Yummy Ugly Eggs

    In my house, chocolate and peanut butter go together better than peas and carrots. In fact, those delicious chocolate peanut butter cups are the holy grail of treats, and consumed so frequently that the stash is usually hidden, but somehow disappears
rather quickly. So, with Easter right around the corner, I offered to make my guys peanut butter eggs from scratch. I scoured the internet for recipes, but each and every one of them fell short of the eggs I grew up eating. They all seemed to be missing something. I was going to settle, until I stumbled upon my Gram Decker’s egg recipe. Immediately the memories came flooding back. Memories of sitting around the kitchen table with my gram and my mom, squishing the peanut butter mixture between my fingers, snitching bites when no one was looking, and inevitably ending up laying on the sofa with a tummy ache. Every spring, as far back as I can recall, these eggs were a staple in my Easter basket, and over the years my mom perfected the family recipe, and made batch after batch to share with those she loved.

   As I began mixing the ingredients, a flood of emotions washed over me, predominantly, fear. Fear that I would fail. Fear that even though I would follow the recipe step by step, doing my best, somehow, my eggs fall short of being sweet and delicious. I pushed those thoughts aside, after all, no matter how they turned out, it’s supposed to be a fun treat for my family, I’m not coming up with a resolution for world hunger. I followed the recipe. Rolled out eighty eggs. Dipped the eggs in ooey gooey chocolate. Let me be the first to say, the eggs turned out ugly. They are lumpy and cracked. On the outside they look nothing like those famous peanut butter cups that turn egg shaped at Easter. BUT, my sweet husband says they taste delicious, and honestly, his opinion is the only one that counts!

   My first thought, when looking at the finished product, was that I failed. My eggs look nothing like the ones my mom put in the Easter baskets of years past, even though they taste the same. Is this a failure? I’m beginning to realize that I have a tendency to get caught up in the notion of perfection in virtually everything I do. This is, without a doubt, my biggest short-coming. I’m coming to terms with the fact that life being picture perfect is not the brass ring. Life is messy. Life is hard. Life has many challenges that will come our way. But like those eggs, life is also sweet. Life is surprising and full of joy and blessings. Life is a lot like those imperfect peanut butter eggs, from the outside it can look messy and less than perfect, but when you look closely, and really dig into the heart of it all, it is sweet and perfect in its’ own way.

Want to try these eggs? Here’s the recipe: Gram Decker’s Peanut Butter Eggs