Easy Homemade Peanut Butter Eggs

One of our favorite Easter traditions is to make these homemade peanut butter eggs. Of course they can be enjoyed anytime, but we make them every year. They are delicious and easy to make!

Don’t get me wrong, I do love some Reese’s from time to time (ok maybe more often), but these peanut butter eggs are homemade and easy to make.

They are perfect for the Easter baskets or just as treats for everybody to enjoy. We do not have small kids anymore, but I still make these and homemade coconut eggs every year. They get gone pretty quickly too! Many times I make a second batch because well, they are that good.

These eggs are made with just a few simple ingredients.

Ingredients

Peanut butter – Regular creamy peanut butter is best. We usually just get Walmart’s brand for these, use your favorite brand. I do not recommend a thick natural one (I usually prefer the natural peanut butter for eating but not for these homemade eggs.)

Butter – I like to use salted just to give it a little bit of extra flavor, but you can use unsalted. Either one will work here.

Powdered sugar – No substitutions recommended.

Milk – We use whole milk but you can use a lower fat milk. You are only using a little bit for extra moisture. We have not tried it with a non dairy milk, but I would imagine it would work just as good. Just know that most non dairy milks may change the flavor of your peanut butter eggs slightly.

Coconut oil – Can use shortening in it’s place. It is used to melt the chocolate, we just don’t use shortening here. Refined coconut oil will not add any flavor to the chocolate.

Chocolate chips – Can use baking chocolate if you prefer. We always use chocolate chips to coat the eggs, but you can use your favorite. Usually we get milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips.

As a note:

These are a little more dry then some homemade peanut butter eggs recipes, but I prefer them to be. It is closer to the texture of Reese’s. If it is a bit drier then you like, you can add more peanut butter or milk to them.

I recommend you try the filling before shaping them and putting them in the freezer. If you want more moisture, add it before shaping them.

You should have some extra chocolate on hand too. Depending on the size you make them, you may find you want just a little more chocolate. Usually this is just enough for us but if you make them pretty small, you may need more chocolate to coat them.

Making the peanut butter eggs

These take a bit of time but are easy to make. Soften your butter for about an hour or so. I prefer butter here personally as we don’t use any margarine products here, but you can use margarine and it won’t need to be softened.

Cream your butter and peanut butter together in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Add in the powdered sugar and mix with the mixer. This will be pretty dry at this point and it will be a bunch of tiny lumps.

Now is when you are going to add milk. You want it to form dough so while using the hand mixer, stir the milk in one tablespoon at a time until it forms the dough. Taste it and if it is too dry for you now, add more peanut butter and/or milk. It is pretty flexible.

Shaping the eggs

Now comes the fun part, shaping your homemade peanut butter eggs. You can shape them into any size you like. You can even large ones if you want, I try to keep them fairly small here.

I use a large freezable plastic container to put them in here, but you can put them on a cookie tray if your freezer has room for it. We normally do not have room in our freezer for a cookie sheet. I put waxed paper down under the eggs.

If you have to do more then one layer in your container, add more wax paper to each layer. Once all the eggs are shaped, place the container in the freezer for at least 1 hour. More time won’t hurt but isn’t necessary.

I have put them in the freezer and didn’t get to finish them for over a day later and they are fine. If you are keeping them in the freezer for longer then an hour or 2, I would recommend in a container with a lid instead of on the cookie sheet.

Coating the peanut butter eggs

In a small sauce pot add your coconut oil or shortening and turn the burner to medium low. As the oil or shortening begins to melt, add in the chocolate chips. Let cook for about 20 seconds and then stir constantly until all the chocolate is melted. Remove pan from burner.

Melting chocolate is easy but you cannot leave it unattended. As soon as you see that all the chocolate is melted and smooth, remove from heat immediately. It will start to get slightly burnt on the bottom if you do not.

Roll each one of your eggs into the melted chocolate to coat and set it on a baking tray that is lined with wax paper. Once they are coated, put the tray in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set.

Your homemade peanut butter eggs are now ready to be eaten – Enjoy! Store in a container in the fridge. These go well with a chocolate hazelnut latte.

Another great Easter recipe is classic deviled eggs, I know I always have a lot of hard boiled eggs to use around then!

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