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Chocolate Covered Sunbutter Eggs Recipe| Peanut-Safe Alternative to Reese’s

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Last week I was visiting one of my favorite blogs, TidyMom. (It truly is a place for everything! ; )  Cheryl over there was sharing a recipe for her Homemade Peanut Butter Eggs.  Ohhhh, how I wanted one!  In fact, I have been missing Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and the Reese’s PB Eggs that come out every Easter, for years now!  But peanut and peanut butter anything has been removed from our life, since we discovered our son has a severe, life threatening allergy to it.  It was a hard pill to swallow, for this life-long-die-hard-peanut-butter-lover.  But Sunbutter has helped me survive. And anyway, I love my son way more, and keeping him has been worth the sacrifice!   Sunbutter can be found in the organic section of most grocery stores.  We love it so much, we order it online by the case, and also because it is cheaper that way.

     Now, as anyone with a peanut-allergy child knows, Easter and Halloween especially, can be quite the challenge, when it comes to finding a few treats and candy for our kids!  This is because so much of anything with chocolate, has a real risky potential to be contaminated with peanuts, within the factory manufacturing. And most packaging even says so. 

     That being said, I have wondered right along, how well any recipe that calls for peanut butter, could be substituted with Sunbutter!  When I saw TidyMom’s Homemade Peanut Butter Eggs, I knew it was time to find out!  And guess what?  It was a delectable success!  Sunbutter tastes very similar to peanut butter, to us, and these eggs bring all of the joy to our mouths, that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups/Eggs ever did.   This is how they came out lookin’!…..

 

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-13      So, I thought I’d share how we did it with you all.  Now, if peanut allergies are not an issue for your family, and you’d like  to make your own peanut butter eggs, you are welcome to follow (Cheryl’s) TidyMom’s Recipe.  If you’d like to try the Sunbutter version, you can follow ours right here.  Our recipe using Sunbutter here, was experimental, but we were just switching out the peanut butter from Cheryl’s recipe.  (I  did make one little tweak I’ll mention.)  I got a little help from my husband, because I needed to take photos too.  But we might have done some things a tad differently, just trying to find to make it work for us. It did get messy as Cheryl said it does, but like any project, once we get going and figure things out, we find our groove.

 

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-1 Participating Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cup of Sunbutter
  • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • *1 Cup graham cracker crumbs

     (*-Cheryl’s recipe calls for 3/4 cups, but the Sunbutter seemed so sticky, we added a little more.)

  • 1 Cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
    **14 ounces of chocolate (milk, semi-sweet or chocolate)

   (**-We used the flat Hershey bars with the squares to break, and they worked perfectly!  The ones with the squares are peanut-safe!)

  • 1 Tablespoon shortening
  • an appropriately sized egg-shaped cookie cutter–

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-2    
In a large bowl mix together peanut butter, butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar and salt until well combined. We used our Kitchen Aid, stopping it once and using a spatula scraper to get it all to the middle and off of the attachment.  It was while mixing that we decided to add that extra 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs, for a total of 1 cup, to make it a little less sticky.

      Next, put the whole (Kitchen Aid) bowl into the freezer for a few minutes, to get it easier to work with. Then we plopped the whole mix on a big piece of wax paper, covered it with another piece, and rolled it out.  Then we placed the whole rolled out dough between the wax sheets, on a cookie sheet.

 

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-3 We then placed the whole cookie sheet back into the freezer, to help really firm it up. We left it in for maybe 15 minutes.

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-4   After removing the tray from the freezer, we put the wax papered dough onto the counter, peeled off the top sheet, and got cutting with our little egg cutter, right away.  It’s important to work quickly, because the dough softens quickly, depending on how warm it is where you are working. We rubbed just a dab of shortening all over the cutter, and because the dough was really firm from the cold, and the eggs cut out really nicely.  We placed them on another cookie sheet lined with a fresh sheet of wax paper.

   Again (not shown), we put the cut eggs back into the freezer to firm up once again.

     Meanwhile, we broke up all of the Hershey chocolate bars into a bowl with a tablespoon of shortening, and melted it.  Using the microwave, put the bowl in on high for 20 seconds to start.  Remove, and stir with the handle of a wooden spoon. It’ll still be chunky at this point.  Put in for another 10 seconds, and another 10, always stirring in between intervals, until the chocolate is all smooth.

