If you live on planet Earth and have heard of Easter, you have probably encountered at least one Reese’s peanut butter egg in your life. And, if you had consumed said egg, then you know it’s the best candy known to mankind.
Of course, as a die-hard chocolate/peanut butter fan (and a lifelong Reese’s egg eater) it was only a matter of time before I had to recreate these godly treats in my own kitchen.
What I didn’t realize when I set out to make these how much effort I would end up putting into them.
First off, since I am a lover of dark chocolate while Future Husband loves milk chocolate (which is the more authentically “Reese’s” one to use anyway), I already knew that I had to make at least two versions.
Since I was already making two versions, I decided to go a step further than just changing out the type of chocolate used and decided to try a hard-shelled version and a milk chocolate soft-shelled (more Reese’s-like) version.
Normally a hard-shelled chocolate requires two things 1> a chocolate mold (check!) and 2> tempering chocolate (not-check).
Since we’ve already discussed how much I loathe chopping chocolate, you can probably deduce that I also have no patience for tempering chocolate. This meant that the chocolate I got had to be low-maintenance chocolate. No chopping or tempering required.
Enter – these beautiful little guys. “No tempering” you say? I’m listening…
And did you notice how adorable and tiny they are? Already optimized for melting.
Translation: NO. CHOPPING. REQUIRED.
Sold.
So, with just the use of my egg-shaped mold and no special tempering or chopping, my molded eggs came out shiny with a crisp snap while my dipped eggs came out perfectly soft and chewy.
Success!
Now that my chocolate problem was solved, it was onto the filling.
Most of the recipes you see for Reese’s-type treats will put you somewhere between one and ten thousand pounds* of powdered sugar. Now it doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that adding copious amounts of powdered sugar to a recipe will make your filling cloyingly sweet.
(*That may or may not be a slight exaggeration.)
We want our filling to taste like peanut butter, right? Not like powdered sugar. So clearly there was some work to be done.
This was easy with the hard eggs, since the mold held the filling it didn’t have to be particularly sturdy.
However, since we were dipping our soft-shelled eggs, we required a sturdier filling. One that we could mold in our hands without it either melting or falling apart. As easy as this seems, despite my best efforts, I could not get my original filling to be able to be molded by hand.
And I tried hard, like, really hard.
After stirring in several extra pounds of powdered sugar, I decided to attribute this failure to my use of coconut oil in my original filling, as it is the only major difference between the two fillings that I made. And while my kitchen is a bit warmer than your average kitchen, even the freezer was no help. Once my frozen peanut buttery goodness touched the luke-warm melted chocolate it turned to goo.
So we needed to thicken our mixture, but not add a ton of sweetness to it… Enter: powdered peanut butter (or “peanut flour”). While this helped to both a> keep my filling peanut-buttery and delicious without adding sweetness and b> thicken my filling, it did not thicken it enough for me to mold.
So, back to the drawing board.
I solved this issue by swapping my coconut oil for butter (sorry, arteries!) and added a tad bit more powdered sugar than I would generally prefer, but balanced it with a generous scoop of peanut butter powder and a pinch of salt. The result was surprisingly close to what the inside of an actual Reese’s egg tastes like. Combined with the soft milk chocolate coating, I’m pretty sure I hit the nail on the head. Or at least darn close to it.
And then, just for fun, I did a caramel-filled one. I used this pre-made caramel filling which could be pressed into the egg mold or rolled into an egg shape and … done!
Easy peasy.
I even made some with peanut butter AND caramel inside because I was feeling a little crazy. You, of course, can fill your eggs with whatever you like!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 10 to 12 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons peanut butter flour (I used PB2 powdered peanut butter)
- 8 to 10 ounces chocolate coating (I used Chocoley's Bada Bing Dipping & Coating Chocolate)
Instructions
- Place peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat at 50% power for 30 seconds and stir.
- Continue heating in additional 15 second intervals until butter is completely melted and stir the mixture until all the ingredients are incorporated.
- Stir in the salt until incorporated. Stir in peanut butter flour and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar until incorporated.
- Stir in additional powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until the mixture stiffens almost akin to play-dough consistency.
- Cover bowl and place in fridge to cool, about 1 hour.
- Once cooled, scoop into a scant tablespoon-sized ball and roll into a ball.
- Place the ball in the palm of your hand and pat into an egg-like shape.
- Place onto a parchment-lined plate or baking sheet and continue with the rest of the peanut butter mixture.
- Cover peanut butter eggs and place in refrigerator or freezer until chilled, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Melt chocolate in a double-boiler or microwave. - I melted my chocolate at 50% power in the microwave and stirred, then continued melting at 10 second increments until it was mostly (85%) melted, then stirred to complete the melting process.
- Remove peanut butter eggs from freezer and working one egg at a time, quickly but gently drop the egg top-down into the chocolate, then flip to coat the bottom and lift out of the chocolate. Give it a couple gentle shakes to allow extra chocolate to drip off, then place chocolate-covered egg on parchment to dry. Use the back of a spoon or a butter knife to encourage your egg to jump onto the parchment.
