5 Ingredients or Fewer

No-Bake Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Bon Bons

December 12, 2014
3.7
3 Ratings
Photo by James Ransom
  • Makes about 1 dozen
Author Notes

These are the perfect: cooking project for a toddler, dessert project for a middle school sleepover party, just-got-home-from-the-bar-and-I'd-like-something-one-step-above-eating-these-chocolate-chips-straight-from-the-bag 2 AM project for me, last week. Also known as, always perfect. —Kendra Vaculin

Test Kitchen Notes

These bon bons are seriously sweet, so add a bit of salt to offset, if that’s your preference. And to add some extra creaminess, increase your butter to 10 tablespoons. —The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 6 whole graham crackers
  • 1/2 cup smooth almond butter
  • 1/2 cup butter (8 tablespoons)
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
Directions
  1. Seal graham crackers in a large ziplock bag and then just completely destroy them with the flat side of a meat tenderizer. Or a rolling pin or a mallet or your own two golden fists of fury, whatever you want, just beat the bejesus out of those crackers until you are left with a sack of graham cracker powder, which you may then pour into a large bowl.
  2. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the almond butter and butter together until smooth; this should take no more than 1 minute of microwave time, in two 30-second intervals, mixing in between. Stir until blended, and then pour into the bowl with the graham cracker crumbs.
  3. Add powdered sugar to the bowl and mix it all together until combined into a dough. It will take some time to get all of the powdered sugar incorporated. Patience is a virtue.
  4. Roll dough into small, 1-inch balls and spread out on a baking sheet. You may want to line this with parchment paper to make the next step easier, but at this juncture that is not required. Stick into the fridge or freezer to harden.
  5. Melt dark chocolate chips (in a double boiler or in the microwave) and stir until smooth and perfect. Dunk each ball into the melted chocolate, and then return to the lined baking sheet. We like to do halfway in chocolate, but all the way would be, of course, totally allowed, because there is not such thing as too much chocolate. For the cleanest experience, dip balls by stabbing them with a long skewer and then placing them, skewer and all, back on the baking sheet.
  6. Keep it the fridge or freezer until ready to serve.

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18 Reviews

Jori M. December 10, 2016
I'm going to try this and substitute Biscoff spread for the almond butter since our family has nut allergies. I bet they'll be delicious!
Lizzy December 2, 2016
This is a high class version of the Ohio "Buckeye."
Heather May 29, 2015
I should have read the comments first--I also doubled the recipe, and I wound up with 50-some, even after all my nibbling! Also, after adding half the powdered sugar, it was already too sweet for me, so I substituted protein powder.
Barbara G. May 25, 2015
Is almond butter the same thing as almond paste, which my local market sells.
msstein May 29, 2015
Almond butter is in the peanut butter section of your market, or sometimes also in the organic/health food section. Worth tracking down to make this recipe!
The P. May 25, 2015
Going to give this one a try. Dark chocolate...graham crackers...almond butter...what could possibly go wrong? ;-)
Gregston February 9, 2015
I'm from the UK so going to substitute some other biscuit for the Graham crackers. As I don't know how big they are can you give me a total weight of the six crackers? Many thanks & love the recipe!
Bella January 6, 2015
I added a little rum to the chocolate - yum!!
bryan December 30, 2014
One other tip: a food processor will wreck those graham crackers' world in two pulses. A lot easier than the clubbing them to death.
bryan December 30, 2014
The graham crackers should be listed by weight to avoid confusion. I used graham crackers from Trader Joe's (the best on earth, by the way), which are cut much smaller than traditional graham crackers. I guessed. Luckily, I guessed right.

As for the recommendations that others have offered (vanilla, obviously, and so forth), they all sound fine and good, but really, this recipe is good as-is. So many desserts incorporate extracts that it's actually nice to see one that doesn't. The result is a bon bon that liked enough to include in cookie gift boxes this Christmas. Everyone LOVED these things.

As for the crumbly dough, I had the same issue, and I expected this might be a problem during the dipping process. After trying one of the finished bon bons, I decided that Kendra made the right choice--a creamier center would get you something more in line with a truffle rather than a bon bon.
Staci L. December 22, 2014
I made my first batch with 6 whole graham crackers (12 squares if you use Honey Maid brand) as the recipe stated, but found the dough to be very dry and crumbly. I was able to get them to stay together, though, and the resulting bon-bons were still good, almost crunchy. I made a second batch with just 3 whole grahams, or 6 squares, and got a dough that was creamier and held together better - much more like I had expected when I started this project. These bon-bons were also very good. My family is split on which they like best. Also, take Catie's advice, the food processor is definitely the way to go!
msstein December 20, 2014
Great recipe, but I am happy that I added 1/2 tsp. almond extract and 1 tsp. vanilla to the batter before adding the sugar. I made 40 bite sized Bon bonds and increased the chocolate.
J H. December 19, 2014
The number of bon bons made is a bit off. Since it said it makes a dozen, I doubled the recipe to make 2 dozen. You definitely get more than enough almond butter mixture. Doubling the chocolate chips didn't cover all the bon bons. I was able to make 53 of them! I had 30 left without chocolate. They are one inch balls according to the recipe. Clearly you can make 26 of them with this original recipe.
Catie C. December 19, 2014
I made this by softening the butter then mixing it in a processor with the graham crackers (which I crumbled roughly by hand), peanut butter and sugar and processing well. Worked great and was super quick.
Miss R. December 17, 2014
This is going to be my cookie swap contribution.
KRussell December 17, 2014
Which butter would you suggest..salted or unsalted? I was considering salted but wanted to ask first! :)
FoodieDawn December 15, 2014
No microwave. Can you heat the butter/almond butter on the stove?
Irene T. December 18, 2014
Use a bain marie or bowl over a simmering water pot to keep it from scorching.