 

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-5    By the time the chocolate is melted nicely, the eggs should be nice and cold.  So remove the tray, have another freshly lined tray ready, and get dipping!  Now remember, the chocolate is pretty warm, and you want your eggs to stay as firm as possible, so you need to get that egg in and out of the bowl quickly! We just let them belly-flop in one at a time, flipped it over and lifted it out with a fork, as seen in the next photo as well.

 

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-6    Just tap the fork on the side of the bowl to remove the excess dripping chocolate off as best as you can, and then gently let the chocolate covered egg onto the cookie sheet.

 

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-7 This photo is just to show you what happens if you don’t get the egg out of the bowl fast enough.  It goes soft very quickly.  If at any point you think your un-dunked eggs are getting too soft work with, it never hurts to pop them back in the freezer, again and again.

 

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-8 As you can see here, putting them down without making them a mess, is not easy!  We felt like we were really making a mess of things, and wondered if we would even have something to be proud of or be worth sharing when finished, but we did! Just like craft projects and the like, when you keep going, you get better at it and quickly find what works better.   And we did get much better at it as we went along……

 

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-9 Some we placed on wax paper directly on the counter for the time being…

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-10  

...and other went on a lined cookie sheet. 

     Once they were all dipped, the first one’s chocolate was firming up enough, that we could decorate them a little.  We just used various sprinkles for some.  My oldest daughter is great at decorating. Such patience!  So she was in on the helping there.

     After we were done decorating them,  once again, we wanted to chill them again.  There was one more thing we wanted to do to ours, before taking some photos of them…..

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-11   If you like to try and perfect anything you can, when you can (raising my hand..), we figured out a way to clean our egg’s edges up a little bit….

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-12 Using a clean x-acto blade, just trim off the excess chocolate that dripped down and spread when placing the eggs down. 

     We didn’t do it to every single one.  Just the ones that really needed it.

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-13    These are just some.  Some of the eggs we left as plain chocolate, and others we kind of drew in with a toothpick when the chocolate was just firming up.  Do you see the criss-cross one?  That one I used a french-fry cutter plate.  Just placed it down, and lifted!  Look around your utensil and kitchen tools drawers, and see what you can find to use, to make some neat designs!

 We were really happy with how well they came out.   Cute!

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-16
…and OH-SO-GOOD! 

     The salty-sweet melty party in your mouth is just divine!  What I really love about them too, is the little crispy-crunch surprises, from the graham cracker!

sunbutter-eggs-alternative-to-reeses-peanut-safe-alternative-17  

      We have all already had some of these of course, and we’ll be enjoying and sharing the rest, right through Easter Day!  We’re also encouraged and inspired, to try more peanut butter recipes that we can substitute Sunbutter with!  One thing is for sure; we’ll be making these again with other holiday shapes and decorations! They are SO worth the mess. (Especially when your husband cleans it up for you. ; )

     Special thanks to TidyMom/Cheryl, for the inspiration, and allowing us to adapt your recipe!

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Valentine Chocolate Covered Spoons

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Chocolate covered spoons are something we have been intending to try making, for awhile now. There really needs to be no upcoming holiday to make them. But when there is a holiday coming up, it’s another good reason to go ahead and make them!
If you have never heard of chocolate covered spoons, they are just what they sound like they are:  spoons covered in chocolate!  And then prettied up.  They can be used to to stir your coffee, hot chocolate, warm milk, etc – to add some chocolatey flavor to your drink, or make licking your spoon that much more enjoyable!  Meanwhile, if you’ve made a whole batch, they just look pretty sitting in any container in your kitchen.
Chocolate covered spoons can be made as simply or fancifully as you’d like. You’re the designer, with each and every spoon, and that’s the fun of it!  I already had an idea of how we wanted to make some chocolate covered spoons for Valentine’s Day, so that’s what we’re sharing with you in this post.

005_valentine-chocolate-covered-spoons1 Here are a bunch of our spoons, already finished. I thought they looked nice in this simple white gravy boat. We made even more than this though.  We’ll be using some ourselves, but we really made them for the kids to give to their friends. And our oldest made some for her whole basketball team. lol.  I made a simple Valentine card printable, to go with each spoon, and you can get that for yourself HERE, if making these spoons is an idea you’d like to use for your kid’s friends or classmates, too.  It’ll make a unique Valentine, don’t you think?

