Its a Hero

holidays

Copycat Reese’s Eggs Recipe

by 11 Comments

Truth time: Last week when I posted my Marshmallow Peeps recipe, I thought that this weekend was Easter. Let’s just say that my brain is totally fried these days. Because Easter is definitely not until next week. But, truth be told, I can use all of the time I get to prep. And, in true foodie fashion, my prep includes duplicating those to-die-for eggs. Yep. And this Copycat Reese’s Eggs recipe is everything you need this Easter — and all year!

Copycat Reese's Eggs Recipe

What you’ll need to make this Copycat Reese’s Eggs recipe

I used my Instant Pot for this recipe, because I love it. But it’s totally not necessary. At the very least, you’ll need a double-boiler. But otherwise, here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter
  • 6 Tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 2 – 12 ounce bags of chocolate melts
  • 2 cups of powdered sugar
  • 2/3 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 6 Tablespoons of butter
Copycat Reese's Eggs Recipe

THE RECIPE

Copycat Reese's Eggs

Copycat Reese's Eggs Recipe
Prep Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter
  • 6 Tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 2 - 12 ounce bags of chocolate melts
  • 2 cups of powdered sugar
  • 2/3 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 6 Tablespoons of butter

Instructions

INGREDIENTS -

STEP 1 -

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, vanilla, brown sugar, salt and peanut butter. Stir until melted together.

STEP 2 -

Stir in powdered sugar a few tablespoons at a time until combined completely.

STEP 3 -

Using a small baking scoop, scoop out a ball of peanut butter mixture. Form into an egg shape and place on parchment paper.

STEP 4 -

Once eggs are formed place in freezer for 2 hours.

STEP 5 -

Place your mixing bowl on the tall instant pot trivet and one cup of water in the instant pot liner. Set instant pot to sauté and stir the chocolate melts until fully melted. Add oil if chocolate needs to be thinned out.

STEP 6 -

Remove eggs from freezer and dip using a fork in the melted chocolate. Completely cover eggs and place back on parchment.

STEP 7 -

Allow the eggs to sit and shell to harden.

STEP 8 -

ENJOY!

© Rachel

PIN FOR LATER

Copycat Marshmallow Peeps Recipe — Super Easy

by 8 Comments

Y’all, if I thought that St. Patrick’s Day snuck up on me, I was not prepared for Easter. This year Easter is so darn early! I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been obsessed with marshmallow peeps. But what about those of us who want to enjoy marshmallow peeps year-round? Well, this copycat marshmallow peeps recipe is exactly what you need!

Copycat Marshmallow Peeps Recipe

Everything You’ll Need for Copycat Marshmallow Peeps Recipe

If you’ve never had homemade marshmallow, you are in for a treat! Honestly. Previously, I was a tad bit intimidated by the idea of making my own marshmallow. But it’s honestly not as difficult as I’d imagined. Just be sure you have a candy thermometer and a bunny cookie cutter.

Copycat Marshmallow Peeps Recipe

Here’s everything else you’ll need:

  • 1 box of unflavored gelatin
  • sugar
  • salt
  • powdered sugar (for dusting)
  • vanilla extract, optional but recommended
  • yellow decorating sugar
  • blue decorating sugar
  • pink decorating sugar
  • green decorating sugar

That’s it! These peeps are going to rock your world. They are delicious. You will never go back to those store bought peeps. These Copycat Marshmallow Peeps Recipe are the best thing ever.

The Full Recipe

Yield: 16 peeps

Marshmallow Peeps

Copycat Marshmallow Peeps Recipe

Other: Candy thermometer.

Ingredients

Marshmallow Bricks

  • 1 box (.25oz) of unflavored gelatin
  • 2 cups of sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • ½ cup of Powdered sugar for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla, optional

Peeps

  • 8 Marshmallow bricks
  • 3 ounces of yellow decorating sugar
  • 3 ounces of blue decorating sugar
  • 3 ounces of pink decorating sugar
  • 3 ounces green decorating sugar

Instructions

INGREDIENTS -

STEP 1 -

Combine the box of gelatin and 1/2 cup of water in stand mixer bowl. Let’s sit and solidify for about 5 minutes while melting sugar.

STEP 2 -

In a saucepan on high heat, combine sugar with 1/4 cup of water. Do not stir, stirring will make crystals form.

STEP 3 -

Melt the sugar until temperature reaches 240 degrees or the softball mark on a candy thermometer.

