facts for our Low-Carb Peanut Butter Buckeyes were calculated using Cronometer. All of our recipes are available in Cronometer if you are a Gold member and friend request me at tara@wholebodyliving.com through Cronometer. Click here to save 10% off of Cronometer Gold or try it out with a free account.Nutrition
Discover Our Other Keto Holiday Recipes
Make the holidays healthier with our favorite sugar-free holiday recipes. Now you can indulge a little and still stick to your keto diet, so you feel great in your body. Plus, you won't have the dreaded holiday weight gain to deal with come January 1st.
These low-carb peanut butter buckeyes are just one of many keto desserts we have to help make your holiday deprivation free. Explore them below.
Anonymous says
I am glad that you shared this useful information with us. Thanks for sharing.
Samantha says
I want to make these so bad. They were always my requested item at Christmas (my mom let each of us make a request). However, I do not have any powdered peanut butter on hand. Is there something I could substitute to get the same texture?
Anonymous says
👍👍👍
Phoebe says
Do you have a recipe for keto sugar cookies?
Tara Wright, CHC, MBA says
We do 🙂 https://www.wholebodyliving.com/keto-sugar-cookies/
Julie R. says
I'm making these tonight. Yum!
Joan says
Thank you for this recipe! I'm so excited to be able to make these sugar-free because they've been a family tradition for decades.