The Reese’s Peanut Butter egg is my favorite Easter treat, edging out the Cadbury Egg by the slightest of margins. My sister-in-law Kristin and I agree that the best Reese’s holiday offerings are the peanut butter egg at Easter and the peanut butter pumpkin at Halloween because they each yield a maximum amount of peanut butter; the peanut butter tree at Christmas, for example, isn’t really enough.
Many blogs feature homemade peanut butter egg recipes and they’re all relatively the same, involving melted peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, salt, and a yummy chocolate coating made of either semisweet or milk chocolate chips melted with shortening. I’ve used semisweet below, but you could easily use milk chocolate if you prefer. Though I haven’t tried one yet, I suspect they’ll taste like a cross between a buckeye and a peanut butter egg. Time will tell; fortunately, Easter is tomorrow!
The chocolate coating makes way more than enough for all of your eggs; my peanut butter filling yielded 11 eggs but you could easily make them slightly smaller to yield a dozen or more. You’ll definitely have coating left over, which would be great for drizzling on biscotti, butter cookies, or over cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 16 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons shortening
Preparation
In a medium saucepan, combine peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and salt. Cook on medium heat until entirely melted and slightly bubbly, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat and add powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition to fully incorporate the powdered sugar into the peanut butter mixture. Your end result will be very thick, and this is what you want.
Set filling aside to cool at room temperature until easy to handle; I set mine aside for about an hour.
Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop balls of filling and shape into eggs. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour to allow filling to harden.
In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and shortening; microwave in 30-second intervals until completely melted, stirring after each interval; this takes about 2 minutes or so.
Dip eggs into the chocolate coating and cover completely; I use two forks to pass them back and forth, then shake off the excess. Return to the parchment-covered sheet and place back in the refrigerator to harden. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
amy bakes in the 'burgh 