Remember those nostalgic chocolate dipped Easter eggs from your childhood? Now you can make them at home! Creamy peanut butter, smooth and silky buttercream, and tropical coconut are better than you ever imagined.
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When I was growing up, our neighbors’ church would take orders for chocolate dipped Easter eggs and my mom would always order one for each of us kids. The church ladies who made them would write our names on them in royal icing.
Flavors were usually buttercream, coconut, peanut butter, and probably one other I can’t remember. I would never pick the peanut butter because it was never that great (I always went for the buttercream). Years later, when my kids were little, I learned how to make them and I’ve been making them for Easter ever since.
Instead of making them to sell (like I used to) I decided to share the recipe. Now anyone can make chocolate Easter eggs, even you (and your kids)!! The one that everyone seems to love the most, including myself, is my peanut butter. Over the years, I’ve perfected it. It’s so smooth and creamy without being overly sweet.
Another favorite is buttercream. Using a mixture of butter and cream cheese makes this a standout for the creamiest, dreamiest chocolate dipped Easter egg!
What You’ll Need
- Butter
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
- Chocolate — real chocolate will require tempering, but in this case I like to use a dipping chocolate wafer, such as those found in arts and crafts stores. This is the one I’ve been using and I really like the consistency. Of note, Wilton brand wafers are made in a facility that also processes wheat.
- Decorations — store bought or homemade
- For peanut butter eggs, add peanut butter. Add cream cheese to the buttercream eggs, and make the buttercream dough and add coconut to the coconut eggs.
How To Make Chocolate Dipped Easter Eggs
Something so cute and perfect looks like it would be hard to make, but I swear it’s not at all. It’s a process, not unlike anything dipped in chocolate, but I’ll walk you through it and in no time you’ll be a pro!!
- Make the “dough”– you can do this by hand, but I always like to use my stand mixer for quick action. Basically it’s a matter of creaming the butter and cream cheese or peanut butter and adding the powdered sugar slowly until a stiff dough forms.
- Hand shape the dough into eggs. I weigh mine to equal about 2.5-3 ounces each, but I’ve also made some larger ones, like 1/2 pound to even a pound, as well as some two-bite ones! Depending on the size you make, you’ll have more or less eggs in the end. Also, bigger eggs are a little harder to dip and I suggest enrobing in chocolate instead of dipping for those.
- Chill eggs in refrigerator for about an hour, longer if they’re large.
- Melt chocolate wafers as per package directions. For larger eggs, dip bottoms only of eggs into chocolate and set on waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Chill again for about 15 minutes. If they’re small enough, you can proceed to the next step of dipping the whole egg in chocolate.
- Dip eggs in melted chocolate using a candy dipping fork (affiliate link) or regular fork (dipping forks are wider and easier to use). Tap off excess chocolate and carefully place on waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Allow to harden either at room temperature (if your room isn’t overly warm) or in the refrigerator.
- Decorate as desired. I made these royal icing decorations ahead of time and let them dry. Then I dipped the bottoms in the melted chocolate and attached them to the top of the eggs. Feel free to add your own touch (sprinkles, etc).
- Store eggs in the refrigerator.
Chocolate Dipped Easter Eggs FAQs
Ideally, you would want to temper real chocolate to get that snap and also so it will set at room temperature. However, there is a “cheat” for not having to temper chocolate and that is to add an oil to the melted chocolate. For every 12 ounces of chocolate, add 1/4 cup (60 ml) of refined coconut oil or vegetable or canola oil (a neutral oil).
Absolutely! I used to make cherry nut eggs by adding well drained, chopped maraschino cherries and chopped walnuts to the buttercream dough. Another flavor option might be maple walnut by adding maple extract and chopped walnuts to the buttercream dough. How about strawberry? Try adding some strawberry powder (freeze dried strawberries blended in a food processor) to the dough for a chocolate covered strawberry flavor! BYOC–be your own chef!
