Homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs are the best Easter treat of them all! The perfect balance of sweet and salty with the perfect peanut butter filling and smooth, rich chocolate on the outside.
Table of Contents
Reese's has a different shape for their classic peanut butter cup treats every season. I love the trees at Christmas and the pumpkins at Halloween, but it's the oval eggs at Easter that are my favorite.
These taste like the real deal, except even better. Paul and I kept walking through the kitchen and slivering off pieces of the eggs and congratulating ourselves on how egg-cellent they were. Groan all you want, but I feel like that pun is mandatory at least once every Easter season.
Sure you can buy these at the store, but why would you when you can make them yourself at home and they taste even better! If you love the peanut butter chocolate combo, you might also like to try our Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies or Big, Soft Baked Peanut Butter M&M Cookies.
I really enjoy making homemade candy at holidays, so even though I know I could just walk into the store and pick up some of these, I think they are even better made at home. Sometimes the packaged ones are a little greasy, but when you make them yourself they just taste better somehow!
Plus, these make a wonderful treat for sharing with friends and neighbors during the Easter season! Or just imagine sitting down to Easter dinner with a cute personalized egg next to everyone's plate!
What you'll need
This is one recipe where I don't have many substitutions to offer you. To get the right results, it's pretty necessary to stick with the ingredients below.
- Peanut Butter: I recommend creamy peanut butter for the best results, although you could use chunky if you like. Don't use the "natural" kind that you have to stir though, because it doesn't give the same results in this recipe.
- Dry Roasted Peanuts: This is my secret ingredient that sets these apart as the BEST Reese's peanut butter eggs out there! I saw the idea to grind up dry roasted peanut until they were a mealy consistency in a comment on an AllRecipes from a reader called "TheWelshmansWife" and immediately knew it was what I had been searching for to really achieve that classic texture that I love so much about the Reese's filling.
- Powdered Sugar: The sweetness of the sugar balances out the saltiness of the peanut butter and peanuts, plus it helps give the right texture to the mixture.
- Butter: Melted, salted butter adds flavor and helps with binding the mixture together.
- Vanilla Extract: I love using my homemade vanilla extract!
- Milk: Only add as much as you need. The classic Reese's filling is on the dry side, but you might need a bit of the milk to get everything to bind together.
- Chocolate: You can use whichever chocolate you like, whether it's dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or white chocolate. I like using the Ghiradelli chocolate wafers both for convenience and because I feel like they have a good quality chocolate flavor.
How to Make Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs
It takes no-time at all to whip up these homemade Reese's eggs! Just be sure to use your hand mixer, since the peanut butter mixture will be very thick. The hardest part is waiting for the eggs to set up in the freezer so you can dip them!
- Pulverize the dry roasted peanuts: Use your food processor (affiliate link) or blender to chop up the peanuts into very fine pieces. Don't go too far or you will turn it into peanut butter. But if you want to match the texture of the original Reese's filling, really fine, almost mealy dry roasted peanuts will do the trick!
- Beat everything together: In a large bowl, beat the powdered sugar, peanut butter, very finely chopped peanuts, and vanilla together. Add milk, as necessary, to get the mixture to come together. It should still be pretty dry and almost crumbly, but will definitely hold together.
- Shape the eggs: My preferred approach is to shape the eggs by hand, although you could always roll out the dough with a rolling pin (affiliate link) between two sheets of parchment paper and cut out your eggs if you happen to have a small egg-shaped cookie cutter. You could probably even just use a plastic egg if you have one that splits in half length-wise. Instead, I use my small cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough that are about 2 tablespoons worth. Then I roll them between the palms of my hands to create an oval and flatten them out into an egg shape. Either method works, so choose what fits best for you!
- Freeze: The eggs need to chill in the freezer for a while to help them set up so you can dip them in the chocolate. 30 minutes is just about perfect.
- Melt chocolate: Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the microwave by heating it using the melt feature, if your microwave has one, or by using short 15-20 second bursts of heat and stirring well between each burst until the chocolate is mostly melted. Stop earlier than you think you should and give the chocolate a good stir. Usually the residual heat in the chocolate will melt any remaining pieces that haven't already melted. It's especially important not to overheat white chocolate, if you are going that route, as it has a greater tendency to seize when overheated.
