12 oz. jar creamy peanutbutter
2 1/2 cup Rice Krispies
2/3 cup softened butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
16 oz. confectioner's sugar
6 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 oz. package milk chocolate chips
3 Tbs melted paraffin

Mix together peanutbutter, butter, vanilla, and powedered sugar.  Squish between your fingers until smooth.  Mix in the Rice Krispies.  Make into 1 inch balls.  Chill.

Melt chocolates and paraffin over low flame or double boiler (or microwave).

Insert toothpick into the chilled ball, dip all but the very top of balls into melted warm mixture.  Drop onto wax paper to harden.  Chill.

Note: store between sheets of waxed paper.  Can be frozen if wrapped in air-tight plastic.

Note: you can substitute 1 package (12 oz) of candy chocolate (e.g.  Almond bark, log cabin, wilton's, etc.) for the chocolate chip.

THE BUCKEYE - DESCRIPTION, USES AND LEGEND

Botanical name:
The botanical name for the buckeye is aesculus which was taken by the swedish botanist, Carl Von Linne from "Aesculapius", the name of the mythological greek god of medicine.  The Ohio variety was named aesculus glabra, by the German botanist Willdenow in 1809.

Common name:
The common name "buckeye" was derived from the Native Americans who noticed that the glossy, chestnut-brown seeds with the lighter circular "eye" looked very similar to the eye of a buck (male) deer.

Description of the Ohio buckeye seed nut:
The seed nut is glossy and chestnut-brown in color.  It is velvety smooth to the touch with a lighter circular "eye".  It is contained in a spiny, two-inch hull and is set in five palmately compound, five inch long, decidusous leaflets.  The leaf formation has been described as "praying hands" by poet Albrecht Duerer.  The seeds and bark are slightly poisonous and bitter tasting.  The properties can be eliminated by heating and leaching.

Uses by Native Americans and early settlers:
The Native Americans roasted, peeled and mashed the buckeye nut, which they called "hetuck," into a nutritional meal.  The early settlers found the buckeye wood to be lightweight (28 pounds per cubic foot as compared to 75 pounds per cubic foot for oak), to be readily split, and to be easily carved or whittled.  Due to these qualities, the buckeye wood was used by settlers to make utensils.  Thin planed strips of the wood were woven into a variety of hats and baskets.  The buckeye wood has been found ideal in artificial limbs production due to its lightness and non-splitting characteristics.

Medicinal properties:
Early travellers and explorers carried the rare and curious buckeye to the East with them and reported the aesculus glabra's highly prized medicinal properties and talismanic attribute of wisdom.  The extracts from the inner bark of the nut has been used in cerebro-spinal treatments.  Some believe that the buckeye relieves rheumatism pain and provides good fortune when carried in the pockets of their garments or worn as an amulet around the neck.  Instantly dubbed "buckeye" in frontier speech, the mysterious nut was used as a general cure-all for generations.

Political campaign symbols:
As a result of a political remark made by an opposition newspaper, a long cabin decorated with raccoon skins and a string of buckeyes became the symbol of General William Henry Harrison's presidential campaign.

The following became his campaign song:
"Oh where, tell me where was your buckeye cabin made? 'Twas built among the merry boys who wield the plough and spade, where the log cabins stand, in the bonnie buckeye shade.

"Oh what, tell me what is to be your cabin's fate?  We'll wheel it to the capital and place it there elate, for a token and a sign of the bonnie buckeye state."

As a result, citizens of ohio became known as "buckeyes".  The buckeye tree was officialy adapted as the state tree on October 2, 1953.