Name: Jo's Peanut Butter Balls
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: About 60 balls

Joanna Gaines is the co-founder of Magnolia, a home and lifestyle brand, a bestselling author, and editor-in-chief of Magnolia Journal. Alongside her passion for design and food, nothing inspires Jo more than time at home with family—messing with recipes in the kitchen or planting something in the garden.

Joanna Gaines

It’s a holiday tradition of our family’s to spend a full day making candy that we package up to share with family and friends. I like to add sprinkles to the tops of these during the holidays. Every few years I’ll switch up what we make, but I never can do without these Peanut Butter Balls. The kids love to help roll out each one, and I swear half don’t even make it to the dipping bowl because the kids have already consumed the peanut butter filling.

Jo's Peanut Butter Balls

Meet The Creator

This cake is light and airy and fresh! It’s lemony but not overwhelmingly so. I love buttercream frosting and I love lemon curd, and so I decided to try combining them. The result was a frosting that is a dreamy blend of these two favorites: a fresh lemon flavor and a smooth, buttery frosting all in one. If you don't have time to make the lemon curd, it can be store-bought, but it’s fun to make. If you make it you’ll end up with a little bit of extra curd to enjoy on toast. My dad loves everything lemon so I make this cake for him on his birthday every year.

Elizabeth Poett's Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd Buttercream Frosting

Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd Buttercream Frosting

One of the great things about living on a farm is that we always have a surplus of fresh eggs in the barn. Gathering these colorful beauties never gets old. Our family eats fresh eggs at almost every breakfast, so I’ve got to change things up for them every now and then. Quiche is simple to make and tastes so good—plus it uses up a lot of eggs—so I have a bunch of great recipes for it. I love its versatility and the fact that it surpasses the sum of its parts. Whether it’s served at an elegant brunch or at the breakfast table, a beautiful quiche makes the moment seem a bit more celebratory. Depending on how much time I have, I either make my own pie crust or use a store-bought one.

Photograph by Carson Downing. Produced by Scott J. Johnson. Styling by Billy Jack Brawner. Food Styling by Charles Worthington.

Mushroom, Spinach & Swiss Cheese Quiche

Do you like happiness? If you don’t, then this recipe isn’t for you. But if you do, then let’s make my macaroni and cheese together. This is the dish that put me on the map. It’s the one everyone talks about and the one that every person who comes over for dinner begs me to make. And the beauty is, it’s so simple. You’ll have friends begging you for this recipe.

Macaroni and Cheese

When we were dating, Chip would often say that there are about five foods that he really, really loves, and one of them is scalloped potatoes. The sliced potatoes make this a pretty dish, and the cream and cheese mixture tastes like heaven. When we serve steak for dinner and I don’t have much time for sides, I’ll make mashed potatoes, but anytime I have a few extra minutes, I like to make this one especially for Chip.

Scalloped Potatoes

We serve this burger at Magnolia Table, and I have to confess that it’s one of my favorite things on the menu. My boys love burgers of just about any kind, so I could probably get away with serving something a little plainer to them (and, of course, you can leave any part of this out if you have picky eaters—or let everyone pick their own toppings). I just love how a grilled buttered brioche bun holds a savory burger, sweet drip jam, creamy melted cheese, and peppery fresh arugula, so that every single bite is an amazing combination of flavors and textures.

Gaines Brother Burgers with Drip Jam

During the holidays, I love to make these cookies to give to neighbors. They are buttery and rich with just the right amount of vanilla. Rolling the dough in sugar makes them sparkly and festive, and you can also vary the type of jam you use. Sometimes I will make a batch and fill a few with blueberry jam, a few with raspberry jam, and a few with apricot jam. The color variation is beautiful and the different fruit flavors make it hard to just have one cookie!

Butter Thumbprint Cookies with Jam Filling

What we choose to surround ourselves with—the colors, the furniture, the art we hang on the walls—becomes a part of our daily rhythm. It can shape our

Jo’s Library Tour

What we love most about this tortilla soup recipe is that it’s not only easy to make, but it’s also very customizable. Add or subtract as many toppings as you

Tortilla Soup Recipe

These are, hands down, my kids’ favorite breakfast. Who am I kidding? They’re my favorite, too, especially when served alongside eggs—I can’t get enough of that combination of sweet and salty. These are definitely a labor of love, but honestly I think we all enjoy preparing them almost as much as we like to eat them. I’m in my happy place anytime I get to work with dough. Mixing the ingredients together into a cohesive whole, draping a towel over the bowl and letting the dough rise, punching it down, and then rolling, filling, and shaping it—the ritual of every step brings me pure joy. Whenever I bust out the ingredients for these squares, the kids know it’s a good day. I make these a lot during school holidays when there’s time in the morning for them to help. Duke and Emmie stand at attention with the measured ingredients waiting for the sign from me that they can dump them into the bowl, and then the older two help me roll out the dough and compose each layer. Drake loves that he’s finally allowed to use a big knife to cut the squares before they’re baked, and then he and Ella apply the egg wash to the tops of them. The kids understand that the bit of extra effort required for these squares makes them something really special.