Kept in the refrigerator, these eggs will last about two weeks!
Have fun with your kids and make these tasty chocolate dipped Easter eggs this year. You just might start a new Easter tradition.
Chocolate Dipped Easter Eggs (Naturally Gluten Free)
Ingredients
PEANUT BUTTER EGGS:
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks or 170 g) butter, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 pound (3 cups or 340 g) powdered sugar
- ½ cup (120 g) smooth peanut butter (not natural peanut butter)
BUTTERCREAM EGGS:
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks or 170 g) butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces (½ of an 8-oz block or 113 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 pounds (8 cups or 906 g) powdered sugar
COCONUT EGGS:
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks or 170 g) butter, at room temperature
- 4 ounces (½ of an 8-oz block or 113 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp coconut extract (optional)
- 2 pounds (8 cups or 906 g) powdered sugar
- 2 cups (190 g) unsweetened shredded coconut (toasted or untoasted)
CHOCOLATE COATING
- 1-2 pounds chocolate wafers, melted (see notes)
Instructions
- For peanut butter eggs, in bowl of mixer, cream butter and peanut butter until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add vanilla.
- For buttercream eggs, in bowl of stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add vanilla.
- For coconut eggs, make buttercream dough as above and add coconut extract and coconut into dough at the end.
- Mold each by hand into small eggs (about 3 ounces each) or larger eggs if you choose to. Place on wax paper-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Melt chocolate in large bowl. Dip bottom of eggs into melted chocolate and place back on wax paper to set. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.
- Using dipping fork or regular fork, dip eggs into chocolate and slide against edge of bowl to remove excess chocolate. Place on wax paper to set. Decorate as desired with royal icing flowers, names piped with royal icing, or sprinkles. See this post for recipe for royal icing.
Notes
Chocolate dipped Easter eggs was originally posted on April 1, 2019 and has been updated with some new pictures and new information.
I love this eggs!!! So easy to make and perfect for Easter!!!
I made your peanut butter egg recipe but the “dough” is very soft and you can’t shape it. Am I missing something? I made a recipe and a half.
The dough is always very stiff for me (I just made some yesterday so I know the recipe is right). Maybe you miscalculated when you increased the recipe. Did you use a natural peanut butter? Because that could also change the consistency.
I just made one batch of each and had the same issue with the peanut butter (creamy Jif). I am wondering if weighing out 12 oz of the powdered sugar for that one resulted in less powdered sugar being added (rather than using a measuring cup to measure out 3 cups). They were able to be shaped, but it was difficult and the texture was somewhere between mousse and dough.
Hmmm. I always weigh my ingredients in grams and 340 grams is equal to 12 ounces so I know the weight measurement results in a thick dough that’s easy to be shaped, so maybe it’s reversed (maybe measuring out 3 cups is somehow resulting in less powdered sugar being added)?? What I can do is put a note on the recipe stating that if your peanut butter mixture is loose, add more powdered sugar. In the meantime, if you can add more powdered sugar to yours, that should correct the problem. I always use Skippy peanut butter, so maybe there’s a difference in the consistency of different peanut butter brands??
I made your peanut butter egg recipe but the “dough” is very soft and you can’t shape it. Am I missing something? I made a recipe and a half.
Do you have instructions for creating the royal icing decorations you applied to the Easter eggs? The flowers and the leaves?
Oh gosh. I’m not really a decorator at all. I just kinda did something I learned years ago after taking a few cake decorating classes. Here’s a few great tutorials on how to make these flowers (and the same knowledge can be applied to making the leaves): https://javacupcake.com/2013/04/tutorial-royal-icing-flowers/ or this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJkfnU4wP_E
These are the best easter eggs ever!! I used to eat the peanut butter one, but now I’ve fallen in love with the buttercream. It’s so creamy and delicious!
Thanks, Wendy! I love them, too!! The buttercream is pretty awesome, too 🙂