STEP 4 -

Once temperature is achieved, pour over gelatin while mixing on medium with whisk. After mixed together, set mixer on high and let mix for 10 minutes or until marshmallow fluff forms. For flavoring option, add vanilla at the point of whipping.

STEP 5 -

In 9 x 9 pan, grease with oil then dust with powdered sugar. Pour whipped marshmallow into pan and coat top of marshmallow with a dusting of powdered sugar.

STEP 6 -

Let marshmallow sit for a couple of hours before removing and serving.

STEP 7 -

Cut marshmallow bricks to measurements of cookie cutter.

STEP 8 -

Cut marshmallow brick in half to make marshmallow and inch thick.

STEP 9 -

Using the peeps bunny cookie cutter (or any cute cutter you desire), compress the cutter onto the marshmallow brick and remove excess marshmallow.

STEP 10 -

Apply colored decorating sugar to marshmallow after brushing outside of marshmallow with a little bit of water fully coating peep.

STEP 11 -

Let dry and serve.

© Rachel

PIN FOR LATER

St. Patrick’s Day “Gold Treasure” Cake Pops

by 13 Comments

Hiiiiii… my name is Rachel and I am kinda, sorta, obsessed with cake pops. It’s true. Once, my ‘true love’ was cupcakes. But nowadays it’s those perfect little bite-sized perfections of dessert — cake pops. And, of course, I love my local pop-maker, I sometimes just like to spoil my kids with homemade cake pops. But when a holiday rolls around? Well we THEME those desserts! And these St. Patrick’s Day “Gold Treasure” Cake Pops are so much fun!

“Gold Treasure” Cake Pops

Here’s what you’ll need to make these “Gold Treasure” Cake Pops

You really don’t need much for this recipe at all. My suggestion is to first make a white cake ahead of time. Let it cool completely. You’ll only need about a quarter of it (unless you want to quadruple the recipe — which isn’t a bad idea!).

  • ¼ of a white cake (such as a box cake), cooked
  • 2 Tablespoons of cream cheese frosting, softened
  • 8 ounces of candy melts, green
  • 10 count 6 – inch cookie sticks
  • 3 Tablespoons of white sprinkles
  • 10 gold coins

That’s it! The gold coins are the item that really pushes these cake pops over the edge. Kids love chocolate coins, am I right?! So you know they’re going to freak out for these.

The Full Recipe

Yield: 10

"Gold Treasure" Cake Pops

“Gold Treasure” Cake Pops
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • ¼ of a white cake (such as a box cake), cooked
  • 2 Tablespoons of cream cheese frosting, softened
  • 8 ounces of candy melts, green
  • 10 count 6 – inch cookie sticks
  • 10 gold coins
  • 3 Tablespoons of white sprinkles

Instructions

INGREDIENTS -

STEP 1 -

In a large bowl, crumble your cake.

STEP 2 -

Add in your cream cheese frosting. Mix well with a hand mixer, spoon, or stand mixer.

STEP 3 -

Divide your cake into 10 sections. With the palm of your hand, round out each portion into a ball shape.

STEP 4 -

Place your cake pops on a sheet pan or plate, and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

STEP 5 -

While your cake pops are in the freezer, place all of your candy melts in a medium sized bowl. Microwave for 30 second intervals until completely melted.

STEP 6 -

Remove the cake pops from the freezer.

STEP 7 -

Place your cookie stick in the candy melt, then the cake pop. Then add your cake pop to the candy melts. Coat the pop completely with the melt. On the side of the bowl, tap it gently with the stick removing any excess chocolate from the cake pop to create a smooth finish.

STEP 8 -

Place the cake pop on the parchment paper. Immediately add your sprinkles before the chocolate dries. In the corner of your cake pop, push in your gold coin.

STEP 9 -

Continue steps 6 – 8 until each cake pop is complete.

STEP 10 -

“Gold Treasure” Cake Pops

ENJOY!

“Gold Treasure” Cake Pops

© Rachel

If you’re looking for another St. Patrick’s Day recipe, try these St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs! They’re covered in Lucky Charms marshmallows!

PIN FOR LATER

St Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs Recipe

by 6 Comments

On St. Patrick’s Day, we’re all a little Irish, right? My son has declared “I just want St. Patrick’s Day to be over so we can have Easter!” And, honestly, I get it, kid. But instead of doing the ‘catch a leprechaun’ activities that seem to leave my kids unimpressed, I’ll wow them in other ways. Specifically, through their bellies. And this twist on hot cocoa bombs is sure to delight them. So I’ll share with you these St Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs recipe!

