Everyone’s favorite dessert flavor combination comes together in these easy no-bake chocolate peanut butter Easter egg candies! They’re like a homemade version of the popular Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs, only a bit softer and sweeter, which makes the crisp, coarse salt on top a wonderful addition.
If you enjoy candy this time of year, these easy Buttercream Egg Candies are another egg-cellent choice. (Ha! Couldn’t resist.)
In 2015, I authored a cookbook all about making from-scratch candy and it includes some of my favorite recipes like classic chocolate fudge and caramel turtles. But the homemade peanut butter cups are certainly the crowd favorite, and I used a similar filling to create today’s peanut butter egg candies.
Tell Me About These Peanut Butter Eggs:
- Flavor: Indulge in peanut butter and chocolate bliss with every single bite of these egg-shaped candies. These homemade peanut butter eggs are certainly a special treat because they’re rich, sugary, and will satisfy your sweet cravings. You can coat the candies with dark, milk, or white chocolates. In today’s batch, I used a combination of dark and white chocolate to create a milk chocolate-like coating.
- Texture: The peanut butter filling is smooth, creamy, and thick. Dark bittersweet chocolate isn’t as soft as milk or white chocolates, so if you want a texture contrast to the creamy peanut butter filling, dark is the best candy coating choice.
- Ease: Homemade candy has the reputation of being finicky and complicated, but you don’t need a sugar PhD (LOL) or a fancy candy thermometer to make these. A beginner can easily master this recipe by following my detailed instructions below. These are EASY!
There are plenty of homemade peanut butter egg candy recipes online and I’m sure they are all wonderful! I really like this one because the filling is super creamy, but still holds its shape well.
Have you ever made peanut butter balls before? This recipe is similar, only I reduced the butter and confectioners’ sugar so the peanut butter flavor comes through even more. The full printable recipe is below, but let’s walk through some particulars so you’re all set for sweet tooth success.
Just 7 Ingredients in These Easter Egg Candies
- Softened Butter: Like most baking recipes, start with room temperature butter. Overly soft or melted butter will sabotage your efforts from the start. Good rule of thumb: let the butter sit out on the counter for 1 hour before beginning the recipe. You can use salted or unsalted butter; if using salted, no need to adjust the added salt in the recipe—I promise these are plenty sweet either way.
- Creamy Peanut Butter: As you can guess, peanut butter is the main ingredient. For the best texture, use processed creamy peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy, the same kind I recommend for peanut butter blossoms and peanut butter frosting. Natural-style peanut butter is wonderful for eating and cooking, but I do not recommend it for this recipe because the filling will be too dry and crumbly.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Confectioners’ sugar binds everything together and adds sweetness. Without this powdery sugar, the peanut butter filling would be too liquid.
- Vanilla Extract: For a little extra flavor, use vanilla extract.
- Salt: Salt offsets the sweetness.
- Chocolate: Just as if you were making chocolate truffles, use pure baking chocolate. Do not use chocolate chips because they do not melt properly. I list all of my advice about the chocolate coating below.
- 1 Teaspoon Vegetable Oil: Melted chocolate can be a little too thick to smoothly coat the candies, so add a small splash of vegetable oil to help thin it out.
Optional: Sprinkle a little coarse sea salt on top of the chocolate before it sets. Or you can top the candies with festive sprinkles instead.
How to Shape Peanut Butter Egg Candies—It’s Easy!
You’re essentially making a very thick peanut butter filling and molding it into flat egg-like shapes. Each Easter egg candy is 1.5 Tablespoons (about 1 ounce, or 29 grams) of filling. For consistency and ease, I recommend using a medium cookie scoop or digital scale to measure the filling for each. First, roll the filling into a ball. Flatten it between your palms so it’s about 3/4 inch thick, and then use your fingers to narrow one end to make an egg shape. It’s easier than you think, and they certainly don’t need to be perfect!
If you’re having difficulty shaping the peanut butter eggs, here are some troubleshooting tips. If your filling is:
- Too Soft: If your butter was too soft or if the peanut butter you’re using is too thin, the filling can get a little soft and sticky. The refrigerator can fix that—stop what you’re doing and chill the bowl of filling for 15 minutes in the refrigerator before trying again.