I did not photograph the step-by-step process, but I think it is simple enough directions to explain.   All you need is some hard plastic spoons, *chocolate to melt, a tad bit of shortening (optional, I guess), and whatever you’d like to decorate the chocolate covered spoons with!   We used Valentine sprinkles and marshmallows for this batch.  But you can drizzle with white melted chocolate after, use sprinkles on other (holiday) colors, cover in nuts…whatever you’d like!

*Because we have a boy with a severe peanut allergy, we cannot use the chocolate melts (like Wilton’s) that are sold in stores in the baking / candy supplies aisles, because they are not guaranteed peanut-safe.  They are convenient though, and melt very nicely, if you can use them!  Since we cannot, we use Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Chips, and so the best we can with those. I believe we can find peanut-safe melts online though, if we planned ahead.

001_chocolate-covered-spoons We got everything out that we needed:  spoons, chocolate (chips), sprinkles and marshmallows, and shortening.  You can melt the chocolate in a mug or a glass measuring cup – just choose something deep. We got a few cookie sheets out, and covered them with some wax paper.  

We began melting about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips at a time, in a mug, in the microwave, with just a 1/2 teaspoon of shortening. (I normally avoid shortening for anything, but a tad bit does help the chocolate melt and stir up smoothly.)   We started at a minute, and then did 10-1secomd intervals, stirring completely in between, until all of the chocolate is melted and smooth. 

Two important tips:   1) You do not want to overheat the chocolate, or it will be ruined. Little by little is the way to go, and add a dab more shortening if you feel it needs it.  2)  I use the handle end of a wooden spoon, for stirring chocolate.  I saw that tip somewhere a long time ago, as it doesn’t heat and cool like metal does.  Stir rapidly, for smooth and shiny chocolate.

002_chocolate-covered-spoons When your chocolate is melted, dip a spoon!  It does take a little patience to wait for each spoon to stop dripping off excess, unless you want to make a big mess.  Then, over an extra the cookie sheet or wherever, sprinkle on your decorations!  For the ones we were adding marshmallows to, we pressed those in first, and then added the sprinkles.  We had fun with our little Valentine variety. Simply rest the handle of the spoon on the edge of a cookie sheet, and the wet chocolate end of the spoon on the wax paper to harden.  As soon as the sheet was full of spoons, we put the sheet in the refrigerator, to further harden.


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A couple of other things we have learned:   The spoons really need to be kept in a cool place. Cold, is best. SOME of our spoons, developed white specs on the chocolate the next day.  We know that tends to happen sometimes when the chocolate is overheated any amount.   It could very well have something to do with our needing to use chocolate chips too.  (You know how milk chocolate chips have that white-ish coating sometimes?)  But we did notice, that they spoons we left int he coldest place, are still looking perfect!! Those are the ones we’re giving away! lol.  Regardless……the little change from the smooth chocolate you see will not hurt you or any different.  It’s just prettier to prevent it, if you can.

 

004_chocolate-covered-spoons To package nicely, we got some skinny clear bags sold in the baking/candy making aisles. They have some for chocolate covered pretzels, and that what we used!  We just cut them down to about 8 inches, and they were perfect!  Then we tied on curling ribbon, and curled!  As I said, I designed a Valentine for each spoon, for these.  But this is a fun project for you (maybe with our kids too!),  and it’s certainly a pleasant treat that will bring a smile to anyone’s face, when given away, or served with a hot drink!

ENJOY!

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Granola Goodness | Recipe

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We love granola around here!  It’s such a good and wholesome snack, handful after handful, with CrUnCh!  (Oh, how I love crunch.)  It’s really a great way to start your day off right too, in the morning!  Throw some in a bowl with a few splashes of cold milk, or load it on top of a serving of yogurt!

