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Buckeye Bears – Peanut Butter Fudge Filled Chocolate Teddy Bears

January 29, 2015 This post may contain affiliate links.

You may think these Buckeye Bears are too cute to eat, but you wont be able to resist their peanut butter fudge filled chocolate bellies, caramel snouts, and chocolate chip noses.
They make the sweetest treats for Valentine’s Day.

You may think these Buckeye Bears are too cute to eat, but you wont be able to resist their peanut butter fudge filled chocolate bellies, caramel snouts, and chocolate chip noses.

Are you familiar with a traditional Ohio candy called the buckeye?They are peanut butter fudge balls dipped in chocolate made to resemble a buckeye nut.

I grew up making these treats for holidays and assumed everyone all over the country did too. So imagine my surprise when I opened my candy store, just one state over in Kentucky, and found most of my customers had never even heard of them.

You may think these Buckeye Bears are too cute to eat, but you wont be able to resist their peanut butter fudge filled chocolate bellies, caramel snouts, and chocolate chip noses. They make the sweetest treats for Valentine's Day.

Over the years, I developed my own recipe for Buckeyes, swapping out the traditional peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter ingredients for peanut butter, white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips which I have used to make Valentine’s Day Fudgy Peanut Butter Hearts, Artisan Style Peanut Butter Fudge Filled Chocolates, Peanut Butter Fudge Starfish, and Peanut Butter Fudge Filled Chubby Chocolate Bunnies for this blog.

The only time I’ve used the traditional peanut butter fudge recipe here on Hungry Happenings is to make my Pink Fuzzy Slipper Cookies. Have you been following me long enough to remember those?

Pink Fuzzy Slipper Cookies from HungryHappenings.com

I made them my first year of blogging, way back in 2011. It does seem like a very long time ago.I decided it was time to dust off that recipe and make something new for Valentine’s Day.

So, I grabbed my trusty egg candy molds and created chocolate shells which I filled with peanut butter fudge, then decorated to look like sweet teddy bears.

You might remember that recently I created several other egg shaped chocolates.

Who can resist these adorable turkey, snowman, penguin, and mousse chocolate truffles? Not me! | HungryHappenings.com

It started at Thanksgiving when I created my first design, the Pumpkin Turkey Truffles. At Christmas, I really got into it and made Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee Snowman Truffles, White Chocolate Amaretto Raisin Penguin Truffles, and Triple Chocolate Truffle Mice.

These chocolates are fun to make and each and every design is as cute as the next.

Speaking of cute, these teddy bears are just that, with their caramel snouts, chocolate chip noses, and red heart bows.

The great thing about all these ideas, is that they are interchangeable. If you don’t like peanut butter, you could make Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee Teddy Bear Truffles or Triple Chocolate Truffle Teddy Bears. There’s so many possibilities.

For today, let’s just start with these Buckeye Bears.

Buckeye Bears - Peanut Butter Fudge Filled Chocolate Teddy Bears make adorable Valentine's Day treats. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

 

RELATED: Find dozens of easy fudge recipes at HowToMakeEasyFudge.com.

Buckeye Bears – Peanut Butter Fudge Filled Chocolate Bears

Ingredients: (makes 32 bears)

Peanut Butter Fudge Buckeye Filling-
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Chocolate Egg Shaped Shells-

24 ounces melted and tempered pure milk chocolate
or melted light cocoa confectionery coating (Candy Melts)*

For detailed instructions on melting and working with chocolate and confectionery coating, see my Chocolate Making Tips page.

Decorations-

8 caramel squares
32 semi-sweet chocolate chips
black food coloring marker
64 jumbo red heart sprinkles

Instructions:

homemade peanut butter fudge buckeye recipe | HungryHappenings.com

 

Combine the peanut butter, butter, whipping cream, and salt in a large microwave safe bowl.  Heat in microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Stir.  Heat for 20 seconds. Stir. If butter is not completely melted, heat for 10 second increments, stirring after each, until melted.  Stir in powdered sugar.  The fudge will become very thick.  I usually finish stirring in the powdered sugar with my hands.