- Too Crumbly: If the filling gets a little crumbly, keeping molding it and mashing it between your hands. The warmth of your hands can help bring it back together.
This Step Makes or Breaks Your Recipe—Literally
The most important part of this homemade Easter candy recipe is chilling the shaped eggs. When making buttercream egg candies, you must chill the buttercream mixture before shaping it because it’s too soft and unworkable. For these peanut butter eggs, however, you can shape the filling right after making it.
Chill the shaped peanut butter eggs in the refrigerator to set their shape. The colder the shaped eggs, the easier time you’ll have coating them.
If you skip chilling, the egg candies will completely fall apart when you try to coat them. Trust me, I’ve made these and plenty of other similar candies before, and you will absolutely lose your mind trying to coat them if they’re room temperature or warm.
Success Tips for Coating the Peanut Butter Eggs
- Use real chocolate. For the BEST looking and tasting candies, start with real chocolate. Use the 4-ounce “baking chocolate” bars you can find in the baking aisle of the grocery store. I prefer Bakers or Ghirardelli brands. You need 3 4-ounce bars for this recipe, or 12 ounces total. Melting wafers also work, and for those, I recommend Ghirardelli. You can use milk, semi-sweet, dark, or even white chocolates. Be warned that using all white chocolate will produce a VERY sweet candy. Instead, I recommend dark or milk chocolates. I didn’t have any milk chocolate when I photographed these, so I mixed 8 ounces dark and 4 ounces white chocolate together. Candy melts would work, but they don’t taste like real chocolate, so I don’t recommend them. Do not use chocolate chips. Save them for your chocolate chip cookies or any of my other recipes using chocolate chips.
- Melt the chocolate. You can use a double boiler or the microwave. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring after each. Chocolate is temperamental, so always melt with care. I do not recommend tempering the chocolate for this recipe. Tempered chocolate should not be refrigerated, and due to the fresh ingredients in the filling, these candies must be refrigerated.
- Let the chocolate cool down for a few minutes. Otherwise it will melt the cold filling.
- Dip the peanut butter eggs. While I prefer special dipping tools for round chocolate truffles, a fork and toothpick work perfectly for these flatter candies. Submerge the peanut butter eggs into the chocolate and then carefully lift out with a fork. Tap the fork on the edge of the bowl to drip off excess chocolate. Use a toothpick to help slide the candy off the fork.
- Allow the chocolate to set. Place the chocolate-covered eggs on a lined baking sheet. If you have leftover chocolate, drizzle it on top of the eggs—you can use a spoon or squeeze bottle for that. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator to set the chocolate.
I repeat: Do not use chocolate chips. They’re great for chocolate chip cookies, but since they contain stabilizers, they do not melt into the correct coating consistency.
Troubleshoot: Coating in Chocolate
Your peanut butter Easter egg candy is perfectly shaped and cold, but dipping them into chocolate is giving you some problems. Let’s work through them together.
- Chocolate is hardening before I’m finished: This is an easy fix! First, make sure you are working quickly. Second, keep the chocolate fluid by reheating in the microwave for 10 seconds or use a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, spoon the chocolate into a glass bowl set over a pot of simmering water. This keeps the chocolate slightly warm. Don’t let the water touch the bottom of the glass bowl.
- Chocolate is too thick: 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil thins out the chocolate so it’s the best consistency for dipping. If you find your chocolate is still too thick, add a little more vegetable oil. Coconut oil works too, but I prefer vegetable oil.
- Chocolate isn’t smooth on the candies: It was likely too thick. You want a very thin chocolate. See above.
- Filling is melting when dipping: The chocolate is too hot. Let it sit for a few minutes to slightly cool down and then try again.
- Uncoated candies are losing their shape: If the eggs are softening and losing their shape as you’re dipping them, put the baking sheet back in the fridge for 5–10 minutes and then try again.
More Easter Recipes
- Hummingbird Cake
- Coconut Easter Cake
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Hot Cross Buns
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- Maple Pecan Sticky Buns
- Jelly Bean Sugar Cookies
- Sour Cream Crumb Cake
- Easter Cookies
- Coconut Chocolate Easter Cupcakes
Looking for more Easter inspiration? See all 18+ of our favorite Easter brunch recipes. And here are 18+ Easter dessert ideas.
