I wasn’t sure whether I should post this and ruin the surprise for any guests at our party, but the reactions I’ve gotten from the few people I’ve showed them to have persuaded me to do otherwise. The people of the world need to have this recipe for their own Halloween parties. Thus I present to you my greatest creation ever: “Buck Eye Balls.”

Most of us who grew up in the Midwest remember buckeyes, the peanut butter-and-chocolate balls that our Moms would make on special occasions. They popped in to my head recently while planning the menu for our Third Annual “Bringin’ Halloween to the Aussies” Party. But how to make them suitably ghoulish? It hit me like a flash: make them look like human eyeballs. It took three experimental batches before I got everything just right, but the results are before you. Here’s what you do:

To make the peanut butter mixture, you need 1 part butter, 2 parts peanut butter, and 3 parts powdered sugar. The mixture should look fairly “dry;” add more powdered sugar if yours is too gooey. (This is the part I kept messing up.) Add a couple drops of red food colouring at a time until it’s a nice disgusting red. (If you add it after you’ve mixed the other ingredients, you get a mottled “hamburger” type look. It may appear smoother if you add it before putting in the powdered sugar.) Use your hands to form the mixture into 1-inch balls. If they don’t roll easily you can try putting the mix in the fridge for a while, but my advice is to add more sugar. (In worst case scenarios, you may need to try a different and less oily peanut butter. The smooth stuff I used in my first batch just stayed gooey the whole time.) Put the balls in the fridge for a while just to firm them up a little more before dipping. A lot of the recipes on the Internet tell you to use paraffin with your chocolate, but I just bought white chocolate “cooking compound” that already had it included. Much simpler. Put a handful of the white chocolate pieces in a bowl and microwave it on low, stirring often, until you get a nice smooth consistency. Now get your peanut butter balls out. Stick a toothpick into the top of each one. (This is your handle for dipping.) The idea is to leave a circle on top for the iris of the eye. It’s a good idea to scrape the bottoms off on the edge of the bowl as you pull each one out, otherwise you get a lip where it pools on the plate. Set each one on wax paper to cool and set up. Once they’re hard, pull out the toothpick and press a dark chocolate chip (point down) into the hole. To make the veins, I used a toothpick dipped in red food colouring like a pen to draw them on. (Note: These can get pretty smeary so leave plenty of time for them to dry before eating.) And that’s it! Needless to say, they taste delicious. Now I just need to knock out about fifty of these next weekend…