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Home » Recipes » Candy Recipes

Old Time Simple Peanut Butter Candy

Published: Jul 27, 2018 · Modified: May 14, 2020 by Sandi Gaertner · 54 Comments · This post may contain affiliate links

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If you love peanut butter, you will love this old-fashioned peanut butter candy. All you need is a few simple ingredients, a few minutes, and a little muscle :-).

This candy is so easy to make...you have a creamy peanut butter candy in under 10 minutes. Just roll, slice and wrap in wax paper. If you love old-fashioned recipes, you will want to try my Grandma's Homemade Bread Pudding recipe. I converted it to gluten free and it is so good. 

Old time two ingredient peanut butter candy stacked up.
Jump To:
  • What kind of peanut butter is best for making candy?
  • Substitutions:
  • What else can you make with peanut butter?
  • Instructions:
  • Can I use an electric mixer or standing mixer?
  • Do you have to cook the peanut butter to make this candy?
  • Tools:
  • Recipe
  • Comments

Are there peanut butter lovers in your house? Here peanut butter is eaten with a spoon more than it is used in sandwiches.

When I saw this old-fashioned recipe card for peanut butter candy, I couldn't remember anyone in my family ever making it. It almost didn't make sense because I thought the love of peanut butter was hereditary in our family :-).

Did your family have a tradition with old-fashioned sweets? Our current tradition (addiction) seems to be these gluten free peanut butter cinnamon rolls. They aren't really a candy, but they are smothered in peanut butter. Need I say more?

What kind of peanut butter is best for making candy?

You are going to love the flexibility of this homemade peanut butter candy recipe. You can use any type of peanut butter (or nut butter!) The obvious hero of this candy is the peanut butter. I used creamy peanut butter from Bees Knees, but you can use any creamy peanut butter.

Feel free to use natural peanut butter (just make sure to really stir the oil into the peanut butter in the jar so your candy doesn't turn out oily!)

Substitutions:

If are allergic to peanuts or you can't eat nuts, you can still enjoy this homemade nut candy!! You can also use:

  • Cashew Butter
  • Almond Butter
  • Sun Butter (nut-free!)
Old Time Peanut Butter Candy wrapped up

*If you do try this peanut butter candy recipe with natural peanut butter or almond butter, please comment below how it turns out so we can all know :-).

What else can you make with peanut butter?

Lucky for us, everyone LOVES peanut butter in our house...so much so that it is often hard to find a jar of peanut butter with enough left to create a recipe with it!

Be sure to use gluten free peanut butter. 

  • Gluten Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
  • Gluten Free Peanut Butter M&M Cookie Bars
  • Gluten Free No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie

Instructions:

Peanut butter and powdered sugar mixed.

Add the two ingredients, peanut butter, and powdered sugar, to a large mixing bowl.

Can I use an electric mixer or standing mixer?

You definitely can but...when you mix these ingredients, mix it slowly on a low speed so the powdered sugar doesn't fly all over the place!

Do you have to cook the peanut butter to make this candy?

This is going to be the easiest candy recipe to make. You do not have to heat or cook the peanut butter for this recipe.

Peanut butter candy dough

Your dough will be mostly firm like in this picture.

Rolling the peanut butter candy dough into a rod.

Use wax paper to roll the candy into a long snake. The recipe said to roll the rod in powdered sugar. I chose not to add extra sugar to this recipe because it is a lot of sugar.

This peanut butter candy melts in your mouth and tastes incredible without the extra layer of powdered sugar."

Do you have to chill the candy before slicing it?

You do not have to chill your peanut butter candy roll before slicing, but it does help make the slices cleaner.

Use a sharp knife to slice the roll into round pieces. Wrap in wax paper!

Cut up the wax paper and use it to wrap your candy for safekeeping. This peanut butter candy makes wonderful gifts for teachers, friends, holidays, and work parties!

More Delicious Homemade Candy Recipes:

  • Homemade White Chocolate Fudge
  • Easy Toffee From Scratch
  • Creamy Chocolate Truffles

Tools:

  1. A great mixing bowl that won't slide around. This peanut butter candy batter requires some muscle to mix, so rubber-bottomed mixing bowls make it so much easier.
  2. Wax paper for wrapping the candy.