Print
Easter Egg Peanut Butter Candies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours (includes chocolate setting)
- Yield: 18 candies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Dipping
- Cuisine: American
Description
These rich and sweet Easter egg peanut butter candies combine a creamy peanut butter filling with a delicious chocolate coating. See blog post for extra tips on coating the candies with chocolate.
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (250g) creamy peanut butter (not natural style)
- 2 and 1/2 cups (300g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces (3 4-ounce bars) semi-sweet chocolate bars (339g), coarsely chopped*
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- optional: coarse sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the peanut butter and beat until combined, about 1 minute. If you notice any small chunks of butter, don’t worry—the mixture will smooth out. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and salt, and beat on low speed for 2 minutes until everything is combined. The mixture will be a little soft and crumbly.
- Measure 1.5 Tablespoons (about 1 ounce, or 29 grams) of peanut butter mixture. Roll into a ball. Flatten the ball between your palms and use your fingers to narrow one end into an egg shape. The egg should be roughly 3/4 inch thick. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining peanut butter mixture. The mixture can be a little crumbly, but the warmth of your hands will bring it together. If you find the peanut butter mixture becoming too soft to handle, chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can powder your hands with confectioners’ sugar, which helps prevent the filling from sticking to your hands.
- Chill the shaped peanut butter eggs in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. During the last few minutes of the chilling time, begin melting the chocolate and oil together. You can melt it in a double boiler or the microwave. If using the microwave: place the chocolate and oil in a medium heat-proof bowl. I recommend using a liquid measuring cup because its depth makes dipping really easy. Melt in 20-second increments in the microwave, stirring after each increment, until completely melted and smooth. Let the warm chocolate sit for 6–8 minutes to cool slightly before dipping, otherwise it will melt the shaped peanut butter eggs.
- Remove peanut butter eggs from the refrigerator. Working with one at a time, submerge into the chocolate and then carefully lift out using a fork. Tap the fork gently on the side of the bowl/measuring cup to rid excess chocolate. Use a toothpick or a second fork to help slide the candy off of the fork and onto the baking sheet. If the eggs are softening and losing their shape as you’re dipping them, put the baking sheet back in the fridge for 5–10 minutes and then try again.
- If you have leftover chocolate, drizzle it over the candies. I reheat leftover chocolate and use a spoon or squeeze bottle to drizzle. If desired, lightly sprinkle each with coarse salt or festive sprinkles while chocolate is still wet.
- Refrigerate coated candies for 30 minutes or until chocolate has completely set before serving.
- Layer peanut butter eggs between sheets of parchment or wax paper and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The filling can get a little soft, so they taste best right out of the refrigerator. We love them right out of the freezer, too!
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can start this recipe 1 day ahead of time. The shaped filling can be chilled in the refrigerator for up to 1 day prior to coating. The coated peanut butter candies can be frozen. Freeze the coated candies for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop or Digital Scale | Double Boiler or Liquid Measuring Cup | Squeeze Bottle
- Butter: I use unsalted butter in this recipe, though I’ve made them plenty of times before with salted butter. No need to adjust the salt in the filling, though feel free to taste the filling before adding the salt and only add a pinch if desired. Because the filling and coating are so sweet, I never adjust the salt if using salted butter.
- Can I Use Crunchy Peanut Butter? Creamy/smooth is best because crunchy yields a very crumbly filling that’s difficult to mold. If crunchy is all you have, you can make it work in a pinch—just be warned the filling mixture will be super crumbly and you’ll really have to work it with your hands to mold into shapes.
- Chocolate: For the best looking and tasting candies, use 4-ounce “baking chocolate” bars found in the baking aisle. I prefer Bakers or Ghirardelli brands. You need 3 4-ounce bars for this recipe, 12 ounces total. You can use milk, semi-sweet, or bittersweet chocolates. (I combined 8 ounces dark and 4 ounces white chocolate to yield a lighter, milk chocolate-like coating.) You could also use chocolate melting wafers, such as Ghirardelli brand. Candy melts or almond bark work too, but they don’t taste like real chocolate. Do not use chocolate chips because they contain stabilizers preventing them from melting into the correct consistency for coating.