Unfortunately, it’s next to impossible to find ‘peanut-safe’ granola at the markets.  Added to the allergies now, is cashews and pistachios. Even small amounts of granola are kind of pricey to buy, ready-made, anyway.  So, if we want granola (and we do!), it’s up to us to make it homemade.  But we don’t mind, because it’s easy and fun to make, and we can make BIG batches.

granola-recipe We have posted another granola recipe here on the blog before, and that one can be found here.  There is so many ways to make granola! Experimenting with different ingredients, is half the fun and surprise!  Here is the granola recipe we’ve been crunching on this week!

Granola Goodness

(Note: All C.(cup) measurements are heaping – not level.)

  • 4C rolled oats
  • 1 1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 1 C wheat germ
  • 1/2 C natural bran (We used Fiber One cereal.)
  • 2 C raisins
  • 1/2 C cooking oil
  • 1/2 C honey
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla

(*Chopped nuts optional. We have a kiddo allergic.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a small saucepan, combine oil and honey.  Stir over low heat until the honey is melted and it’s warm and blended with the oil enough. (About 5 minutes.)  Stir in vanilla.  Pour oil mixture over dry ingredients, little by little, mixing to blend well.  Spread mixture on two cookie sheets, and bake for for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned, stirring and flipping mixture over about half way through time. Let cool completely.  Store in an airtight container.  Makes about 12+ cups!

Granola Goodness
 
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There is nothing like a good granola! Here we are sharing our recipe with you, in hopes you'll enjoy it as much as we do!
:
: Snack
Serves: 12 Cups
Ingredients
  • 4C rolled oats
  • 1½ C shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 1 C wheat germ
  • ½ C natural bran (We used Fiber One cereal.)
  • 2 C raisins
  • ½ C cooking oil
  • ½ C honey
  • ½ tsp. vanilla
  • (*Chopped nuts optional. We have a kiddo allergic.)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  3. In a small saucepan, combine oil and honey.
  4. Stir over low heat until the honey is melted and it's warm and blended with the oil enough. (About 5 minutes.)
  5. Stir in vanilla.
  6. Pour oil mixture over dry ingredients, little by little, mixing to blend well.
  7. Spread mixture on two cookie sheets, and bake for for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned, stirring and flipping mixture over about half way through time.
  8. Let cool completely.
  9. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 12+ cups!

Valentine Ladybug Mint Cookies

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These adorable Ladybug Cookies I came up with, come right in time for Valentine’s Day, and I promise you, they couldn’t be easier to make! (There’s not even baking involved!) I think you are going to love what they are made with, too!  (You know…besides LOVE.)  I’m talking ingredients.  These cookies are also a sweet idea for a little girl’s birthday party, or to send in with your kids to school, to share with their class.  You’ll look so clever. (You don’t have to tell a soul it was my idea. ; )

Does the word fondant scare you?  Ever heard of the stuff? I know it makes more than a few nervous. But it can actually be a LOT of fun to play with! (Think Play Dough. ; )  Truth be told, in this recipe, we did make and dye our own marshmallow fondant, simply because we knew how, and we think it tastes a little better than store bought. But you don’t have to!  Rolled and ready fondant is available in craft and baking supply stores, and even comes in colors! I know Wilton sells ready-made fondant, but I heard a brand called Satin Ice, tastes better. I see that the Satin Ice brand is available to order online. I’ve seen it in a container so you probably roll that out yourself. I have not tried it yet, but I will.  But if you’d like to learn how to make your own marshmallow fondant like we did, we have a tutorial coming up on that.  For today, we’re just going to show you how simple it is to put together these cookies, with some light pink fondant all ready to go!

valentine-ladybug-cookies Participating Ingredients: 

      • Keebler Grasshopper Fudge Mint Cookies *(peanut safe)
      • Junior Mints Candy (*peanut safe)
      •  Fondant – in light pink (rolled and ready)
      • Any kind of icing (for piping glue)
      • Sprinkles in Valentine shapes/colors (*peanut safety varies with brands)
      • Confectionery Sugar
      • (Mini marshmallows and color dye seen are for making your own fondant, if you are.)

* One of our boys has a serious peanut allergy, so we are always checking ingredients carefully, for his safety.

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-1 We rolled out our fondant on wax paper and a little dusting of confectionery sugar, making sure to roll it thin and even. 

