Happy Easter!

Do you remember getting chocolate eggs filled with candy when you were a child? Okay, maybe they weren't filled so much as had a few jellybeans rattling around in the bottom, but it was always extra exciting to crack open the chocolate shell and discover the treasure inside. Or so I thought, anyway.

I've noticed that in recent years most of the Easter eggs you can buy come in boxes accompanied by candy - but the candy is usually just in the box, not inside the egg.

Anyway, for my family this year I contemplated buying the egg + candy in a box combos - and then I thought, why not make my own?


I popped down to Moore Wilson's (which is a marvellous Wellington institution, I'll have to give you a tour sometime) to get a 2.5kg bag of Callebaut dark chocolate chips. I was hoping they'd also have chocolate molds but I left it a bit late and they were sold out so I had to also pay a visit to Kirkcaldie & Stains (a department store downtown). And of course I had to visit the supermarket to stock up on delicious things to stow inside - some caramel-filled mini-eggs, some Roses chocolates from the pick & mix aisle, some scorched almonds, mini Creme eggs and mini Lindor eggs.


I started off with some white chocolate melts, to make the eggs a bit more interesting. I brushed the molds with sunflower oil to help get the set eggs out then melted the white chocolate. For the first one I brushed the white chocolate on in a haphazard manner to make a mottled effect.


Then I tried a couple where I spattered the chocolate on by flicking a fork dipped in the melted chocolate about above the mold.


Then the most delicious part - the melted Callebaut chocolate. This is couverture chocolate so needs to be tempered, a process I haven't properly mastered yet sadly. Oh well - another excuse to spend more time playing with chocolate? I think so!


Then I smeared the chocolate onto the molds - I chilled them in the freezer beforehand to make the chocolate set just a bit quicker, to help prevent all the chocolate running into the middle. Then I set them in the freezer - I know this isn't kosher chocolate-making process but I wasn't sure how else to do it and get the chocolate to set quickly enough! Advice from anyone in the know is more than welcome!


This is the first egg I made - the one where I brushed the white chocolate on. Getting the egg halves out of the molds was a bit of a challenge and most of them suffered some sort of breakage - but chocolate glue fixed that!

Next I used melted chocolate to join the two halves together - but first I packed the egg full of delicious little treats.


I made a couple of plain ones (for the one on the right above I put some gold flecks on the mold before putting the chocolate in), and then painted gold and silver on them to make them look a bit more festive.


Then I packaged them up in cellophane - a tad scruffily I fear but I wanted a see-through wrapping and it is quite tricky to wrap an egg-shape in cellophane neatly! Another skill I obviously need to refine...


I kept one aside, for us to break open (just because it sounded like fun). And to make it even more fun:


I thought this view was more promising than your average, just-broken-into Cadbury egg:


And, well, I had a hammer. It had to be done...


Never fear: the remains didn't last for long!


How did you celebrate Easter this year?