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Chocolate Peanut Butter Egg Candy

Les Bonbons de Chocolat et du Beurre de Cacahouète

If you love peanut butter and chocolate, you have to try these.  If you don’t love peanut butter and chocolate, you have to try these.  They’ll convert you.  And you don’t have to wait for Easter to make them, although, that is why I posted the recipe this week.  You can shape them into eggs or balls or hearts or cubes.  They’re delicious in every form.  Here’s what you’ll need:

Each recipe I make has a story.  Today, it’s about the peanut butter.  Since I made these last year, we have switched from the peanut butter that has an ingredient list a mile long, which includes all of the hydrogenated oils and palm oils, to the kind that has one ingredient – peanuts.  And it needs to be refrigerated.  So I had to add more butter to make it work, but the consistency was a little different.  They taste wonderful, but you may have to adjust the recipe, depending on the type of peanut butter that you use.

You can also try using crunchy peanut butter.  If you’re feeling really adventurous, throw in some Rice Krispies for even more crunch.

Combine the confectioners sugar, peanut butter and butter.

Add the vanilla.  Yes, I forgot to include it in the photograph of the ingredients, but it’s in there.  See?  There it is on the spoon.

Mix until it looks at least this moist.  Then take a spoonful or whatever size you would like your candy to be, and shape it.  If you use the peanut butter with the hydrogenated oils, your mixture will look creamier.  When you begin handling this and shaping it, it sticks together beautifully.  It’s peanut butter.  It’s sticky.

If you are making them egg-shaped, they will look something like this.

We made 36 eggs.  Or ovals.  Or blobs.

Put the eggs in the freezer for at least one hour.  Later, melt the shortening and chocolate in a double boiler, or in a pan in a frying pan of water.

I do not own a double boiler pan.  Never had a need for one.  The pan in the frying pan of water has always worked well for me.  But if you have one, by all means, use it.  My daughter is impatient and is trying to chop the chocolate into smaller pieces so that it will melt faster, so that we can dip the eggs faster, so that she can eat one faster.  Faster, faster, faster!  Hurry!

What can I say about this pan full of chocolate?  Yum!  According to Harvard scientists, chocolate can do good things for your heart, skin, and brain.  Chocolate is good for you.  Hallelujah!  If it’s good for you, I suppose I should eat some every day.  Finally, guilt-free chocolate consumption.

At this point, we were very busy dipping eggs and someone forgot to take a picture of that.  And here are some of the eggs.  Keep in mind that my kids actually help so they may not look like Martha Stewart’s eggs, but they’re delicious.

Here are some close-ups.

You can use icing to decorate if you prefer, but my kids like sticking these decorations on to the wet chocolate.

And this photo shows the evidence.  We weren’t even half finished and someone swiped one.  I’ll be right back, as soon as I wipe this chocolate off of my fingers.

Recipe for 36 Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs

• 1 16 oz. Box Confectioners Sugar
• 2 Cups Peanut Butter
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/2 Cup Melted Butter (1/4 cup if you use regular, not natural, peanut butter)
• 16 (1 oz.) Squares Semi-Sweet Chocolate
• 2 Tablespoons Shortening

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine confectioners sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla.  If you need more moisture, add a little milk.  Mix until blended. Shape into 36 eggs keeping them flat on the bottom. Freeze eggs for at least 1 hour.
2. When the eggs have frozen, place shortening and chocolate in top of double boiler.  Melt over medium heat, stirring until smooth.
3. Stick a fork in the bottom of a peanut butter egg.  Dip it in melted chocolate to cover.  Drain on waxed paper.  Decorate the eggs while wet if you are attaching stick-on type decorations.  Otherwise, wait until they are dry to add icing.

Enjoy!

~FTW