- Dip: Finally the part you have been waiting for! Pull the chilled peanut butter eggs out of the freezer and dip them in the melted chocolate one at a time. You can either use a spoon to cover the top of each egg in melted chocolate or flip them with your forks, then transfer to a baking sheet lined with a clean sheet of parchment paper. If your chocolate cools down too much, you might need to stick it back in the microwave for a few seconds and stir it well to warm it up to finish dipping all of the eggs. They will set up fairly quickly, so if you plan to add decorations like sprinkles, this will need to be done as you go before the chocolate hardens.
Can I use chocolate chips instead?
You can use milk 2 bags of milk chocolate chips melted with 2 tablespoons of coconut oil or shortening instead of the Ghiradelli melting chocolate wafers. But I recommend using the highest quality chocolate you can for the best results as not all chocolate chips melt well. The coconut oil or shortening helps smooth out the chocolate and reharden rather than tempering the chocolate.
How to decorate Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs
Sure you can just dip these in chocolate and call it good, but as long as you are making a homemade version, why not go ahead and add a little decoration to make them even more festive?
Chocolate Drizzles
My favorite approach is to drizzle the dipped eggs in matching or contrasting chocolate zig-zags. Not only is it easy and a good way to use up the rest of your melted chocolate (not to mention increase your chocolate-to-peanut butter ratio), but it also covers up imperfections in your dipping if that's something you stuggle with. (Guilty.)
Personalized Eggs
Another idea that I love is for use a small round piping tip to personalize the eggs by piping the names of your favorite people in chocolate on top of each egg. You might want to practice on a plate or spare parchment paper first, but if your hand is steady this can turn out super cute!
Sprinkles turn anyone into a Star Baker
Finally, you can always go the sprinkle route and use some festive Easter sprinkles to fancy up your chocolate peanut butter eggs! The only caveat here is that you need to sprinkle the eggs almost immediately after dipping each one because the chocolate tends to start setting up quickly on the cold peanut butter filling.
How to store Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs
If it's not too warm in your house, you can store these in an airtight container on the counter at room temperature for 1-2 days. Any longer than that and I recommend sticking them in the fridge for 1-2 weeks, or in the freezer for 2-3 months. If you have never had cold Reese's peanut butter cups, you have been missing out!
More Easter Recipes
- Robin’s Egg Easter Cupcakes
- Easy Flower Pretzel Bites
- Hot Cross Buns
- Homemade Banana Pudding
- Strawberries and Cream Sheet Cake
More Homemade Candy Recipes
- Old-Fashioned Divinity Candy Recipe
- Chocolate Pecan Pralines
- Old-Fashioned Easy Peanut Butter Fudge
- Chocolate Coated Honeycomb Candy
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs
Ingredients
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup salted butter, melted
- ½ cup finely chopped dry roasted peanuts
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk, as needed
- 20 ounces Ghiradelli melting chocolate wafers
Instructions
- Combine powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter, finely chopped peanuts, and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix well using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Add the milk, if needed, to get the mixture to come together. It might still be a bit on the crumbly side, but should hold together when pressed.
- Scoop balls of dough using a small cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons). Shape into egg-shaped balls, then flatten to about ½-inch thick on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- When the peanut butter eggs are cold, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 20 second bursts of heat, stirring well between each burst until the chocolate is melted.
- Use forks to dip each egg, turning to coat in the chocolate and then immediately transferring to a baking sheet lined with a clean sheet of parchment paper or waxed paper to set up. Repeat with remaining eggs.
- Decorate with remaining melted chocolate by transferring it to a disposable piping bag or ziploc bag and snipping off the tip. Drizzle zigzags over the eggs or use it to personalize the eggs with names.
Notes
- Chocolate chips: You can use milk 2 bags of milk chocolate chips melted with 2 tablespoons of coconut oil or shortening instead of the Ghiradelli melting chocolate. But I recommend using the highest quality chocolate you can for the best results as not all chocolate chips melt well. The coconut oil or shortening helps smooth out the chocolate and reharden rather than tempering the chocolate.
- Freezing: These freeze really well for up to 3 months! Enjoy them cold or let them sit out to come to room temperature.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.
