Healthier Copycat Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs

Healthier Copycat Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs are an amazingly simple and clean version of the iconic Easter candy. They are vegan, dairy and gluten free and made with only 5 ingredients but they taste like the real deal!

Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven, if you ask me. I absolutely love peanut butter based desserts, with peanut butter pie and peanut butter ice-cream leading the rank. It’s the sweet, the creamy and the salty combo that makes it truly addictive.

Reese’s peanut butter eggs are a must for Easter or spring but this year I decided to recreate the classic candy using only clean and whole ingredients. Though there is no refined sugar or oil in this recipe, I have to say that the final effect surpassed my expectations.

I am not going to try to convince you that these eggs are healthy because they ARE candy but Easter is a special occasion and my opinion is that if you’re going to celebrate with sweets, these are a MUCH better for you than store-bought candy. Try for yourself and your mind will be blown away!

Looking for more healthy-ish desserts? Try these no-bake Strawberry Cake Pops.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• Peanut Butter: use all-natural creamy peanut butter made with no added oils or sugar. The only ingredients should be peanuts and salt, if you’re using salted peanut butter. If there is a layer of natural oil on top of your peanut butter, make sure to give it a good stir before measuring.
• Dark Chocolate Chips: I use semi-sweet chocolate chips but you can use all dark and/or vegan chocolate chips. For best results make sure that your chocolate has at least 52% cacao content.
• Maple Syrup: to add sweetness to the candy. You only need 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup to make 12 delicious peanut butter eggs.
• Vanilla Extract: use pure 100% vanilla extract. If you want, you can omit this ingredient but I do like to add vanilla to the peanut butter mixture to round up the flavors.
• Almond Flour: use blanched almond flour to thicken the peanut butter filling.
• Equipment: as far as equipment goes, you will also need an egg-shaped cookie cutter, a mini food processor (or regular sized if you don't have a mini processor), a baking sheet, a rolling pin (I like this marble one), and parchment or wax paper. To melt chocolate in the microwave and have best results, I recommend a silicone or microwave-safe plastic bowl.

HOW TO MAKE HEALTHIER REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER EGGS

Step 1: Make the peanut butter filling. The easiest way is to combine all the ingredients in a mini food processor. You can also use a full size food processor though you may need to scrape the filling a couple times with a spatula while pulsing. The final “dough” should look crumbly but stick easily together when squeezed between fingers. Dump the mixture into a bowl or on a clean surface and form a ball. At first it may seem that the dough is too crumbly but the heat of your hands will make it more pliable.

Step 2: Roll out and chill the filling. Put the "dough" ball between 2 sheets of parchment or wax paper and roll out using a rolling pin to ¼- ½ inch thick, depending on how thick you want the eggs to be. I like mine on the thinner side since the peanut butter filling is pretty rich. Place the rolled out dough in paper in the freezer for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, line a baking sheet or tray with parchment or wax paper.

Step 3: Shape the eggs. Remove the rolled out dough from the freezer, cut out 12 egg shaped “cookies” and place them on the lined baking sheet. You may need to take the scraps, form a new ball, roll the dough and keep shaping eggs until you have 12. Once you do, place in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up. Slightly frozen eggs are easier to handle and dip in chocolate.

Step 4: Melt the chocolate. You can melt the chocolate either using a double boiler method or by using the microwave.

Step 4: Dip the eggs in chocolate. As soon as your chocolate is melted, take the peanut butter eggs out of the freezer and dip one at a time using a fork to let excess chocolate drip. Once fully covered, place back on parchment paper. It may be easier to use a small spoon to help cover the eggs with chocolate, especially towards the end.

Step 5: Freeze. Once all the eggs are covered in chocolate, place in the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. You can also decorate them with more drizzled dark, milk or white chocolate, though that step is optional.

If you want to add the drizzle, place the eggs in the freezer, melt ¼ cup additional chocolate (dark, milk, white) and pour it into a small zip lock bag, cut the end off and drizzle on the slightly frozen chocolate covered eggs. Place the eggs back in the freezer for 1 hour.

SUBSTITUTIONS & ADDITIONAL PREP TIPS

• For paleo chocolate eggs, of if you don’t want to use peanut butter, you can use almond or cashew butter.
• If you want to make these eggs vegan, make sure to use vegan chocolate chips.
• For a tree nut free version, you can skip almond flour and use coconut flour, although start with 2 tablespoons. Coconut flour is super absorbent and you won’t need as much of it.
• If you don’t have an egg-shaped cookie cutter, these candies can be any shape you like, as long as the cookie cutter is rather small or the “dough” might crumble while dipping. Circles or hearts would work well.
• The amount of flour needed will rely on how thick or runny your peanut butter is. If it’s on the runny side, follow the proportion in the recipe and test to see if the dough sticks together. If it seems too thin, go ahead and add another tablespoon or 2 of almond flour, one at a time, until you reach the right consistency.