I think it probably helps that these squares are the best iteration of a cinnamon roll that any of us has ever tasted. It can be hard to get a good balance with cinnamon rolls—they either have too much bread or too much cinnamon. The way I make these, rolling and folding them repeatedly so that the filling is between several thin layers of dough, results in a square that has a perfect amount of both bread and cinnamon, so every bite is balanced.

Cinnamon Squares

In a season that can often feel fast-paced, the intentional moments we create with those we love, even in their simplicity, can feel like an offering. I hope

Our 2020 Holiday Collection Sneak Peek

Inspired by this season’s theme, this video is a call to nurture all that is before us and share it with the people we love. Using some of the gardening

From Jo's Garden Shed, Pt. II: A Look At Our Spring Theme

You can’t have a great soul food dinner without ending with a crowd-pleasing dessert. So, for our final chapter we are going to make a drop biscuit peach cobbler, and it’s as easy to make as it is delicious. Every recipe I create has one common goal: to help you realize that cooking is easy, it’s fun, and anyone can make great food. I promise you, give it a try, and watch how your family and friends come together and how it turns every meal you make into a special occasion.

Millie Peartree's Drop Biscuit Peach Cobbler

Drop Biscuit Peach Cobbler

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, we pulled together a few things we think Mom will love—including some of our tried & true favorites, some timeless

Mother's Day Gift Guide

Coming into fresh truffles is a special moment. The flavor and aroma are woodsy and strong and make an incredible addition to a variety of dishes. One of the best ways to extend the enjoyment of a truffle is to incorporate it into butter that can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer for a wide variety of future applications. Check out my Truffle Butter Roasted Chicken recipe, swirl it into your favorite pasta for a weeknight meal, or melt over steak, still hot from the grill. YUM!

Truffle Butter

In busy seasons, one thing that I always look forward to is a slow Sunday at home with my family. For us, that can look like spending some time in the garden,

Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines: Season 3, Episode 1

Cornbread. There is nothing better. It's a dish that brings smiles and family memories to everyone who can smell that piping hot pan of goodness. No matter whether you’d eat an entire sheet yourself or just like it as a side, it’s a necessary part of any soul food meal.

Millie Peartree's Cornbread with Honey Butter

Cornbread with Honey Butter

Some of my favorite memories growing up include eating dumplings around the table with my mom's side of the family. I knew I couldn't make today's menu

Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines: Season 5, Episode 4

I love to cook with fish—especially after Austin goes fishing—and I developed this recipe because I was looking for something that would be rich tasting but also really simple to make. For this recipe, I make a sauce out of white wine, cream, and fresh dill, then just slip the fillets into the pan and put the whole thing in the oven until the fish is tender and infused with the bright, creamy sauce. I like to serve it with saffron rice, which has a flavor that reminds me of food that I enjoyed when I studied in Spain as a student. Put the kettle to a boil while preheating the oven and the rice and fish will be ready about the same time.

White Fish with Dill Sauce and Saffron Rice

Every home in Ireland has their own soda bread recipe, and this is mine. It's a quick, simple recipe that I absolutely love. I'm using dried cherries here, but you can add whatever you want to the dough, including other dried fruit or nuts. You can even make it savory with cheese or olives.

Irish Soda Bread

I love a one-pot meal that also feels extra-special, and paella makes that kind of meal. This Spanish dish of rice, vegetables and meat or seafood packs flavor and simplicity into one skillet. A large pan of paella is festive, colorful and serves a crowd — it’s just right for a celebratory dinner with friends and family. Making the vegetable-and-aromatic sofrito is a key step in cooking paella and acts as the dish’s flavor base. I like a combination of mussels, shrimp and lobster tails in the seafood version of the dish, but you can easily tailor it to your favorite types of seafood.

Elizabeth Poett's Seafood and Asparagus Paella

Jo's Peanut Butter Balls

You May Also Like