- Coating/Melting Chocolate: See all my troubleshooting tips above in the post.
- Do Not Temper: I do not recommend tempering the chocolate for this recipe. Tempered chocolate should not be refrigerated and due to the fresh ingredients in the filling, these candies must be refrigerated.
Also can I make these smaller?
Hi Lily, yes, feel free to make the eggs smaller.
Are you sure I can’t use chocolate chips? That’s all I have.
Hi Lily, Chocolate chips contain stabilizers and do not melt properly for a silky smooth coating. We list all of our advice about the chocolate coating in the blog post above.
Is there any way that this recipe is similar to the chocolate peanut butter pie that Costco is selling. Sure would love to know how that is made. Also plan on making these very soon. Looks wonderful.
Hi Theresa, We haven’t tasted the Costco pie, but the peanut butter layer in theirs may be closer to this peanut butter pie recipe. Let us know if you try it!
I want to make these for the family but I am curious. Can I melt solid chocolate bunnies for the coating? Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!!!
Hi Sandra, For the best looking and tasting candies, use 4-ounce “baking chocolate” bars found in the baking aisle. Chocolate bunnies have other sugars and added ingredients, as well as stabilizers that can prevent them from melting properly.
Super easy to make. Glad the info and instructions on the texture of the PB were provided.
Wonderfully creamy, and the sea salt flakes add a nice touch. This will be my go-to PB Egg recipe for sure.
this was really a great recipe.. question. i used Ghiradelli chocolate wafers to coat my eggs, and the chocolate is staying very tacky. i melted in the double boiler , ( i make candies a lot so i know how to do it). this is the the first time I have used the Ghiradelli wafers. I have never had this problem with other wafers that i used . if I leave Thank you
Can I subsitute avocado or coconut oil instead of vegetable oil to melt the chocolate?
Hi Nicolena, You can use melted coconut oil with the chocolate, but it may begin solidifying the chocolate a bit quicker – work quickly to dip!
I would say you could press the PB mixture into the cookie cutter if you desire them to be close to uniform. I would make sure it’s fairly packed so that it doesn’t crumble apart
Hi Sally! Love your recipes. I am wanting to make peanut butter hearts for valentines day, do you think that I could flatten the peanut butter mixture and use cookie cutters with this recipe?
Hi AshLow, instead of cookie cutters, we’d recommend shaping them by hand. It’s okay if each one is a bit different!
I’ve made thesr twice and every one loves them. Could I spread the batter in a 8×11 pan, chill it, then pour cooled chocolate on top, add some colorful sprinkles, chill, then cut into bars?
Hi Michele! We recommend using our very similar no bake peanut butter bars instead. Glad these candies are a hit!
These are amazing. Made them with the family for Easter.
Do you think you could use white chocolate bars for the coating instead? Thanks!
Hi Alexa, yes, you can use white chocolate if you’d prefer. Use white chocolate baking bars, not white chocolate morsels, or we also like the Ghirardelli brand white chocolate melting wafers. Enjoy!
This recipe was a big hit with my family. I would like to somehow increase the peanut flavor and make it less sweet. I’m wondering if reducing the powdered sugar by a half cup and add peanut butter powder by the same volume would work. I used WalMart Great Value Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bars for the coating with 1 tsp oil. It was delicious and even better with flaky salt crystals on top. The salt helps to balance the very sweet filling.
Hi Kim, so glad you enjoyed these. We haven’t tested swapping in some peanut butter powder, but let us know if you give it a try!
Great recipe! My only feedback would be – I adjusted the powdered sugar, using about 1/4 to 1/2 cup less, and added about 1/4 extra peanut butter.
Also, I had not read the note about not using chocolate chips until after I had already bought them so I bit the bullet and used them anyway, adding an extra Tbsp of oil and they turned out perfect!
These are amazing. We will be making these every Easter now. Thank you!!!
