peanut butter-marshmallow eggs

Do you have a favorite source for handmade candy Easter eggs? I’ve been lucky enough to discover delicious eggs that seem to have their own cult following, made by members of a Berks County church. But I’ve been sworn to secrecy about the details; they prefer not to advertise these treasures, as they produce just enough to meet demand.

The church’s 40 volunteers make over 2000 pounds of Candy Easter Eggs each year! I do love a good secret, but you might wonder why I’d mention a source that I can’t even share with you. It’s because I encourage you to connect with a neighbor or friend, start a conversation, and uncover a local source of your own.

As you gather the ingredients, you’ll see that I didn’t try to make the eggs healthy. (My best tip is to give most of them away!) Also, some older recipes call for mixing the chocolate with paraffin wax, which kept the eggs’ chocolate coating smooth for days at room temperature. You can achieve this same effect by using tempered chocolate (tempering it yourself or purchasing pre-tempered chocolate), or you can follow the instructions below and simply store the eggs in the fridge until shortly before serving.

When you’re ready to dip the eggs, you may find it easier to melt only a small amount of chocolate at a time. For a simple double boiler, use a small bowl over a small saucepan.

In today’s Reading Eagle magazine Berks Country, you’ll find two of my recipes for candy Easter eggs. There was not room for them all so here is the third, a marshmallow version!

Happy dipping!

Peanut Butter-Marshmallow Eggs

 

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In most old chocolate coated Easter Egg recipes, a blend of wax and chocolate is used to coat candies. I did not want to use wax and had good success using Hershey's special dark chocolate chips.

: Recipe adapted from Mrs. Harold Cotner, 1971 PA State Grange Cookbook

: candy, easter, dessert

Serves: 60-70 eggs (4 pounds)

Ingredients

• ¾ pound butter
• 2 pounds powdered sugar, divided
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces peanut butter
• 8 ounces marshmallow cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter and ½ pound of sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add the salt, peanut butter, marshmallow and vanilla and whip until smooth.
3. By hand, mix in the remaining sugar.
4. Form into eggs of the desired size; refrigerate overnight.
5. Melt the chocolate and dip the chilled eggs into the melted chocolate.Allow pieces to rest in the refrigerator overnight. Dip into the melted chocolate.

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