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Cream the margarine and peanut butter until smooth.
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Add the vanilla extract and blend until smooth.
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Add the powdered sugar 1/2 - 1 cup at a time, blending well and scraping the bowl with each addition.
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Chill the peanut butter "dough" until easily handled (if not, your hands will get REALLY messy!).
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Once chilled, roll the peanut butter dough into 1 inch balls (you should be able to get about 6-8 dozen).
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Melt 10 ounces of chocolate with 1 tablespoon of shortening in either a double boiler, or on medium power in the microwave.
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Transfer the melted chocolate into a deep bowl.
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With a toothpick, dip each peanut butter ball into the chocolate to cover it about 3/4. There should be a circle of peanut butter showing on top. Set each buckeye on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper to cool. I tend to put the sheet into the freezer for a few minutes because it prevents the chocolate from sticking.
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If needed, melt the remaining 10 ounces of chocolate and 1 tbsp of shortening. (The original recipe I used said to use just one batch of the chocolate, but I definitely had to run out and get more chocolate to finish!).