St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs

WHY THE INSTANT POT?

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know that I’m basically obsessed with pressure cooking and one-pot cooking in the Instant Pot. It’s just… easy. And, when food is made in a pressure cooker, it is 100 times more flavorful.

What you’ll need

I used my Instant Pot, but it’s not necessary. Any double-boiler situation will work. I just prefer using my pressure cooker for everything. The other items are super easy finds. Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 24 ounces of green candy melts, 2 ounces reserved
  • 7 Tablespoons of hot cocoa powder with miniature marshmallows
  • 2 blocks (4 ounces) of white Almond Bark
  • 42 Lucky Charms Marshmallows
St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs

Your kids will totally love this (and you will, too!). You’ll get major mom points, for sure! PS. the Lucky Charms marshmallows (which you can find here) are a game changer. Don’t skip them.

St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs

Full St Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs Recipe Details

Yield: 14 hot cocoa bombs

St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs

St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 24 ounces of green candy melts, 2 ounces reserved
  • 7 Tablespoons of hot cocoa powder with miniature marshmallows
  • 2 blocks (4 ounces) of white Almond Bark
  • 42 Lucky Charms Marshmallows

Instructions

INGREDIENTS -

St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs

STEP 1 -

Turn your instant pot onto sauté mode. Place one and a half cups of water inside your instant pot. Place a glass bowl that will fit in your instant pot as it will act as a double broiler. 

STEP 2 -

Add in your candy melts to the bowl. Continue to mix until the chocolate has completely melted.

STEP 3 -

Lightly grease the inside of your silicone molds. Add chocolate to your molds making sure that chocolate is completely coating the mold on the inside. Place in the freezer for about five minutes.

STEP 4 -

Remove your molds from the freezer. Add a half a tablespoon of cocoa powder and mini marshmallows per mold.

STEP 5 -

Add more of your melted chocolate on top of the marshmallows to close the mold and lock the cocoa and marshmallows from coming out. Return to the freezer for about 5 to 10 minutes.

STEP 6 -

Remove your cocoa bombs by pushing on the silicone side of the mold until the bomb pops out. 

STEP 7 -

In another medium sized bowl, melt your almond bark chocolate and 2 oz candy melts in the Instant Pot as a double broiler.

STEP 8 -

With a spoon, drizzle your melted almond bark mixture over the bombs. Immediately add your Lucky Charm marshmallows before the chocolate hardens.

St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs

STEP 9 -

Place one or two bombs in your favorite mug and pour hot milk over it to melt the chocolate releasing the hot cocoa and marshmallows.

St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs

STEP 10 -

Stir with a spoon and enjoy!

St. Patrick’s Day Hot Cocoa Bombs

© Rachel

PIN FOR LATER

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups Recipe

by 5 Comments

Okay, friends. Valentine’s Day is almost here. I know I’ve given you loads of options for sweets and treats. But I’m going to keep this ‘traditional.’ I know so many people who are obsessed with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Confession: I am not one of those people. I love peanut butter, but I just think that those peanut butter cups are gross. If I go for store-bought, I prefer Justin’s Peanut Butter Cups. But if I want to really want to knock the socks off my family, I make my own. And these heart shaped peanut butter cups are the perfect addition to our Valentine’s Day.

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups

What you’ll need

I’m not going to lie, the design of these and decorating can be a tad bit intimidating. But I promise it is way easier than you think. I’ll include tips to make this an easy process — with a delicious outcome!

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients –

  • 1.5 Cups of dark chocolate wafers
  • 6 ounces of natural peanut butter (smooth, and stirred really well to ensure there isn’t any peanut oil visibly present)
  • 3.5 Tablespoons of powdered sugar
  • Good pinch of quality salt
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • Heart mold
  • edible gold leaf, nonpareils (optional)
Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups

The heart molds can be purchased on Amazon. If you’re looking to really step up the design, get the edible gold foil. It’s gorgeous and it’s a showstopper. Do not be intimidated by it!

Notes on the recipe

Be sure to use the freezer when noted. The chocolate needs to be hardened. And so does the peanut butter mixture. Otherwise, it will be a gooey mess.

