Edible Chocolate Clay

This was the result of an opps in the kitchen. So I was making chocolate caramel shortbread and I screwed up the chocolate. I meant to make chocolate ganche but instead of heating the whipping cream and pouring it over the chocolate, I melted the chocolate chips and stirred in the room temperature cream. The result: the chocolate seized up and turned into this thick clay-like substance. I decided to just pour melted chocolate over the top of my shortbread bars, but still had to figure out what to do with the chocolate I messed up--there was no way I was going to throw out chocolate. Since Easter is not far off, I molded the chocolate into bunnies, chicks, and nests with eggs. My sculpting skills certainly leave something to be desired, but what I fun thing to do, especially if you have kids!

Ingredients:
1 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:
Place the chocolate chips in the a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until chocolate is melted (1 minutes, 30 seconds worked for me). Pour in cream and combine. Chocolate will seize (which is usually a bad thing but not in this case). Work seized chocolate into a clay with your hands.

Shape clay into desired shapes. My hands only got a little bit of chocolate on them (which totally surprised me). Store in the refrigerator. Chocolate will harden in the fridge.

I haven't tried this, but I've also seen recipes for edible chocolate clay made with chocolate chips and corn syrup.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Easter Recipes:
Cupcakes Baked Inside An Easter Egg
How to Dye Easter Eggs with Kool Aid
Homemade Cadbury Egg Bark

Chocolate Ganache Easter Eggs

Chocolate ganache sounds so fancy and sophisticated that you wouldn't think that it's incredibly easy to make. Once I made cupcakes in an Easter egg, I didn't see why I couldn't fill an eggshell with the chocolate ganache to make a chocolate Easter egg. Guess what? It worked.

Ingredients:
6 large, hollowed-out eggshells
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
To hollow out the eggshells, poke a small hole in the top of each egg. You can use a corkscrew, nail, small screwdriver, or ice pick to make the hole. You will need a hole large enough to fit the tip of a pastry bag, so widen the hole by carefully breaking the edges.

To get the egg out of the shell, use a skewer to scramble the yolk and whites. Then pour the egg into a bowl to use for another purpose (French toast, scrambled eggs, a cake).

Rinse the eggshell out with water and set it upside-down on a paper towel to dry. When the eggs are dry, place them on a cookie sheet and bake them for 10 minutes at 300 degrees in order to kill any bacteria.

If you want, you can then dye the eggs to make them more festive. I did this using Kool-Aid.

Eggs dyed with tropical punch Kool-Aid

As your eggshells cool, make your chocolate ganache. Pour the chocolate chips (you can use milk chocolate, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate) in a large heat-proof bowl.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for one minute then add the vanilla extract and stir the mixture until the chocolate is smooth and shiny. Transfer the ganache to a pastry bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off (this is what I did). Place the eggshells in an egg carton, hole side up. Pipe the chocolate into the eggs, frequently giving the eggshell a little shake. This will prevent air bubbles. Fill to the very top.

 
Place in the freezer overnight. Before serving, allow the chocolate ganache eggs to sit out for about thirty minutes.

Peel the egg and enjoy!

Happy Easter!

~Krissy

Cupcakes Baked Inside an Easter Egg

Easter candy is probably my favorite candy. I love jelly beans, robin eggs, Cadbury eggs, chocolate bunnies and so on. This year I hoped to make some of my own Easter candy. But Easter seemed to creep up on me this year, so the homemade jelly beans and Cadbury eggs will have to wait until next year. But I was able to make cupcakes inside an Easter eggs (and chocolate ganache Easter eggs). This recipe comes from the Cupcake Project. Not only is it a cool concept, but the cake comes out tasty and incredibly moist.

Ingredients:
8 large, hollowed out eggshells
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
food coloring, optional

Directions:
To hollow out the eggshells, poke a small hole in the top of each egg. I followed the Cupcake Project's suggest of using a corkscrew bottle opener. When I was a kid, my mom always made us an Easter tree. In case you don't know what an Easter tree is (Eric had never heard of one before he met me), it's a tree--we always used branches for the tree, but you could use a fake tree from a craft store--decorated with colored Easter eggs that have been hollowed. If I remembered correctly, my mom used a nail to make the tiny hole in the eggs. You could also use an ice pick or even a small screwdriver. For this recipe you need the hole large enough to fit the tip of a pastry bag, so widen the hole by carefully breaking the edges.

To get the egg out of the shell, use a skewer to scramble the yolk and whites. Then pour the egg into a bowl to use for another purpose (French toast, scrambled eggs, a cake).

Rinse the eggshell out with water and set it upside-down on a paper towel to dry. When the eggs are dry, place them on a cookie sheet and bake them for 10 minutes at 300 degrees in order to kill any bacteria.

If you want, you can then dye the eggs to make them more festive. I did this using Kool-Aid.

As your eggshells cool, make your batter. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the egg and sugar until the mixture is creamy. Stir in the butter and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Finally, stir in the sour cream and food coloring (if desired. I made my cupcakes green).

Position the eggshells in a cupcake tin, using tin foil to help them stand up straight. Transfer the batter into a pastry bag, or a plastic Ziploc bag with the corner cut off (this is what I did). Pipe the batter into the eggshell. The cake will rise so only fill it 3/4 full.

3/4 full

The Cupcake Project warned that this can be a bit difficult to judge (it was!), so if your cupcakes overflow (mine did!) you can just clean them off after they bake.

top right egg cleaned of overflow

Bake at 350 degrees for 23-25 minutes.

Let the cupcakes cool, peel, and enjoy!

It looks like a regular Easter egg

But it's a cupcake!

Happy Easter!

~Krissy

Kool-Aid Easter Eggs!

Why spend money on Easter egg dye when you probably have all you need in your pantry? Thanks to Pinterest, I discovered that I could use Kool-Aid and water to color my Easter eggs--no smelly vinegar needed! Since time kind of got away from me this year and I had eggs to color along with homemade Easter candy to make (chocolate ganache eggs and cupcakes baked inside eggshells) the night before Easter, I only used one flavor/color of Kool-Aid to dye all my eggs: tropical punch. The eggs came out a vibrant orange-ish red and smelled fantastic--but don't worry, the smell quickly fades and won't taint the taste of the hard boiled egg.

Ingredients:
Eggs, hard boiled or hollowed (mine were hollowed)
Kool-Aid packets
2/3 cup lukewarm water per Kool-aid packet

Directions:
Pour the water into a mug or cup. Stir in one packet of Kool-Aid until it's completely dissolved. Place egg in the cup. It won't take long for your egg to turn a bright color. Remove the egg from the cup using a slotted spoon and place in an egg carton to dry. You can also use your fingers to remove the egg, but your fingers will look like this for a few hours:

And that's all there is too it!

Happy Easter!

~Krissy