In a few days we celebrate
Easter. This year I am organized, hurray: Well in advance I decided to create homemade
chocolate eggs for my men. When I announced this plan my husband and my son lit
up. Rarely do I get such a gratifying response. I went to work in the kitchen
with the help of my little monster who can be quite enthusiastic when it comes
to chocolate. Although we had some failures along the way, I am happy to
present to you three different recipes for chocolate Easter eggs. To be honest,
they are not fit to win a beauty contest as you can see in the picture. But the
taste hits the spot!
In recent years I had
bought chocolate Easter eggs from various outlets in Goa but I was never happy.
This year, I finally found affordable aluminum moulds for eggs in a shop in Panjim. You
can buy silicone egg moulds on ebay.in too, but they cost a fortune.
Melting and moulding the
chocolate I fondly remembered the Easter egg hunts which my parents organised
on every Easter Sunday morning. They made a nest for each of us children with
tons of chocolate and coloured eggs, and then they hid it in the garden. We had
to find it and we were allowed to indulge in the sweets. Good, old times,
nobody thought about a sugar rush back then.
Wishing you wonderful
Easter holidays and happy cooking, always!
Kornelia Santoro with
family
Truffle Easter Eggs – pure pleasure
I make three different
truffle recipes for Easter eggs, based on the recipes for chocolate truffles on
my website. For every recipe you need moulds for egg halves. I use aluminium
moulds which are 7 centimetres long and 5.5 centimetres wide. Each chocolate
egg consists of 2 halves, glued together by melted chocolate.
For melting chocolate you absolutely need a double boiler!
This is simply done by inserting a smaller into a bigger pot which contains
some water. Chocolate should never experience direct heat. When you overheat
chocolate you get a crumbly mess which does neither taste nor look good. You
can melt chocolate in the microwave too. Just chop the chocolate and place it
into a plastic mixing bowl, add the cream and butter and nuke it in one-minute
intervals until it is melted.
When you create these
chocolate delights, make sure you have enough space available in your freezer
and your fridge. Before you can finish one egg, the mixture has to set. The
quickest way to achieve this is putting the moulds in the freezer. I use
semi-sweet chocolate which is sold in blocks of one kilogram in supermarkets.
If you prefer, you can also use milk chocolate or dark chocolate.
These truffles need to be
kept in the fridge. Because they contain so much cream and butter they soften
very quickly at room temperature. They make lovely gifts for your near and dear
ones. Wrap them into cling film and then into gift paper and present them on
Easter Sunday.
Mocha Truffle
Ingredients
(for 5 eggs):
- 300 grams chocolate
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons cream
- ½ cup sifted cocoa powder
- 100 ml mocha coffee
- Oil or butter for greasing
the moulds
Method:
I make the coffee used in
this recipe with a simple mocha machine, available everywhere in India: You put
water in the base, insert the filter filled with coffee and screw on the top.
You put the machine on the fire and wait that the mocha bubbles. Some people
call this espresso. My Italian husband however insists that this kind of coffee
is called mocha. If you don’t have a mocha machine, any kind of strong coffee
will do.
Place the chocolate, the
butter, the cream and the cocoa powder into the smaller pot of a double boiler
(description see above please). Put some water into the bigger pot, insert the
smaller pot and put on the fire. When the water starts to bubble, switch off
the fire and wait for some minutes. Stir and check if all the chocolate is
melted. If not, switch on the fire again.
While the chocolate is
melting, prepare your egg moulds. Spread oil or butter evenly over the surface.
That helps popping out the egg halves when they are set. I use cold pressed
coconut oil because it spreads easier than butter. I just pour a tiny amount
into every egg mould and spread it with my finger.
When the chocolate has
completely melted, stir the coffee into the mix. Don’t do this at the beginning
of the melting process because the chocolate might curdle. Combine everything
well. You should have a shiny pool of dark chocolate. Fill the egg halves with
the truffle mix and put them into the freezer. Make sure you keep a bit of
melted chocolate to glue the egg halves together.
After one or two hours,
the chocolate should be set. Popping them out of the moulds can be a tad
tricky. Insert a sharp knife on one side between the mould and the chocolate
and apply some pressure. Ideally, the egg half should come loose smoothly.
In case you have some
problems, don’t despair. Try to put the chocolate back into the freezer for
some time to set a bit harder. If your egg half deforms during the exit from
the mould, let it rest a bit at room temperature. The truffle softens very
quickly and you can smooth out uneven bits with your fingers. Keep the eggs in
a closed container in the fridge. You can also wrap each single egg into cling
film.
Almond Crunch
Ingredients
(for five eggs):
- 300 grams chocolate
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons cream
- ½ cup sifted cocoa powder
- 100 grams almonds
- Oil or butter for greasing
the moulds
Method:
Roast the almonds by
spreading them over a cookie sheet and placing them in the oven at lowest
temperature. Toss them around once in a while. They are ready when you smell
their roasted aroma and they show brown marks on their skin. Be careful, they
burn quickly. You can roast the almonds also in a non-stick pan. Let the
roasted almonds cool down and chop them roughly.
Melt the chocolate with
the butter, the cream and the cocoa powder in a double boiler as described in
the recipe for Mocha truffle. Stir everything well until you have a smooth
cream, then add the roasted almonds and combine everything.
Oil or butter your moulds,
fill them with the chocolate-almond-mix and put them in the freezer. Make sure
you keep some chocolate mix. When the halves are set, pop them out of the
moulds and glue them together with the kept chocolate mix. Keep the finished
eggs in the fridge.
Coconut truffles
Ingredients
(for five eggs):
- 200 grams desiccated
coconut flakes
- 100 ml sweetened, condensed
milk
- 5 tablespoons icing sugar
- 200 grams dark chocolate
- Oil or butter for greasing
the moulds
Method:
Mix the desiccated coconut
flakes with the condensed milk and the icing sugar in a bowl. Keep it in the
fridge until firm. Prepare the moulds by greasing them with oil or butter.
Fill the egg halves with
the coconut mix and place them into the freezer. Melt the chocolate in a double
boiler like described in the recipe for mocha truffles. Pop the egg halves out
of the moulds and glue them together with melted chocolate.
Then cover the eggs with
chocolate. This is easier said then done. Prepare to have chocolate all over
your fingers. I spread with a normal knife over one half of the egg. Then I put
the egg in the fridge for a few minutes. When the chocolate is set, I cover the
other half. Keep the eggs in the
fridge at all times.