I love your recipes so much I bought a cook book
Can you make the eggs thicker than 3/4 of an inch or will that be too much? I have a egg silicone mold.
I can’t see why not!
I made this recipe for the first time today! I love how easy the directions were. I did cut back a little on the confectionery sugar as I didn’t want them too sweet. I Froze the eggs and dipped them the next day. They were awesome! Creamy and delicious. I definitely loved this recipe.
Hi! These look delicious. Unfortunately, I only have unsweetened chocolate that is 100% cacao and has no sugar! I’m wondering if I can still make this recipe with this chocolate or if I should buy a different one?
Hi Phoebe! We would buy semi sweet chocolate for this recipe. Hope you love them!
I have a question about the chocolate coating. On the truffles you use a chocolate ganache but on these it is just a chocolate coating. Is there a particular reason you wouldn’t use ganache on these? I have made these eggs several times and live them! Thanks so much for all the wonderful info and recipes!!
Hi Cyndi, ganache doesn’t quite set the way that this chocolate coating does. We want a harder coating on these similar to a Reese’s peanut butter eggs. So glad you love this recipe!
Can you freeze the peanut butter eggs prior to dipping?
You could, yes!
Sally, Do you have any recipes for sugar free cookies? My brother can’t have sugar, but he loves homemade cookies (especially brown butter chocolate chip cookies). I would love to make some to send him, but they must be sugar free. Thank you for any help you can give me.
Hi Monty, our website has mostly traditional desserts/baking recipes on it. We don’t do a lot of dietary specific recipes and wouldn’t trust ourselves to produce the best quality recipes with those requirements– we recommend searching for a website that can accommodate the restrictions needed. That way you aren’t trying to alter a recipe and can find exactly what you need. Sorry we can’t help more!
Do you have to used unsalted butter
Hi Janice, unsalted butter is best, because salted butter contains varying amount of salt depending on the brand, so the filling could end up tasting a bit salty. If you do decide to use salted butter, you can omit the 1/8 teaspoon of added salt.
This recipe is fantastic as are all of your recipes. I am a new baker (just about a year) and when I look up a recipe I always look for a “Sally” recipe. Thank you so much.
Made these today for my family! This was a hit and turned out great!
Had juuuuust enough confectioner’s sugar to do this, maybe an 1/8 of a cup. Still wonderful and easy to work with!
Hi Sally, I can’t wait to try these! Can the vegetable oil be substituted for coconut oil?
Hi Alexia, yes, you can use coconut oil to melt with the chocolate.
Hi Sally,
Is there a substitute that can be made for butter so this could be DF. I love to bake for the office for special occasions and this would be an awesome option for a lovely friend who is dairy free.
Hi Gaye, we haven’t tested a vegan butter in these, but please let us know how it goes if you do!
Thanks Michelle, I live in New Zealand and when I bake a DF cake I use margerine instead of butter but I feel subbing margerine for butter in this recipe won’t chill and hold the mix well. Thank you for your reply though. XxG
Hi Michelle,
thanks for all the suggestions for dairy free substitutes. Since my last reply I have had some success with coconut oil. The end product looked and tasted the same. The bonus to using this was that it is similar to butter as it is hard at room temperature. The only change I made was to use 68gr coconut oil as it contains more fat than butter (simply multiply the quantity of butter by 0.8). The coconut oil beat the same as butter so I was able to follow your recipe exactly, including using DF dark chocolate for dipping. The end result is that my DF friends have a wonderful home made treat for easter. Thanks to the Sally’s Baking community. Happy Easter!
We use Vegan Becel in all baking to make it dairy free. Works every time.
Hi Gaye, Country Crock makes a plant based butter that is dairy free and is wonderful for baking!
Hi, Can Swerve Confectioners sugar be used for these PB eggs?
Hi Kelly! We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes like Swerve. Thank you!
Is it possible to get the nutritional data for this and other recipes you post? My granddaughter has diabetes and I try to make sure we have labels so she can have a treat every once in a while and we prefer homage as opposed to Store-bought
Hi Renée, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Do I store these in the refrigerator?
Layer peanut butter eggs between sheets of parchment or wax paper and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The filling can get a little soft, so they taste best right out of the refrigerator.