Peanut Butter Eggs

Psssst. Want to know the way to this girl's heart? It's really simple....

Chocolate & Peanut Butter.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I could live on these two things alone. My favorite candy of all time is a Reese's, for obvious reasons, but I like them even better around the holidays when you get the double dose of peanut butter in fun holiday shapes like eggs, hearts, and Christmas Trees. So, when I saw someone boasting that they made homemade Reese's Eggs, I had to check it out myself.

This was a Pinterest find, and if you're scratching your head at the word "Pinterest", google it now! It's a very visual online pin board where people post photos of ideas, food, projects, books, games, jokes, quotes, inspirational photos, anything and everything really. The best part is when you click on the photo, it takes you to the source of the "pin"- a website where you can find the tutorial or recipe or find where to purchase the product shown in the pin. You may be surprised to learn that some of our very own recipes are floating around Pinterest! Check out our board here! 

Homemade Peanut Butter Eggs

How's that for simple?!

-4 Cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted

-1 1/2 Cups Creamy Peanut Butter

(I guess Crunchy would work just fine, too, if that's your preference.)

- 1/4 Cup Butter at Room Temperature

-3 Tablespoons Milk

- 3 Cups Chocolate Chips

(I used Milk Chocolate, but it's really up to you.)

-Vegetable Oil (Optional)

1. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, peanut butter, and butter. Add milk and mix until crumbly dough forms. At this point, I found it easier to work the dough with my hands than with a mixer.

2. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Form dough into egg shapes (or round, if that's your preference) and place on wax paper. Place cookie sheet in freezer and let set for at least 1 hour.

3. Melt chocolate in either the microwave or on the stove using a double boiler. If you're using the microwave to melt the chocolate, make sure you use a microwave safe bowl. I'm sure that's obvious, but sometimes it bears repeating. Heh. Also, microwave your chocolate in 30 second increments, stirring before returning the bowl to the microwave. If your chocolate is looking a little thick, add a teaspoon of vegetable oil and stir. **Heating chocolate does NOT thin it out. In fact, it thickens the chocolate more and renders is unusable.**

4. Dip peanut butter eggs into melted chocolate. I used a spoon to dip the eggs and tapped my wrist lightly with my left hand to remove any excess chocolate and give it a nice, even coating. Place dipped eggs onto wax paper and leave in the fridge for at least an hour to set.

5. Once they are all set, you can use a sharp serrated knife to trim off any excess chocolate that may have pooled around your egg.

Mmmm... look at all that peanut buttery goodness!

YUM!

I have to say these things are amazing and so, so simple to make. I didn't even have to turn on my oven! And the recipe goes very far. This made about 75 eggs and they were the same size if not larger than the actual Reese's eggs. This would be a great recipe to try out with kids!