One of the easiest – and tastiest – candies to make at home is chocolate peanut butter cups. You can use anything from a mini muffin tin to little candy wrappers, which are sold at craft stores, to shape the chocolate. Once the chocolate is set, all you need to do is pipe in a peanut butter filling, cover the open end with more chocolate and you’re all set. The idea is open to all kinds of variations and, much like regular chocolate companies, I decided to treat myself to an Easter edition of this treat!
I used some small plastic Easter eggs (about 2-inches high) as molds for these candies. Since I wanted a relatively sturdy, I used a small spoon to spread melted chocolate around the sides of the eggs, while I might have used a small brush for smaller candies. The shells were chilled, then I piped a peanut butter filling into the middle before sealing them up with more melted chocolate. The finished chocolates came out as half-eggs, but were easily sandwiched together by using a hot knife (butter knife held over the stove) to smooth the flat ends and soften the chocolate, allowing me to stick them together.
I used dark chocolate for these eggs, although milk and/or semisweet will work well, too. I also used natural, salted peanut butter for the centers. If your peanut butter is not salted or is on the sweet side, add a pinch of salt to the filling to balance the flavors. The number of eggs you get depends on the size of your molds, so keep that in mind if you want to create a specific number of chocolate peanut butter eggs.
Homemade Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Easter Eggs
1 1/2 cups chopped dark chocolate (or semisweet chocolate)
1 cup crunchy organic/natural peanut butter
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
generous pinch salt (optional)
Get out 8 small (2-in. high) plastic eggs. Clean and dry if necessary, but there is no need to grease them.
Melt 1 cup of the dark chocolate, using a microwave-safe bowl and cooking it in short (45 second) intervals, stirring frequently, until very smooth. Use a small spoon to pour a little chocolate into each plastic egg. Use the spoon to push the chocolate around and “paint” the chocolate up the sides of each egg.
Chill candy shells until set, about 20 minutes.
In a small bowl, stir together peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt. When the mixture has come together, heat it in the microwave (again in short intervals, stirring frequently), until it is very, very soft. Working carefully with the hot filling, use a small spoon to fill the cavity of each prepared egg. Chill again for approx 30 minutes, or until set.
Melt all remaining chocolate and, when the peanut butter fillings are cool and firm, to each egg off with chocolate to create a flat edge. Chill until set.
Eggs can be popped out of their shells before serving. If you want to sandwich the together into full eggs, heat a butter knife over the stove and use the hot, flat side to melt the chocolate on the base of each egg-half, creating a smooth side with melty chocolate. Repeat process for matching egg half. Sandwich together and let sit for a minute until set.
Makes approx 8 eggs (16 pieces)
Makes 2 dozen.
Dani
April 7, 2009a dream come true 🙂
happy easter!
unconfidentialcook.com
April 7, 2009Totally brilliant!
Mom24@4evermom
April 7, 2009I think I’ll try these with a buckeye filling. Thanks for the great idea. 🙂
Baking Monster
April 7, 2009what a splendid idea. I have always filled real egg shells with chocolate but this idea is fantastic.
Mary
April 7, 2009I love this idea! I was just mulling over what to make for all of my nieces and nephews this Easter when I read this. Voila – peanut butter eggs for all!
I’ve followed your blog for a while – love your writing.
Mama JJ
April 7, 2009Ooo-ooo-ooooo! I forgot that I was supposed to make these now that it’s Easter! Thank you for reminding me!
Nick
April 7, 2009Genius and delicious! What a wonderful idea.
StuffCooksWant
April 7, 2009What a cute idea to make your own…never even crossed my peanut butter-lovin’ mind. Could even make them organic if you’re that kinda girl. Mmmmmmm.
Elyse
April 7, 2009Nicole, these look fabulous! So much better than store-bought PB cups. Plus, these are bigger!! I love the amount of PB you can fit in the middle. Great!
Eliana
April 7, 2009How clever! I’ve never seen any homemade versions of these before.
Sylvia
April 8, 2009Awesome idea,these eggs looks pretty delicious.
Steph (I am Bee)
April 8, 2009yum!! the peanut butter eggs are my favorite easter candy!
Rachel
April 8, 2009WOW! What an amazing and memorable treat to get at Easter. Yum… I’ll be linking to this.
Kerstin
April 8, 2009They look incredible – very creative!
jessica
April 8, 2009This looks divine!!!!
ginna
April 8, 2009Hey Nicole,
I made these today and they taste great but I really struggled getting them out of the plastic eggs, and a lot of them came out broken. Any advice on how to do a better job at that?
Thanks for your blog, I really love reading it!
MsGourmet
April 9, 2009These look fabulous!
Chiana
April 10, 2009Ginna, the best way to get the eggs out unbroken is to temper the chocolate, that way your eggs not only stay intact but they also have a smooth texture, good bite and a brilliant sheen. 🙂
If the shells are a bit too thin they can be fragile.
It’s really a cute idea, I just might do it too.
Anne Marie
April 21, 2011I wouldn’t call myself an expert at baking. I’m definitely at novice level. However, I was thinking of making these this year for Easter, but had a few questions before I tried my hand at it:
1) How would one go about tempering the chocolate to make sure the eggs stay intact when removed from the plastic shells?
2) I was thinking of substituting the peanut butter filling for a marshmallow filling, but I’m not sure how to ether make the marshmallow filling or melt marshmallows, without burning them, so they can be piped into the eggs.
3) Instead of just leaving the chocolate as the outside, I had this vision of using something akin to sugar cookie icing to give the eggs a “hard” shell. Something colorful and decorative. Would this work?
Thanks for any advise that can be provided! =)
Nicole
April 22, 2011Anne Marie – Making a thicker layer of chocolate for the outside shell will help get the eggs out easily. The chocolate does not really need to be tempered – you can even use chocolate chips.
And for a marshmallow filling, either use marshmallow creme or homemade marshmallows. Melting store-bought marshmallows (or any marshmallows, for that matter) will remove all the air that is in them and they won’t end up light and fluffy.
http://bakingbites.com/2004/12/homemade-marshmallows/
Kydoime
April 22, 2011Genious! haha but really I was wanting to make THESE this year but didn’t know how to manage that lolz…thanks!
Ceren
Anne Marie
April 22, 2011Thanks Nicole!
It doesn’t seem like such a daunting project now! =)
And I’m figuring I can do the cookie icing or candy coating on the outside to add that Easter color I was looking for… something akin to dunking the chocolate egg in the icing maybe?