Recipe

peanut butter candy stacked on a piece of slate. Wrapped candy is all around the stack

Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Candy

Sandi Gaertner
Easy and delicious old-fashioned peanut butter candy.
4.92 from 58 votes
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Prep Time 10 mins
Additional Time 30 mins
Total Time 40 mins
Course Gluten Free Dessert Recipes
Cuisine American
Servings 24 pieces
Calories 112 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 2 cups powdered sugar for candy
  • powdered sugar optional if you want to roll the candy in this.
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions
 

  • Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. 
  • Place waxed paper on the counter and put half the dough onto the paper. 
  • Roll out (like playdough!) into a long snake. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
  • Wrap in the wax paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes (this is optional).
  • Optional: roll the peanut butter roll in powdered sugar. You can also add tiny chocolate chips as a mix-in when making this recipe!)
  • Slice the candy and wrap each piece in a square of wax paper.

Notes

  1. You can use creamy peanut butter or crunchy. Just note crunchy peanut butter will make your candy more textured.
  2. If you are not able to eat peanuts or nuts due to an allergy, you can substitute Sunbutter the nut-free butter instead.
  3. This homemade candy makes great holiday and teacher gifts!

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 112kcalCarbohydrates: 12gProtein: 3gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 51mgPotassium: 72mgFiber: 1gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 36IUCalcium: 6mgIron: 1mg
Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Mention @FearlessDining or tag #FearlessDining!

Nutrition Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.

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This post was updated from an older June 2015 post with more details and easier-to-follow directions.

More Gluten Free Candy Recipes

  • Honey Sesame Seed Candy
  • Homemade Peppermint Rocky Road Fudge
  • Easy Gluten Free Matzo Bark
  • Cinnamon Spiced Walnuts
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    Recipe Rating




  1. Stefanie

    October 31, 2020 at 7:33 am

    Do you know how long they can be stored or kept. I know refrigerated would be best but how long outside of the fridge would they last?

    Reply
    • Sandi Gaertner

      October 31, 2020 at 8:29 pm

      Hi Stefanie, I think it depends if you are using a more processed peanut butter or natural. Natural peanut butter doesn't have the preservatives that processed peanut butter does.

      Reply
  2. Phredd242

    May 11, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    Thank you for this recipe. I had these in kindergarten around 1974-75 and have been looking for them since. Love these candies!

    Reply
    • Sandi Gaertner

      May 12, 2020 at 5:02 pm

      I am so glad you like this recipe and that it brought back such beautiful memories 🙂

      Reply
  3. Nini

    December 12, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    5 stars
    REESE'S peanut butter is the ONLY one for me! Personal preference. These look AHMAZING! I make homemade candy every Chrtistmas & am always looking for at least 1 new one each year. Last year it was Oreo Balls. This year...THIS RECIPE!!! What about dipping them in melted milk chocolate, but not wrapping them? You can't beat peanut butter & chocolate together!

    Reply
    • Sandi Gaertner

      December 13, 2018 at 4:33 pm

      I like how you think Nini!! Chocolate dipped would be amazing!

      Reply
    • christina gaffney

      November 10, 2020 at 9:25 am

      5 stars
      I bet they would be awesome, my grammy use to make these and roll them in cocoa powder, or maybe it was in chocolate malt it's been so many years but now I want them again thanks for the idea

      Reply
      • Sandi Gaertner

        November 10, 2020 at 9:43 am

        I love the idea of cocoa powder being rolled onto these. I will have to try that next 🙂

  4. Sarah

    December 10, 2018 at 10:44 pm

    This looks so good. My grandmother made peanut butter fudge that was fantastic. I was excited to see this peanut butter candy said to be made with “just two ingredients.” I was surprised when I saw the recipe list of four ingredients. This question is sincere, not meant to be fault finding (four ingredients and still super simple is great) however, do you in fact make this with just powdered sugar and peanut butter alone, and the other ingredients optional? thank you!

    Reply
    • Sandi Gaertner

      December 11, 2018 at 11:22 am

      Hi Sarah, I have made it with just peanut butter and powdered sugar and it is very close to the four ingredients...I think the heavy cream adds to the creaminess of the candy though. I will make the recipe more clear. Thank you so much :-).

      Reply
  5. Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry

    September 05, 2018 at 4:26 am

    5 stars
    Such a tasty looking candy! We love peanut butter in my house so these would be great to make - but they wouldn't last very long, haha!

    Reply
    • Sandi Gaertner

      September 05, 2018 at 1:32 pm

      LOL, it never lasts long here either 🙂

      Reply
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