These adorable peanut butter Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies are super scrumptious and perfect for an extra special Easter treat. A smooth peanut butter center coated in white or milk chocolate makes for an irresistible melt in your mouth bite. They’re an easy no-bake dessert that will remind you of a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup, only better!
This simple recipe can be used to celebrate any occasion if you need an excuse well beyond Easter. On Valentine’s day, we made these homemade chocolate peanut butter hearts and they were a hit. My husband referred to them as protein bars, and well, who am I to argue?!
What are chocolate-covered peanut butter eggs and bunnies?
Other than being the best most decadent peanut butter and chocolate treat there is? Well, here’s the scoop. We already know that any recipe that uses the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is already a step ahead in the dessert game. But it’s not just the peanut butter!
This satisfying center contains creamy peanut butter, yes, but add the salted butter and sugar and you’ve got a sweet and salty, creamy, and chewy result. And as adorable as the chocolate peanut butter eggs and bunnies are, you can actually use any cookie cutter shape you want to make these treats for any occasion.
The solid coating is either white chocolate or milk chocolate, or maybe some of each. And once it is set, you crack a bite into the chocolate which basically is a mouthful of soft, chewy, fudgy, buttery amazingness.
This no bake treat is assembled in less than an hour and ready to be eaten once set in the fridge. Make sure you grab yourself one before they’re all gone!
Appliance Tips:
Jelly Roll Pan – A smaller version of your typical rimmed baking sheet. Same with a half sheet pan. They come in handy, but if you only have a regular-sized baking sheet, you may need to double the recipe to fill the entire sheet. Otherwise, your peanut butter filling will be too thin.
Piping Bag – Can also use a Ziploc bag with a small corner cut out. Used for drizzle on top.
Cookie Cutters – To create an Easter theme, you’ll want to use bunny cutouts or eggs or both. This recipe works with whichever cutouts you choose.
Ingredients:
Peanut Butter Hearts
- Salted butter – melted and cooled. Adds an extra creamy buttery texture to the peanut butter. We’re using salted because there is no salt used otherwise.
- Creamy peanut butter – Stick with smooth, not chunky.
- Granulated sugar – Brings a sweet balance to the salty peanut butter and butter.
- Vanilla extract – A subtle vanilla flavor brings everything together.
- Powdered sugar – Helps bind the filling of this no-bake treat.
- Milk and/or white chocolate chips – Use whichever you’d prefer. Some bunnies, a few eggs, each a different kind would be cute!
- Shortening – Used in both the peanut butter bunnies/eggs as well as the drizzle.
- Dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips – Your preference as to which kind you use for the drizzle if you’re using drizzle at all.
How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Bunnies:
Step 1: Line a jelly roll (or half sheet pan) with parchment paper. Beat together butter, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add in the powdered sugar and beat until thoroughly combined.
Step 2: Press the peanut butter mixture into the sheet pan evenly to about 1/2″ thickness and place the sheet pan in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
Step 3: Lift the chilled peanut butter mixture from the sheet pan and set it onto a hard surface or cutting board. Then, use the cookie cutters to cut out bunnies and eggs from the peanut butter sheet.
Step 4: After the cutouts have chilled for 25 minutes, prepare the chocolate for dipping by placing chocolate chips and shortening in a heatproof bowl to microwave. Heat for 30-second increments, stirring between each, until the chocolate is mostly melted. Stir chocolate until completely smooth and it drizzles easily.
Step 5: Remove just one or two chilled peanut butter bunnies/eggs from the freezer at a time. Use a fork to dip the cutout into the melted chocolate and flip it to coat both sides. Lift from the chocolate, allowing the excess to drip off. Place the dipped shape onto a sheet of parchment paper.
Step 6: Continue dipping the remaining bunnies and eggs, working in small batches. Allow the chocolate coating to harden.
Step 7: Heat dark chocolate chips and a teaspoon of shortening until melted and smooth. Transfer to a piping bag and drizzle chocolate in large sweeps over the bunnies and eggs to add accent drizzle. Allow chocolate to set.
The peanut butter mixture becomes soft quickly when they are out of the freezer. If the chocolate cools and doesn’t smooth out easily when dipping, reheat in 15-second increments to keep the chocolate smooth.
Once you’re ready to decorate, you can drizzle to your hearts content. If you’re up or the challenge, maybe pipe on the Easter bunny’s face, or add some colored sprinkles to the Easter eggs.
Get some inexpensive decorations from the dollar store and fancy up your dessert table. These adorable peanut butter chocolate eggs and bunnies will fit right in!
Once these treats are solid you can cover and store them for up to a week, in the fridge or on the counter or freeze them for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator before serving or eat frozen!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Bunnies and Easter Eggs
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Hearts
- 1/2 cup salted butter melted and cooled
- 2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 cups milk or white chocolate chips or a combination of both (2 bags total)
- 2 tablespoons shortening
Drizzle Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon shortening
Instructions
- Line a jelly roll (or half sheet pan) with parchment paper.
- Using a hand or standing mixer, beat together cooled melted butter, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the powdered sugar and beat until thoroughly combined.
- Press the peanut butter mixture into the sheet pan.
- Use your fingers to press down the mixture, evenly spreading it to about a 1/2" thickness.
- Place the sheet pan in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
- Lift the chilled peanut butter mixture from the sheet pan and set onto a hard surface or cutting board.
- Use a cookie cutter to cut out bunny and/or egg shapes from the peanut butter sheet.
- Place the cut shapes onto a sheet of parchment paper and place them back into the freezer.
- The remnant peanut butter mixture can be pressed back into a 1/2" flat sheet so that you can cut out additional shapes.
- After the cutouts have chilled for 25 minutes, prepare the chocolate for dipping.
- Place chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl with 2 tablespoons of shortening (if using both milk and white chocolate, place in separate bowls and split the shortening between them). Heat in 30-second increments, stirring between each blast, until the chocolate is mostly melted.
- Stir chocolate until completely smooth and it drizzles easily.
- Remove just one or two chilled peanut butter bunnies/eggs from the freezer at a time. Use a fork to dip the cutout into the melted chocolate and flip it to coat both sides. Lift from the chocolate, allowing the excess to drip off. Place the dipped shape onto a sheet of parchment paper.
- Continue dipping the remaining bunnies and eggs, working in small batches. The peanut butter mixture become soft quickly when they are out of the freezer. If the chocolate cools and doesn't smooth out easily when dipping, reheat in 15 second increments to keep the chocolate smooth.
- Allow the chocolate coating to harden.
- Heat dark chocolate chips and teaspoon of shortening, working in 15-30 second bursts, until melted and smooth.
- Transfer to a piping bag or small ziploc bag. Snip a very small hole in the bag and drizzle chocolate in large sweeps over the bunnies and eggs to add accent drizzle.
- Allow chocolate to set (about 1 minute).
(aff link). Okay! So, you divide your mix evenly between the pans and bake them up – about 15-18 minutes. Once the cakes are cooled down. use a large bread knife to slice the tops off straight across – this will give you nice flat layers to work with and ensure that they’re all sliced off evenly. As you stack the layers, use a consistent measuring cup to add the frosting between the layers – I used 1/2 c. between each layer and smoothed it to the edges before pressing the next cake layer on. Do not add frosting to the very top layer (unless you want to fully frost the whole cake, of course).
