An award-winning author, Cyle Young loves to write while he sits beside the Grand River. He is passionate about training writers through his online writing academy and at international writing conferences offered through his company, Serious Writer. He is author of Michigan Motivations: A Year of Inspiration with the University of Michigan Wolverines and numerous children's books, and he is based in Clarklake, Michigan. You can find out more about Cyle at his website, www.cyleyoung.com.
The Buckeye Candy tradition dates back to 1964. Fourteen years after the Ohio State University declared its new school mascot, Gail Lucas invented the unique dessert. Interesting enough, Gail did not herself attend Ohio State. She was an alumnus of Marshall College in West Virginia. In 1964, she lived in Columbus, Ohio and worked at the Citizen Journal. Her husband Steve was a rabid buckeye fan who also was pursuing his PhD in business at Ohio State.
The invention of the buckeye candy was merely a sweet coincidence. Gail's mother had previously sent he some chocolate covered peanut butter candy. Her family loved the candies so much, Gail asked her mother to share the recipe with her. During the Christmas of 1964, Gail replicated the recipe, but when she used a toothpick to dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate, she realized something familiar.
It looked exactly like a buckeye.
Needless to say, the happy accident would also please her Ohio State husband. That day, the buckeye candy was born. Gail made multiple batches of the candy and gave them away to family and friends. But she didn't share her mother's recipe until her husband graduated from the university in 1971.
Steve's new career required the family to move away from Columbus. A family "friend" repeatedly asked Gail to share her buckeye candy recipe. Gail eventually relented to the pestering. But during a return visit to Columbus in 1973, Gail discovered a newspaper article about her buckeye candy. She'd go on to discover that same woman previously wrote into the Ohio State Alumni magazine and claimed to be the inventor of the recipe.
Gail had been betrayed.
Furious, she needed to set the record straight. For well over a decade, she and her family had celebrated the buckeye candy tradition, especially during the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry weekend. In a 1983 column in the Arizona Republic newspaper, Gail set the record straight.
We have her to thank for the delicious buckeye candy that still lives on during every football season in Ohio. In 2012, Gail finally joined the great confectionary in the clouds. Her son, Guy Lucas, a second-generation journalist, found his mother's 1983 column when he was going through her belongings. He decided to share it with the world, so everyone would know the true inventor of the buckeye candy. Now, you too can enjoy the original buckeye balls.
The "Original" Buckeye Balls
4 pounds powdered sugar
1 pound butter
6 or more tablespoons peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
12 ounces chocolate chips
1 block canning wax
Combine first four ingredients, adding a bit of milk if necessary. Rolls into small balls. Melt chocolate chips and canning wax in top of double boiler. Make sure chocolate and wax are mixed well so wax doesn't rise to the top. With toothpick, dip the balls into the chocolate, but do not cover completely. Chill in refrigerator. After chocolate is hardened, store candy in plastic bags in freezer.
Over the last 60 years, while the buckeye has grown in popularity, its history has come into question. Who is the real creator that launched a Midwestern craze and turned this amazing dessert into a delicacy? Although the history of the buckeye candy is clouded, there is one uniting factor that every maker of buckeye candy can agree upon―the ingredients.
Powdered Sugar
Heaping mounds of powdered sugar turn the mess of ingredients into a perfectly round ball of dough. The more the better. Every buckeye recipe calls for different amounts of powdered sugar, but one thing remains the same―it's always the main ingredient on the list. You can skimp on the powdered sugar, but you risk losing flavor and turn the sweet delicacy into a ball of bland mush.
When you are ready to make buckeye candies, stock up on as much powdered sugar as you can store. You will use it. It's not uncommon to use over 5 lbs. of powdered sugar to make a large batch. If you want to make enough to last the season, you could need as much as 10-15 lbs.
Butter or Margarine
The choice between butter or margarine is highly debated. Which tastes better in a buckeye? I guess it depends on which one you prefer in your everyday routine. Do you butter your toast? Or put margarine on it? I would say that whatever you use on toast is the correct answer for whichever you should use in your recipe. If you're really adventurous, replace some of the butter with lard. You may shorten your life a little, but your buckeyes will be insanely delicious.
Whichever fat you decide to use, just make sure to follow the recipe. I have used both butter and margarine and I can't really tell a difference between the two―but if you are a butter snob, use the best butter you can find. The fat helps to hold all the ingredients together because buckeyes are a "no bake" dessert.
