Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs

I've never been a big candy eater.

Believe it or not.

It just doesn't interest me. Mostly.

Only at Easter time do I really get my candy on. The focus of my seasonal candy love? The Reese's Easter Egg.

 

This peanut butter chocolate mound is not your standard peanut butter cup. Oh no. It's oversized and stuffed - I mean, stuffed - with peanut butter goodness. There's really nothing better.

Of course I'm always up for a challenge in the kitchen, so I decided to try my hand at creating some Reester eggs of my very own.

These were super simple and so fun to make. Of course, anything that is dipped in chocolate, in my book, can be a serious drain on the fun logistics-wise. But since this recipe doesn't make a huge amount of eggs (and let's face it, even the sweets lovers out there could only devour one or two of these rich confections), I didn't mind the whole melted-chocolate-in-places-I-didn't-know-exist thing.

These eggs would be so fun to bring to a gathering on Easter Sunday...or to any gathering really. I mean, who doesn't love chocolate, peanut butter and sprinkles? Please find me one person. It won't happen.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs
*Makes 16 large eggs
1 C peanut butter
1 C confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped*
3 C chocolate chips of your choice (I used milk and semi-sweet)
sanding sugar, sprinkles or candy decorating materials of your choice

In a stand mixer, mix the peanut butter until fluffy.

Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/4 C at a time until completely combined. Add vanilla extract and chopped peanuts and mix. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for 1 hour to chill.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a melon baller or tablespoon, scoop out the peanut butter mixture and form into large egg shapes, placing on the lined baking sheet.

Put the sheet pan in the freezer while you prepare the chocolate.

I made these 2 ways - using semi-sweet morsels, and milk chocolate morsels. Place 1 1/2 C of semi-sweet morsels into a bowl. Heat in the microwave at 15 second intervals, mixing after each one, until melted. Remove the tray of eggs from the freezer. Working very quickly (so that the pb eggs don't soften and fall apart in the chocolate), coat each one in chocolate and place back on the parchment paper. Add sprinkles or sanding sugar after every 2 eggs are dipped as the chocolate hardens very quickly. Repeat with the milk chocolate or any other chocolate of your choosing (extra dark, white, etc), returning the undipped eggs to the freezer for a few minutes while you make the second batch of chocolate.

Let the chocolate harden and enjoy!

So there you have it. The tale of how I recreated my favorite Easter candy of all time. They tasted extremely on point with the original Reese's version, without being quite as processed. And let's face it, sprinkles just make everything better. So what do you think? What is your favorite candy? Have you ever tried to recreate it in your own kitchen?

*I thought that using creamy peanut butter was the way to go, however, once mixed, I realized that the pb mixture was way too smooth. Wanting to emulate a real Reese's pb egg, I decided on a whim to add the chopped peanuts. This process can probably be eliminated by simply using chunky peanut butter, though I cannot vouch for how finely chopped the peanuts will be. I wanted mine to be super fine, so even in the future, I would choose to do it as noted above. However, to make the process quicker and with fewer ingredients, give the chunky pb a try.

Happiness, Part 2

Happy Friday, friends! How are you today? I'm feeling sleepy, but I don't mind...it's Friday!

It's another happy day.

I'm happy because it's supposed to be another sunny, and relatively warm day. Don't you love those? I do.

I got 2 new pairs of shoes this week. Don't tell Shaun. One is purely fabulous...

 

and one is functional/wearable and fabulous. Sometimes a girl just needs new shoes. It's a total mood changer.

I may or may not have also ordered these in nude. I'm ignoring the fact that at present, we have nowhere to store said shoes aside from under the living room coffee table, in the corner of the kitchen or in our entryway. I'm working on it.

This weekend, we are running another 5K with our friends Ryan + Kristen. The race is through the Lincoln Tunnel. I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet.

I also plan to work on my gallery wall in our entryway. Has anyone else done this before? I can't wait to have a whole wall of family photos mixed with paintings and fun postcards from our travels!

Oh, I'm also going to get my pre-Easter bake on so that I have some things to share with you next week. For now, feast on these coconut cupcakes, which I made last year. Oh how I wish I had one for breakfast this morning...yummmmy!

I think I had a dream about Ina Garten last night. Though I can't remember what she was telling me. She may have come to me to tell me the secret to her outstanding, creative recipes. I guess I missed it.

Shaun and I are on the hunt for some new TV shows to watch on DVD since most of ours are coming to a close in a matter of weeks. I'm bummed! The ones on our list right now are: The Wire (even though we gave this a chance and weren't crazy about it, but I'm willing to give it one more go), Big Love and Breaking Bad. Do you have any suggestions for us? I'm still crying that Shameless is over until next year...when does True Blood start up again?

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2 of my all-time favorite books have been made into movies and will be coming out over the next few weeks. I'm so happy I could cry. Or jump for joy. Or both. Here's hoping they live up to my internal hype over them...

These movies can only mean one thing...girls movie day with my mom and sisters! I'm thinking the dine-in movie variety.

So that's what's making me tick on this lovely April Friday. What's making you happy?

Grown Up English Muffin Pizzas

Sometimes it's not so fun to be a grown up.

So many responsibilities. So many bills. So many days of work.

Sometimes I wish I could just be a kid again. Would that be so bad?

Sometimes I even think the food was better back then. In fact, I still enjoy a solid peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch from time to time. Though now I eat natural peanut butter instead of Jif; Polaner all fruit instead of sugary jam; and 100 calorie sandwich thins instead of Wonder bread.

Oh how times have changed.

I needed a super quick fix in the kitchen on Tuesday night (someone didn't do the grocery shopping this past weekend...and by someone I mean me). I have zumba and pilates after work which goes until 9 so typically we will whip up a quick pizza, using fresh, whole wheat dough from the grocery store.

But someone didn't buy it this week. So I had a great idea. What if we just went old school and got our pizza on via English muffin? I'll be honest...I didn't have high hopes for this one friends.

But oh how wrong I was. Shaun turned these little throw-together pizzas into a fantastic and easy dinner. I proclaimed them THE BEST DINNER EVER! (via reververating microphone). 

Ok, I didn't quite go that far. But I did mention that these would take the place in my heart as my new favorite weeknight dinner! A dinner to be added to our weekly repetoire for sure. By making these English muffin pizzas a little more grown up, this dish went from eh to mmmm in an instant.

Grown Up English Muffin Pizzas
whole wheat English muffins
tomato sauce (jarred or quick recipe below)
fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
dried oregano
for the sauce:
olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 C tomato sauce (e.g., Red Pack)
3 tbsp parmesean cheese
basil olive oil or dried basil
kosher salt
pepper

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Half the muffins and toast in a toaster. Top with sauce*, a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese and oregano. Lay on a wire rack set over a sheet pan and bake for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted and gooey. Sprinkle with oregano. Dig in.

*If you want to whip up Shaun's easy sauce, here's the recipe. In a small sauce pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and saute the minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the tomato sauce and mix well. Add the basil or basil oil and parmesean cheese. Let simmer for a few minutes so flavors meld together. Use while warm.

So there you have it. Perhaps the easiest dinner of all time and one of my new favorites. Perhaps being a grown up isn't so bad after all...

So what do you think? Do you ever dabble in foods that you loved as a kid (circa my pb&j habit)? What's your quickest weeknight meal?