Notes:

  • I know most buckeye recipes don’t call for heavy whipping cream, but I have been using it for a while and like how it effects the texture of the fudge.  It is perfectly creamy.
  • Don’t pack the powdered sugar into the measuring cup or you will have more sugar than needed. If this happens, your fudge can be come too thick and dry. To fix this, knead in a bit of heavy whipping cream until the mixture is malleable but still stiff.

How to make chocolate eggs filled with peanut butter fudge. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

Paint a thin layer of chocolate into each egg shaped cavity in your candy molds.

How to make chocolate eggs filled with peanut butter fudge. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

Make sure you fill in any thin spots or holes and be sure the chocolate goes all the way up to the edge of the egg cavity. Wipe the excess chocolate off around the edge of the eggs.

If using pure chocolate pop the molds in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. If using confectionery coating, place in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

How to make chocolate eggs filled with peanut butter fudge. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

Spoon in about 1/2 ounce of peanut butter fudge into each egg, pressing it into an even layer on top, leaving enough room to top the fudge with a thin layer of chocolate.

How to make chocolate eggs filled with peanut butter fudge. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

Spread a layer of chocolate over top of the fudge and scrape off any excess chocolate using an offset spatula.

Pop them in the refrigerator for pure chocolate and freezer for confectionery coating for 5 minutes until the top coat is hardened.

How to make chocolate eggs filled with peanut butter fudge. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

 

Carefully turn the mold upside down, holding your hands over the chocolates (not pictured) and allow the chocolate eggs to fall out.

How to make chocolate teddybears filled with peanut butter fudge. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

Decorate the bears:If needed soften the caramels in the microwave on the defrost setting for about 10 seconds, Knead the caramels then cut each into 4 pieces. Roll pieces into small balls, flatten and shape into a triangle with rounded corners. Press a chocolate chip into the top tip of the caramel to create the nose.

Use a toothpick to create a small hole for the mouth then press the toothpick into the caramel to create a line from the mouth to the nose.

Pour some of the chocolate into a zip top bag. Set each egg shaped chocolate on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Pipe two small ears on either side of the narrow end of the egg. Pipe a dot of chocolate on the back side of each caramel snout and attach them to the eggs.

Draw on two eyes and attach two red heart sprinkles creating a bow.

How to make chocolate teddybears filled with peanut butter fudge. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

Add bow ties for boy bears and hair bows for girl bears.

Put a teaspoon size dollop of the chocolate on a piece of parchment paper. Allow it to thicken a bit, then set one chocolate truffle egg, with the rounded side down, in the middle of it. Hold it until it hardens in place. If the chocolate is thick enough, you can just set the egg on top and it will stand up.

How to make chocolate teddybears filled with peanut butter fudge. Recipe and tutorial from HungryHappenings.com

Repeat creating little chocolate stands for all of your truffle eggs.These cute little Valentine’s Day treats will keep for several weeks if stored in an airtight container.

buckeye fudge with a layer of peanut butter fudge topped with chocolate ganache

If you don’t want to make the bears, but love chocolate and peanut butter, why not make some Buckeye Fudge? It is so good and super easy to make.

Items used to make this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)

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More Egg Shaped Chocolates

from Hungry Happenings

Handmade Chocolates from HungryHappenings.com

Snowman Truffles filled with Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee Ganache

Handmade Chocolates from HungryHappenings.com

Chocolate Penguin Truffles

Handmade Chocolates from HungryHappenings.com

Triple Chocolate Truffle Christmas Mice

Handmade Chocolates from HungryHappenings.com

Chocolate Turkey Truffles filled with Pumpkin Ganache

If you are looking for other treats or gifts to make for Valentine’s Day,
you might like these other recipes too.

50+ amazing Valentine's Day Recipes that you will love. Show how much you care by serving some romantic appetizers, cute treats, and decadent desserts. 

