Recipe Review: Homemade "Reese's" Eggs

I am a Pinterest addict. Let me know if you want an invite because it is awesome. While waiting for a digest to finish yesterday I was browsing and re-pinning and came across this: YUM!

OMG! First Pat (my husband) adores anything that Reese's makes. He particularly loves the eggs and other holiday themed treats because there is thinner chocolate and more of the peanut butter heaven. Up until I saw this I had planned on making Evangeline (our daughter) a dress out of a onesie last night after she went to bed, but this changed everything. I was only missing shortening (made one too many pies, oops), and peanut butter (had chunky not smooth), and got some extra chocolate chips just in case.

As I was cooking dinner (mmm, sausage ravioli) I mixed up the peanut butter dough. I ended up melting the butter and softening the peanut butter in the microwave to make measuring/mixing easier. Of course I used my trusty kitchen aid mixer so I saved a ton of trouble. I did end up needing 4 tbs of milk though (maybe because I never shift powdered sugar). I was a bit disapointed when I first tasted the dough because it tasted a bit too raw powdered sugar-y to me, but I kept going and attempted to form eggs, then gave up and made disks instead. I didn't have room in my freezer (damned french door units), so I figured 2+ hours in the fridge would work just as well. I covered them with wax paper and left them until after Evangeline went to sleep.

Once she was in bed, I melted the chocolate, I ended up needing almost 2 tbsp of shortening to make the chocolate the right coating consistency so use your best judgment with that. It's also a damned good thing that I bought extra chips cause I burned the first batch. Pro tip: Do not forget and leave a metal spoon in your chocolate in the microwave, I got distracted because The Mentalist was back from commercial. Simon Baker *swoon*. Anyway, I brought the chilled disks and the chocolate into the living room to dip them in front of the TV (I so need a kitchen TV), and tried to use a chopstick as a skewer. Bad idea, way too thick and it kept breaking the disks. I ended up putting them in the bowl, flipping them, then holding them by the edges so they could drip off. Then I put them on the waxed paper again. They set up nicely within a half hour but this morning they were perfect.

I tried to give one to my husband so he could taste one and let me know what he thought, but when I turned around to give it to him, he was passed out on the couch. High school students wear him out even more than the elementary ones did! So as of right now he can't tell me what he thought. I had one last night and 2(yes 2) for breakfast this morning. (This is why you're fat). So here's my take on them: The filling needed that time in the fridge, not only to firm up but to let the flavors marry well. This morning the filling tasted almost dead on. The chocolate coating was amazing because it was the perfect thickness for the amount of peanut butter and you could (if you wanted) double or triple dip to increases the thickness if you like them that way.

What would I change? I think next time (and there will be a next time)instead of free forming them, I will roll them out and use cookie cutters for fun, I think the coating will be more even that way too, a couple of them I had trouble coating the nooks and crannies with the chocolate.

Final thoughts: It made about 25 of these (big ones) and are cheaper than buying them pre-made. This would also be an awesome recipe to make with kids as they could either cut them out, or form them into their own shapes. They could also eat the "raw" dough because it doesn't have eggs or anything in it. (An adult should do the dipping though, at least until the chocolate cools a bit). I'll let you know what Pat thinks tomorrow! (in an edit)

EDIT: Pat says they look kinda gross (irregular lumpy shape, which will look better when I roll them out and cut with cookie cutters), but tasted on par with real Reese's! Score!

I'll probably edit this to add a picture of them at some point, because an entire blog with no pictures is boring right?