- Repeat with remaining eggs until complete.
Notes
* Eggs can be made larger or smaller as desired, I got 10 out of mine.
* If your peanut butter is softening, return to fridge to chill and re-melt chocolate to try again.
* If you aren't a fan of the "dunk and flip" method, you can also dip the bottom of the egg into the chocolate, lift it out, and then spoon additional chocolate over the top of the egg to cover. Give it a gentle shake to distribute the chocolate and shake off the excess.
* My chocolate-dipping "tools" usually consist of a plastic fork with the middle two tines removed, and a plastic spoon. I know I'm killing the environment but it beats cleaning chocolate off of my cutlery.
* Although I've seen PB2 all around lately (even at Target!), if you can't find it I have seen peanut flour at Trader Joe's or you could use finely ground almond flour. I've also heard wonderful things about the thickening power of coconut flour, but have yet to purchase any.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons peanut flour or powdered peanut butter
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 8 to 10 oz chocolate coating, melted (I used Chocoley's Bada Bing Coating)
Instructions
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt peanut butter, coconut oil, and brown sugar on 50% power for 30 seconds. Stir and continue to microwave in 15 second increments, stirring in between, until mixture is combined.
- Stir in peanut butter powder followed by powdered sugar. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until chilled.
- Prepare a sheet pan (or just cover part of your counter) with a sheet of parchment paper.
- Meanwhile, make your chocolate shells. Melt chocolate in a double-boiler or at 50% power until chocolate is 85% melted; stirring every 15 seconds or so. Once chocolate is mostly (about 85%) melted, removed from heat and continue stirring until completely melted.
- Fill molds about 2/3 full with chocolate, then rotate and gently shake the molds to run the chocolate up the sides. Once completely covered, turn mold upside down over parchment paper and shake to remove excess chocolate from mold. Use an offset spatula or bench scraper to remove excess chocolate from the mold exterior.
- Set aside to firm up, about 20 minutes, which should be right about the time your peanut butter filling is ready.
- Pipe or spoon peanut butter filling into your egg molds, making sure to leave at least a couple millimeters at the top. If you fill your molds with too much peanut butter, the chocolate bottom will not be able to cover the peanut butter completely. Continue with the remaining shells until complete.
- Gather the (now hardened) chocolate pieces from your parchment and return them to the bowl with your remaining chocolate. Gently re-melt the chocolate.
- Using either a pastry bag (or ziploc bag) or a spoon, pour melted chocolate in a thick zig-zag over the exposed peanut butter of each egg.
- Gently tilt and shake the egg mold to distribute the chocolate until it completely covers the peanut butter, using extra chocolate if needed.
- Tap chocolate mold on counter a few times to release any bubbles, and using an offset spatula or bench scraper remove excess chocolate from the mold.
- Set aside to cool and harden, you may speed this process up by placing the mold in the refrigerator if desired.
- Once hardened, give your mold a good whack on the counter over your parchment paper with the open side down. Don't be shy here, this mold is the only thing standing between you and your chocolate eggs... so you give it what it deserves!
- Continue whacking the egg mold firmly against the counter like a lunatic until some eggs release. Remove those eggs to a safe place (like your mouth) and continue whacking the mold against the counter until all eggs have been released.
- Reward yourself with a peanut butter egg, you worked hard and you deserve it.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature (assuming your home is cool) or in the refrigerator.
Notes
* Don't chill your eggs between adding the peanut butter and the last bit of chocolate or the chilled peanut butter will harden the chocolate before you have a chance to spread it around.
* I'm not sure if re-melting chocolate works with all chocolate or just happened to work out for me because mine was made for such a thing... Maybe someone more experienced than I am in chocolate would be able to answer that.
* Although I've seen PB2 all around lately (even at Target!), if you can't find it I have seen peanut flour at Trader Joe's or you could use finely ground almond flour. I've also heard wonderful things about the thickening power of coconut flour, but have yet to purchase any.
[ Disclaimer: I did receive chocolate to try from Chocoley but I was in no way required to review or recommend their products to you. However, I am going to recommend their chocolate anyway because a> I loved working with it, it tastes great, it’s reasonably-priced, and they will send you FREE SAMPLES. WHO DOES THAT? As always, opinions expressed on wee-eats are honest and my own because it’s my blog and that’s how I roll.]
UPDATE: Per some requests I thought it would be helpful to include a list of the items I used for these recipes:
- Chocoley Bada Bing Coating & Dipping Formula in Milk Chocolate (for soft-shell eggs)
- Chocoley Bada Bing Candy & Molding Formula in Dark Chocolate (for hard-shell eggs)
- 2-inch egg mold from Amazon – This did have little “dots” that made scraping chocolate from one of the sides a bit more challenging but was still manageable
- PB2 powdered peanut butter – I’ve seen this at Target, Whole Foods, and Fry’s (aka Kroger) grocery but you can also find it on Amazon. Trader Joe’s sells a reasonably-priced “peanut flour” that may also do the trick, or almond flour will do in a pinch.
