DIY with this easy Chocolate Easter Egg Recipe
Spend quality creative time with your kids this Easter, making these delicious chocolate Easter eggs. Not only will it add an extra special touch to your Easter holidays, but your kids can enjoy a quality treat, hot off the press.
All you will need to start is an Easter egg mould, which you can purchase in places like Lakeland for around £4. It’s a great idea to wear white gloves when handling the eggs to avoid getting fingerprints on them. Add a little more chocolate as well, so that you have extra to decorate the moulds with.
The chocolate will need to be tempered, if you would like to make shiny chocolate just like the eggs you can buy in the shops. Tempering chocolate can be a little awkward, so if you’re just making these for family and friends then the plain old melted chocolate will work out just fine.
Chocolate Easter Eggs Recipe
Makes 4 eggs (depending on the size of your moulds)
Ingredients
500g chocolate (dark, milk and white chocolate, in assorted sizes)
Equipment
Easter-egg moulds
Baking sheet
Cotton wool
Table spoons
Palette knife
Gloves
Small, disposable piping bags
Ribbon bows, optional
Method
Your moulds must be cleaned thoroughly and then use cotton wool to polish the insides, ensuring that they are grease and dust-free. Then, dampen a piece of kitchen towel with a little sunflower oil and polish the inside of the mould with the oil. This ensures a highly polished egg and helps release the set chocolate from the mould. The shinier the mould is, the shinier the chocolate will be.
For making plain eggs – scoop several spoons of the tempered chocolate into a mould. Then keep rotating the mould until the chocolate runs right up to the top edge.
Use the pastry brush to remove any excess chocolate and draw the palette knife along the top of the mould, giving it a straight edge. Then leave the chocolate to set. If the chocolate looks patchy or thin, repeat with another layer of chocolate. Lastly, place the mould in your fridge for about 10 mins or until the chocolate becomes very firm.
Once the chocolate has set, remove the mould from the fridge and turn out the egg. Sometimes the eggs come out rather cold and this causes condensation on the egg. Rather leave the mould over the egg once you have dislodged it so that any condensation will form on the mould. Once you’re happy with your eggs, you can remove the mould. Leave them to set, flat side down on a prepped surface.
To be able to stick the halves together, you’ll need to heat a baking sheet in a hot oven for a few minutes. Then wearing gloves, take two egg halves and place them on the hot tray and hold them briefly just to melt the edges. Lastly press the halves together and apply a little pressure until stuck. Leave the join to set completely.
*Take care not to handle the chocolate too often as the heat of your hands can begin to melt it.
Decorating your eggs
You can simply decorate your eggs with ribbon bows. You can either tie the ribbon around the egg or stick a bow on the egg with a dab of chocolate.
For a set-in zigzag design – You’ll achieve an awesome affect by using contrasting colours of chocolate. Fill your piping bag with one choice of coloured chocolate and cut the end off to give a small hole. Now, streak pipe lines across mould and in several directions. Then repeat the method and once the chocolate moulds have set, coat the mould with a contrasting colour chocolate.
For a set-in swirly design – repeat the process for the zigzag design, but instead pipe continuous ‘e’s in the mould, to give the effect of swirls. Leave to set and then coat the mould with the contrasting colour chocolate.
To label the eggs – sit a single egg in a small cup or glass to keep it stable and pipe your desired message onto the egg. You can also wrap the eggs in cellophane wrap and label them.
Have fun personalizing your eggs for each of your kids or cover your eggs with fun designs. You’ll definitely love the more interactive approach to Easter and enjoy the most delicious eggs made by you and your kids. Happy Easter!