Tag Archives: white chocolate

Apr23

Egg Nests

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IMG_9440I’ve made these little egg nests a few times in the last couple of years, but I can’t remember where the idea came from originally. They are a big hit with the kids, and really easy to make.

Mixing.

Mixing.

I’m not great at measuring things when I cook, and if I’m not following a recipe I’m even worse, so I just estimated the amounts. I used about three cups of Kelloggs rice bubbles, and about two-thirds of a packet (250g) of Cadbury white chocolate melts.

The kids put the patty pan cases into the muffin tray, and then got ready to mix the chocolate and rice bubbles. I melted the chocolate in the microwave in a ceramic bowl in thirty second bursts, stirring regularly until the chocolate was smooth. I poured it into the mixing bowl and the girls got mixing. Their wooden spoons clashed a few times, and some of the mix went flying, but they had fun, and they got the job done. It’s best to mix quickly before the chocolate cools too much.

Filling the cases.

Filling the cases.

Once mixed, we used a desert spoon and a teaspoon to place some of the mixture into each of the patty pan cases. We pushed the mixture down, and then formed a well in the centre using the teaspoon (this is where the eggs sit). Once we’d filled the muffin tray, we still had some mixture left over, so I carefully spooned it into some loose patty pan cases in the same way. All up this mixture made sixteen egg nests.

Adding the eggs.

Adding the eggs.

Then it was time to add the little eggs to the nests. These eggs are Cadbury mini-eggs which are milk chocolate on the inside with a candy coating. I like these mini-eggs because they have speckled shells, and nice colours, but I only seem to be able to get them at Easter. We have used other mini-eggs at other times of the year which were bright colours, and a little smaller than these, I think. They still worked nicely. The kids placed two or three eggs into each nest (and possibly a couple into their mouths!). The tray and the extra patty pan cases went into the fridge to set.

Once the chocolate was set these egg nest treats didn’t last long!

Ready to eat.

Ready to eat.

 

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Apr16

Easter Chocolates

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I wanted to try making some Easter shaped chocolates this year with the kids, as I thought it would be fun. We were given a number of plastic chocolate moulds by a good friend, and my mother also gave us a silicone chocolate mould to try. We started with the silicone mould.

IMG_9124We didn’t make our own chocolate, we used choc melts, in milk chocolate and white chocolate. I melted small batches of the melts in a ceramic bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds at a time. Each time the microwave dinged, I mixed the chocolate with a spoon to make sure that it was melting evenly and not burning on the bottom of the bowl. It’s very important to remove the spoon from the bowl before it is placed in the microwave!

Chocolate mould.

Chocolate mould.

I did not let the kids handle the bowl with the melted chocolate, as it can be very hot. I used an oven mitt to prevent burning myself on the bowl when removing it from the microwave. After a minute or two it was normally cool enough to touch, but we still had to be very careful.

Mixing the hot chocolate.

Mixing the hot chocolate.

Ready for the fridge.

Ready for the fridge.

As silicone is floppy, we used a plastic cutting board underneath the mould to prevent it from drooping and spilling the chocolate. We transferred the melted chocolate into the mould one spoonful at a time, carefully filling each hole to the top and smoothing it out. Inevitably, we dripped chocolate onto the cutting board, mould and even on the bench. The kids didn’t mind swiping it up on a finger and popping it in their mouths. Once all the holes on the mould were filled, we placed it in the fridge to set.

Placing the chocolates onto the cellophane.

Placing the chocolates onto the cellophane.

We made some plain milk chocolate, some white chocolate, and some we mixed together to marble the chocolate. I also had a go at layering the chocolate. I found it was best to let the first layer set in the fridge for about fifteen minutes before adding the second layer.

Forming a bundle.

Forming a bundle.

The kids cut some cellophane into squares and placed about four chocolates onto each square, then brought the cellophane up around the chocolates creating a little bundle. We added some curling ribbon to tie it up, and I curled it with scissors. L tried to curl her own ribbon, but she didn’t quite manage it. They want to give their little parcels of Easter chocolates to relatives.

Little parcels of Easter chocolates.

Little parcels of Easter chocolates.