Craft Time: Surprise Easter Eggs

Posted by terraolsen on March 28, 2013 in Craftin, Holiday | Leave a comment

Craft Time: Surprise Easter Eggs

By: Andrea Cole

You know what’s fun? Easter eggs. You know what’s tasty? Chocolate and peanut butter. Know what’s amazing? Chocolate and peanut butter filled Easter eggs. That’s right, we’re filling real Easter eggs with chocolate and peanut butter! Here’s how:

Grab the following supplies:

For the Eggs:

One Dozen Eggs

A Small Sharp Paring Knife

Baby Nasal Aspirator (Like This)

Bamboo Skewers (6-12 depending on length)

Two Floral Arranging Foams (or a lemon cut in half)

1 Cup White Vinegar

8 Cups Boiling Water

Food Dye of Your Choice

Gold Paint Pen

For the Filling:

One Pound Dark Chocolate, Chopped

1 ½ Cups Creamy Peanut Butter (I find brands like JIF work best.)

4 oz Unsalted Butter, Softened

One Pound Powdered Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Whipping Cream

Pastry Bags and Piping Attachments or VERY Sturdy Freezer Bags

 

Got all that? Let’s dye some eggs!

 

We start off by getting the raw egg out of the shell. Take your knife and an egg and holding the egg firmly in your hand, poke the point of the knife into the bottom of the egg. Twist until you create a small crack in the shell and gently lift small pieces of shell away from the egg until you have a hole about half an inch across. Hold your open egg over a bowl and carefully insert the aspirator into the egg. Give the aspirator a squeeze. The raw egg should blow out of the shell and fall into your bowl. It make take a couple tries to get it all out. Finish with the rest of the eggs and put your newly extracted eggs into the fridge for later use. May I suggest a fritatta?

 

 

Carefully place your egg shells in a medium sized pot and fill with water. Place over high heat, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for about 10 minutes. This will sterilize the eggs. Meanwhile, divide the boiling water and white vinegar into two large heatproof bowls. Add around 30 drops of food dye to each vinegar solution and mix well. Carefully lift the eggs out of the hot water and place into the dye. Try to submerge the shells as best you can and be sure not to crowd the bowl, dying about 5 eggs at a time (depending on the size of your bowls.) Leave the shells in the dye for about ten minutes, turning halfway through. Once the shells have reached your desired color, remove them from the dye and dry them from the bamboo skewers stuck into the floral foam (I had a lemon, so I used that). Let dry for at least 6 hours or overnight.

 

 

Once the eggs are dry, transfer to the egg carton they came in and place hole side up.

Place about an inch of water into a 3-quart saucepan and place a heatproof bowl over the pan, ensuring that the water does not touch the bowl. Place over medium low heat and add the chopped chocolate to the bowl. Melt slowly until smooth. If you see lots of steam escaping from beneath the bowl, turn down the heat. You don’t want water getting in the chocolate or you’ll be left with an inedible mess. Once melted, transfer the chocolate to your piping bag or freezer bag. Using a small piping tip or small hole cut into the corner of the bag, pipe the melted chocolate into the egg shells. Swirl the chocolate around the eggs to get an even coating. It may take a couple layers. To ensure an even coat, you may want to invert the eggs on a cooling rack and allow the excess chocolate to drain out, but this step is optional. Once you’ve completed each egg, place back into the carton (hole side up) and let chill in the fridge.

 

To make the peanut butter filling, combine the butter, peanut butter, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high with the whip attachment until thoroughly combined. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the powdered sugar. Once all of the sugar has been added, gradually increase the speed on the mixer and whip the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the cream a little at a time and continue to whip until you have a light, squeezable, fluff. If you overshoot, add more powdered sugar until you get the right consistency. Transfer the peanut butter fluff to a clean piping bag and carefully pipe into the eggs. If you have any leftover melted chocolate, spoon that over the opening to the egg to seal in the fluff. It’s optional, but it looks nice!

 

 

Now you can decorate your eggs with the paint pen. Store eggs in the fridge until use. Crack, peel, and enjoy your amazing chocolate peanut butter eggs!