WHAT IS CHOCOLATE TEMPERING?

Chocolate tempering means heating chocolate up to a certain temperature and then cooling it down, usually by adding more solid chocolate to the melted chocolate. Properly tempered chocolate will be shiny, won’t melt easily in your fingers and will have a nice snap when you bite into it.

When you’re serious about candy making or do it professionally, tempering chocolate is an important step. However, if you’re reading this post, chances are you are a home cook or a busy mom, not a Lindt chocolatier. When making 12 copycat Reese’s eggs that will probably disappear in 10 seconds, I wouldn’t worry about proper chocolate tempering too much. As long as you don’t let the chocolate scorch (microwave it for too long), your eggs will be delicious. Just make sure to store them in the fridge (see below).

If you do like the idea of perfectly tempered chocolate though, there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube that will help you get best results. I recommend this video from Sugar Geek Show.

STORAGE & SERVING TIPS

For best results, store the chocolate peanut butter eggs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. Make sure to line the container with parchment or wax paper and use paper sheets in-between layers. You can also freeze the eggs for up to 3 months.

No time to make it now? Just pin it now and save the recipe for later!

Recipe

Healthier Copycat Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs

Homemade Copycat Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs are an amazingly simple and clean version of the iconic Easter candy.

5 from 14 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: healthier peanut butter eggs, peanut butter candy

Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 12 eggs

Calories: 148kcal

Author: Agnieszka

Equipment

• Mini food processor or regular sized

Ingredients

• ½ cup creamy all-natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoon maple syrup
• 4 tablespoon almond flour
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¾ cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

• Place peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla and almond flour in a food processor (I use

  this mini one) and pulse until all ingredients are combined. If needed, scrape the sides of the food processor with a spatula and pulse a couple more times until the mixture is thick and crumbly. Squeeze some of the “dough” in your fingers. It should stick together easily. If your peanut butter is on the runnier side, add another tablespoon of almond flour to thicken the mixture.
• Place the peanut butter “dough” in a bowl or on a clean surface and form a ball using your hands.
• Place the dough ball between 2 pieces of parchment paper and roll out to ¼ to ½ inch thick. Place the rolled out dough in the freezer for a couple minutes (don’t remove the paper). This step will make it easier to cut out and handle the eggs.
• Line a baking sheet or a flat tray with parchment or wax paper. Remove the rolled out dough from the freezer, peel of the top sheet of parchment paper and cut out 12 eggs using an egg-shaped cookie cutter. Place the eggs on the prepared cookie sheet. You may not be able to cut out all 12 at once. Take any leftover dough, form a ball again, roll out between parchment paper and keep cutting out eggs until you run out of dough.
• Place the baking sheet with peanut butter eggs in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
• Melt the chocolate. You do that either using a double boiler (place the bowl with chocolate chips in a saucepan with gently boiling water and stir the chocolate until melted) or in the microwave: place the bowl with chocolate chips in the microwave and set the timer to 30 seconds. Take the bowl out and stir the chocolate chips. Put back in the microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir. Then microwave for 15 more seconds, take the bowl out and stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
• Using a fork dip the frozen peanut butter eggs in chocolate one at a time and place back on the lined baking sheet. If needed, use a small spoon to help with coating the eggs in chocolate.
• Once all the eggs are covered in chocolate, place the baking sheet back in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
• If you’d like, melt ¼ cup more chocolate (dark, milk, white), place in a small zip lock bag, cut the end off and drizzle on the now frozen chocolate covered eggs. This step is optional but adds a nice detail.

Notes

The amount of almond flour needed will rely on how thick or runny your peanut butter is. If it’s on the runny side, follow the proportion in the recipe and test to see if the dough sticks together. If it seems too thin, go ahead and add another tablespoon or 2 of almond flour, one at a time, until you reach the right consistency.

Nutrition

Calories: 148kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 0.1mg | Sodium: 58mg | Potassium: 140mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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Meet the Author

Hi, I'm Agnieszka. I'm a mom of three and recipe developer, writer and photographer behind Wholly Tasteful. I love creating comforting, delicious, family-friendly recipes that you can feel good about.

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