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups

How to make your Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients

  • 1.5 Cups of dark chocolate wafers
  • 6 ounces of natural peanut butter (smooth, and stirred really well to ensure there isn’t any peanut oil visibly present)
  • 3.5 Tablespoons of powdered sugar
  • Good pinch of quality salt
  • 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • Heart mold
  • edible gold leaf, nonpareils (optional)

Instructions

INGREDIENTS -

STEP 1 -

Mix the peanut butter, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth.

STEP 2 -

Fold a piece of parchment paper in half then transfer the peanut butter to one half, fold the other side of the paper over so the peanut butter is in the middle of the two sheets, and smooth the peanut butter mixture to an even ½ inch thickness. Set this in the freezer for about 20 minutes. *It is easier to work with frozen peanut butter mixture, but you can certainly do this with softer peanut butter, it will just be a little bit harder to work with.

While that is chilling you can start with the chocoolate.

STEP 3 -

Melt the chocolate to package instruction and carefully smooth it into each corner of the heart molds with a small rubber spatula.

You want to have a solid and even coating on the hearts, for this carefully turn the mold around and look at it from each direction to make sure no spots are missed.

I like to have the silicone mold on a tray or plate while doing this as it helps with stabilizing the tray while the chocolate is setting up.

You will have plenty of chocolate left over in your melting dish after this step, you will use this in the next steps. Leave the tray on the counter while the peanut butter filling chills.

STEP 4 -

Remove the filling mixture from the freezer and free hand cut or use a cookie cutter to cut out hearts that will easily fit into the center of the chocolate hearts.

STEP 5 -

The chocolate should still be very liquidy and the peanut butter hearts should easily push right into the chocolate.

Try to press them in just enough that they are in all the way-but not so far that they would likely push through to the chocolate that would be the top part of the hearts once removed from the molds.

STEP 6 -

Pour the rest of the chocolate over the hearts and carefully smooth out so the chocolate evenly fills all of the space around and over the peanut butter filling. Try not to add so much that the bottoms will be mounted up with the chocolate, aim for a flat bottom.

STEP 7 -

Set in the freezer to chill for about 20 minutes. 

STEP 8 -

Remove the completely solid hearts from the mold, I like to use food safe gloves for this to avoid fingerprints.

STEP 9 -

Use the remaining melted chocolate to drizzle over the top of some or all of the hearts. Sprinkle nonpareils on some.

STEP 10 -

I used clean food tweezers to apply a little edible gold leaf on two of the hearts. The trick to using gold leaf is to get the surface of the item you will be decorating just a tiny bit wet. This can be tricky with chocolate so try to add just tiny droplets of water on the exact spot you want the gold. The gold leaf holds up perfectly fine in changing temperatures such as room temp, the fridge, freezer and then back to room temp again.

STEP 11 -

ENJOY!

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cups

Notes

Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

© Rachel

PIN FOR LATER

Every Valentine’s Day Printable You Need This Year

by 5 Comments

Valentine’s Day will be here before we know it. I know that I’ve shared a couple of Valentine’s Day Card printables — both for girl superheroes and STEAM cards. But there are so many amazing bloggers who have made their own printables. I just could not wait to share! So here is a fairly comprehensive list of every Valentine’s Day Printable you could want or need this year!

I’ve Got Your Back Valentine

These adorable kids keychain “I’ve got your back, Valentine!” printables are perfect for kids who are collecting keychains. Especially for school backpacks. How cute, right?! Head to The Okayest Moms for more.

I Like You Beary Much

The House of Hood Blog is bringing the fire with these printables. My kids are gummy bear obsessed. And what better way to celebrate than with gummy bears?

Pretty in Pink Valentine’s Day Printable from Tabitha Blue

Tabitha from Fresh Mommy Blog is goals when it comes to everything. And this is one Valentine that both kids and adults will love.

You Make My Heart Glow

These are perfect for the glow-stick obsessed kiddos! And, while you’re over at And Hattie Makes Three, check out all of her delicious recipes.

Foam Fortune Cookies

The Sprouting Minds has a tutorial of how to make foam fortune cookies that can be stuffed with little treats!

Tic-Tac-Toe Printable

How about a cute, classroom activity like tic tac toe? Check out this printable from Ali-ish!

Hot Cocoa Bomb “You’re The Bomb!”

You know I’m obsessed with hot cocoa bombs. And now that I’ve taught you all how to make these at home, you can totally make them for all of your kids friends! Use this printable from Our Tiny Nest.

Every Valentine's Day Printable You Need