Filed Under: Valentine's Day Recipes Tagged With: animal themed food, animal themed treats, animals, bears, Chocolate, fudge

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Catherine

    January 30, 2015 at 1:30 am

    Simply adorable!!!

    Reply
  2. beth

    January 30, 2015 at 1:37 am

    Thanks, Catherine:)

    Reply
  3. Sue

    January 30, 2015 at 2:17 am

    Buckeye bears are perfect! They sound so yummy:) Of course I remember your fuzzy slippers…always a favorite!

    Reply
    • beth

      January 30, 2015 at 2:21 am

      Thanks, Sue. You've been hanging around here a long time. That makes me very happy:)

      Reply
  4. Sugartown Sweets

    January 30, 2015 at 4:44 am

    You are right. Each version you've made from this cute little basic egg shape is just as adorable as the one before it!. I just want to eat one of these buckeye bears ..but I want to hug him first!

    Reply
    • beth

      January 30, 2015 at 1:33 pm

      I want to hug them too and probably would:) A little melted chocolate never hurt anyone.Thanks!

      Reply
  5. The Partiologist

    January 30, 2015 at 2:06 pm

    I hadn't heard of buckeye's until several years ago, I have yet to try them! And all those little creatures made from that egg mold, well, yes, they are too cute to eat, but I would eat them because they sound delicious!

    Reply
    • beth

      February 4, 2015 at 3:14 pm

      They are delicious and I had no trouble eating them, but several friends still have their chocolate eggs on display. They can't bear to eat them:)

      Reply
  6. Tavette Tavetta

    January 30, 2015 at 4:45 pm

    Is there ANYTHING you CAN'T make out of those egg shaped molds? Geez! It's probably the only candy mold I don't have and I promised myself I'd cut back, but your recent egg shaped molds are just too irresistible!

    Nope – I'd never heard of buckeye candy either here in the sunshine state.

    These little bears can be used for so many different holidays (birthday/valentines/mothers day) – you name it – they'd be perfect. I was just looking again at the adorable penguins with their hats using this mold and can see how making your own edible eyes would be advantageous to get those wonderful expressions – will have to give that a try one day.

    You've FORCED me to buy yet another candy mold. I can't help it – too many things can be made with it – who knew?

    Tavette – S. Fla.

    Reply
    • beth

      January 30, 2015 at 10:12 pm

      I am loving the egg shaped mold. There are really so many possibilities. I have a list of about 20 ideas. I'm sure I wont make them all, but I know there will be more designs to come.

      I'm glad I've inspired you to get some egg molds. I know you'll love making truffles or buckeyes using them.

      Reply
  7. The Bearfoot Baker

    January 30, 2015 at 9:57 pm

    The things you can make with that egg mold and chocolate amazes me! These are the cutest buckeyes I have ever seen! LOVE!

    Reply
    • beth

      January 30, 2015 at 10:13 pm

      Thanks, I am really having fun creating new designs from the simple shape.

      Reply
  8. Katherines Corner

    January 31, 2015 at 2:03 pm

    Love, love, love, Did I say Love? I invite you to share at my Thursday hop ( you can still link up today until midnight) Hugs!

    Reply
    • beth

      January 31, 2015 at 3:28 pm

      I love your enthusiasm:) Thanks!

      Reply
  9. Connie Lissner

    February 4, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    Wow! Those are so adorable. I'm afraid if I make them, though, they won't be nearly as cute. You should sell them! I'd be a happy customer

    Reply
    • beth

      February 4, 2015 at 3:15 pm

      Thanks, Connie. I used to have candy stores and did sell my chocolate creations, but now I just love creating new ideas to share here on my blog. It's so much fun.

      Reply
  10. Brenda @ SweetSimpleStuff

    February 7, 2015 at 5:08 am

    Beth, those bears are too stinkin' cute … everybody loves a cute bear! The peanut butter is a bonus! I love the way you made the mouths … they look surprised!

    Reply
    • beth

      February 7, 2015 at 12:38 pm

      Thanks so much, Brenda. You are right the mouths do make them look like they are surprised!

      Reply

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