Chocolate, Chickens, and Chicks!

Until this year I had not thought too in depth about the media symbols for Easter.
Type “Easter” into google images and mainly what returns are a lot of bunnies, colorful eggs and some chicks…where are the chickens? Eggs are a huge symbol of Easter but we don’t recognize the chickens that lay these eggs. Here is my tribute to the chicken who had to create the egg to create the chick….or the egg for us to color!

Chickens have to be one of the most fascinating creatures…they are so entertaining to watch. The white chicken…Snow, is the hardest chicken to get near. She is like the ‘cool’ kid of the chickens. It took several takes to finally get a decent picture. A combination of my slow camera and the speedy chicken ducking behind things, turning away or getting just out of view at the last second left most of my pictures like the next…well, I got a pretty good tree shot!

On this particular day, all the chickens were playing in the dirt. I don’t know if you could tell by the picture but Snow was filthy. She had been rolling in the flower bed…not my mom’s favorite thing. They managed to find a different dirt spot though and I caught this chicken literally rolling in the dirt.
There are definitely clicks within the chickens. They seem to stick with the chickens of the same feather color while the almighty white chicken is normally the leader. The barred rock chickens (black and white) seem to be the bullies…this may have to do with the fact that there are four of them. Then the coffee colored chickens, or Americana chickens, are the ones that get bullied and I happened to capture this theory perfectly…the two Americana chickens are huddled together while two of the barred rock chickens come lurking behind to make a disturbance. Alright, so chickens are entertaining but chicks are SO cute and my parents recently got chicks as well. All the chicks are hiding in the corner because they are confused by the strange object…a camera and a human being. These wide-eyed, cute little fuzzy chicks are enough to brighten your day.

And I got a chance to hold one of the chicks…but let me say I think it was scarier for me than the chick. I grew up being around babies due to babysitting and daycare jobs growing up…so holding babies is natural to me though I know many people shy away from holding infants. Well at the moment I held my first chick, I understood how those people must feel…I was holding a tiny little life in the palm of my hand.This is absolutely my favorite picture. This was one of the lucky chicks I got to hold! As soon as I put her down she came charging back towards the camera. The chicks are such curious little creatures! Well, enough about chickens and chicks…it is chocolate time!

These chocolate peanut butter cups are so delicious and easy to make!
(Recipe from Design Sponge)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups:

3 cups chocolate
1 c peanut butter
½ c powdered sugar, sifted
¼ c graham crackers, crushed
1 t sea salt

Normally these are made with milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate but I decided to try dark chocolate today. These already very rich little delights are even richer with the dark chocolate substitution. I am personally more of a fan of the milk chocolate but I wanted to try it with dark chocolate for the non-dairy eaters.

Instructions:

1. Start by melting half of the chocolate in a double boiler.
2. While this is melting, place paper liners into a muffin pan.
3. Once the chocolate is melted use the back of a spoon to coat the bottoms and sides of the paper liners.
4. Place the muffin pan in the fridge for 20 minutes to harden the chocolate.
5. Combine the peanut butter, crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar and salt. Substitute gluten-free graham crackers if desired. I wanted to try them with gluten-free graham crackers but my local Whole Foods did not have any.

6. Add the rest of the chocolate to the double boiler and melt. While the chocolate is melting divide the peanut butter mixture into each individual paper liner. Press each mound into the chocolate bottom.


7. With the melted chocolate, drizzle over each peanut butter mound. A spoon can be used to smooth the chocolate. Also use a toothpick to make designs atop the peanut butter cups if desired.

8. Place the muffin pan in the fridge. After about an hour they should be ready to consume!

These are absolutely delicious and much healthier than store bought peanut butter cups. They are also great gifts…I made these for Christmas gifts this past year…you can’t go wrong with these 😉 A great thing about chickens is that once the sun starts to go down they head back into the hen house. I was out looking at the chicks when they started to pile in…they let me know that I was in their way by flapping their wings at me. They were ready for bed and I was in the way. So I took one picture of them getting cozy and left them in peace. Have a wonderful Easter Sunday! Eat lots of yummy chocolate and don’t forget about the chicken 🙂

Comments

  1. We make our own peanut butter cups also (our recipe is slightly different). Love the baby chick charging the camera 🙂

  2. These look awesome – too funny – I didn’t realize you had just posted these today! Happy Easter! LOVE the peanut butter! 🙂

  3. Hopefully this means you’re feeling much better after brunches, bottomless cocktails and running after chicks! I think I’m defintiley more scared of chickens then they are of me! Those beaks look so super sharp! I love that the chicken was looking at you all huffy as she was trying to get to sleep. My parents dogs actually walk out with their blanky when they think it’s time for mum & dad to go to bed!!! Lol

    • ha ha that is hilarious! Animals are so funny. And ya I use to think chickens were pretty scary but now I am little more used to them lol.

  4. Those chicks are cute! And those freakin’ peanut butter cups… I want them! LOL I’m gonna give them a shot… especially like the designs with the peanut butter swirls!

  5. Triple yummy! I love these!!! I wish I would have thought of looking more in depth on the recipes for peanut butter cups. These look so scrumptious!

  6. YUM!! My favourite ingredients 🙂 I adore animals and the little chicks are adorable 🙂