Homemade Filled Chocolates

In a follow up post to Why Fair-Trade Chocolate is so Important, I'm going to show you how fun and easy it is to make your very own filled chocolates. All you will need is a silicone mold, chocolate chips and your favorite filling. Below are two recipes that are reminiscent of Cadbury's egg creme and Reece's peanut butter fillings as they are a favorite in my house. The chocolate bunnies (in the photo above) were a huge hit with my family. The homemade chocolates totally tasted like the real deal but with out all the artificials, GMO's or slave-labor cocoa!

The bunny shaped silicone mold I found on sale at Michael's for $7. The silicone is pliable so you can easily pop-out the chocolates once they have hardened.

Start by making a double-boiler with a saucepan filled with 2 inches of water and a heat-proof mixing bowl. Once the water in the saucepan has started boiling, turn off the heat and pour a bag of chocolate chips (Whole Foods 365 brand has fair-trade chocolate chips!) into the mixing bowl that is on top of the saucepan. The mixing bowl should not be touching the water. Stir until all the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Move the mixing bowl with the melted chocolate to a clean working area. Place one spoonful of chocolate into each mold cavity, using your finger to "paint" the entire cavity with chocolate. Don't worry so much over how even the chocolate is but in making sure all the sides are covered. Place in the fridge to help speed the hardening process.

As the chocolate hardens in the fridge, start making the fillings. The peanut butter filling is from Cooks.com. I have just scaled it down a bit to fit into twelve small molds. I'm finding it very dangerous that I now have this recipe in my repertoire- it is so unbelievably good!!

Peanut Butter Filling

1/3 cup organic smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup organic powder sugar
1/2 tbsp pastured butter, melted
1 tsp organic vanilla extract

Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and use a fork to mix thoroughly.


The Cadbury creme was inspired from this recipe but I just made a healthier swap with agave syrup over corn syrup.

Cadbury Creme

1/4 cup organic agave syrup
2 tbsp pastured butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups organic powder sugar
1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract
1 - 2 tbsp pastured, organic whole milk or dairy-free milk

Using a fork, mix all the ingredients until the powder sugar is all wet. Finish whipping the creme with a hand-held electric mixer.

Take the chocolate-lined mold out of the fridge and fill the cavities with your filling of choice, making sure to leave enough room for a top layer of chocolate. Place the almost-filled molds into the fridge for about five minutes. This is important for softer fillings like the creme or caramel to harden. This allows the last layer of chocolate to stay on top and not mix in with the filling.  Meanwhile, melt about a half bag of chocolate chips for the finishing layer.

Using a spoon, fill the cavities the rest of the way with the melted chocolate and place the mold back in the fridge to harden for ten minutes. Pop the finished chocolates out of the mold when ready.

Using a sandwich bag with a corner snipped and melted white chocolate helped make these bunnies' faces.

Now step back and thoroughly enjoy your feelings of bad-assness for making safe* and humane filled-chocolates that are out-of-this-world delicious!

*Key word being safe. These are still loaded with sugar and should be viewed as a special treat... but being naughty does taste so wonderfully good.

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy and warm spring break!