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-2 Next, we cut circles out of the fondant.  These will be the wings.  We started with this small cookie cutter, but it turned out to be a little bigger than we wanted the circles to be, as the cookies were smaller than this.  It was the smallest actual circle cookie cutter we had, so we needed to improvise. And so the search began throughout the house, to find something that will cut the circles smaller.

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-3 Phew!  Good think we have a drink now and then! ; )  This shaker/mixer top turned out to be just right!

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-4 Cut the circles in half, and the wings are done! 

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-5 I told you! Easy, right? 

 

It’s mere assembly, from here on out, Friends.

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-6 Put some of that icing in a piping bag, with the smallest tip, and just put a little on each side of the cookies.

(These cookies do tend to come a little stuck together in the packaging, so we made efforts to pipe on the messy sides, leaving the smoothest and nicest part of the cookie at the bottom, where it will show between the wings.)

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-7 Put the wings on, as shown above. Like a ladybug’s wings, slightly spread.

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-8 Pipe a little dab of icing on the back/flatter side of a Junior Mint candy…..

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-9 ….and stick on the head.

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-10 All that is left to do, is decorate the wings a little!  We tried to arrange them, like the dots usually on the wings of a ladybug, as we recalled.  You do want to be sure, that you press the decorative sprinkles down into the fondant.  You may even want to add a dab of water? (Didn’t try that).  If the sprinkles aren’t pressed down enough, they’ll fall off when the fondant sets up more.

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-11 THAT’S IT!!  How CUTE are these?  How EASY are these? 

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-13 You can make a whole bunch, in no time at all.  And it’s fun!

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-14 Our kids all got in on the action!  They were on their own (the three younger ones are 9 years old here.).  But even younger ones can put these cookies together with a little help! 

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-15

valentine-ladybug-cookies-16 We used the red cots from Confetti Sprinkles too.

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-17 If you think about it, you could use some alternative ingredients, to make these cookies similarly as well. Oreo cookies could be cute. Dark brown M&M’s can be used as heads. (They are not peanut safe, for us.) Use your imagination!

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-18 Just for fun, can you spot the ladybug, who’s wings were cut too big?

 

valentine-ladybug-cookies-19 We hope you liked this cute little idea. Share it.  🙂  And thanks for stopping by the House!

Stay tuned, for more thoughts and shares on the way!  Valentine’s Day related, and otherwise.

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Delightful Cranberry Muffins

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The rest of my family loves anything made with cranberries. But loving these muffins came as a big surprise to me, the first time my daughter made them.  Reason being, I personally have never cared much for cranberry bread of any kind.  I figured, it was cranberries, period, that I didn’t like. And between you and me, that felt a little wrong, and perhaps a bit of info I should keep to myself, living in an area simply surrounded by cranberry bogs, and in the town that until fairly recently) was the home of Ocean Spray Cranberry World.  You’ll also never hear me say “Pass the cranberry sauce” at the Thanksgiving table, either. Although, I don’t mind a little spread on 2 slices of toasted bread with plenty of mayonnaise, when making my turkey sandwiches in the following days.  I do enjoy cranberry juice now too, and with Ocean Spray still nearby in Massachusetts, there is plenty of that around. At many warm- seasoned waterfront events, representatives of Ocean Spray are often set up giving out free samples of their large variety of juices.  So….they were bound to grow on me, so to speak.  Cranberries are wonderful to decorate with, too!  I especially love using them with my winter ice sculpture yard decor! They add such a beautiful splash of color, against winter.

In the next year or so, we plan to take a cranberry-related field trip or two, with the kids.  So you’ll likely be seeing some interesting educational information and photos about cranberries and cranberry bogs around here, in the future.  And perhaps more recipes as well. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we have.

. . . . . .  

  Delightful Cranberry Muffins

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Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup chopped frozen or fresh cranberries

TOPPING:

  • 2 tbsp. sugar
  • 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

 

Directions:

     In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Fold in sour cream. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Fill greased or paper lined muffin tins 2/3 full. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over muffins. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick, or until the muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove to wire rack.  When completely cooled, store in a container. 

  Makes about 18 muffins.

    These muffins freeze very well, also.  We like to make a couple of batches at a time, and freeze some, to take out and pop in the microwave, on any morning we fancy. : )

cranberry-muffins-recipe Enjoy!…Warm or cold, with or without butter.



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