Buckeye Bears

You may think these Buckeye Bears are too cute to eat, but you won't 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.

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.

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?

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.

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 are so many possibilities.

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

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
⅛ teaspoon table salt
1 ¼ 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:

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 the 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 affects 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 become too thick and dry. To fix this, knead in a bit of heavy whipping cream until the mixture is malleable but still stiff.

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

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.

Spoon in about ½ 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.

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.

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

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 them and shape them 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.

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.

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.

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)

More Egg Shaped Chocolates

from Hungry Happenings

Snowman Truffles filled with Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee Ganache

Chocolate Penguin Truffles

Triple Chocolate Truffle Christmas Mice

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.

• Author
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Beth Klosterboer

Hi, I'm Beth Jackson Klosterboer, a professional chocolatier & baker, cookbook author, and event planner. I love sharing recipes for happy occasions here on Hungry Happenings. I also create easy fudge recipes to share at HowToMakeEasyFudge.com, rice krispie treat recipes at HowToMakeCerealTreats.com, and easy cookie recipes at HowToMakeEasyCookies.com

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