Do It Yourself Luxury

The cost of living crisis seems to be hitting everyone. When budgets tighten luxuries are the first thing to be cut, and things seem to be getting worse just in time for one of the most “luxury “ heavy times of the year, Easter. So we decided to help you inject a bit of joy into your Easter in a very cost effective way.

Real eggs are so expensive at the moment, so we thought it would be brilliant if we could use all of the egg. Yes, you’ll use (or rather, re-use) the shells to make our Fancy Easter Eggs, so start saving them now. To make a box of 6 eggs, we used 300 grams of milk chocolate and 150g of white chocolate. Using supermarket brand chocolate we were able to make 6 eggs for less than £3. (!)

Start saving those egg shells now (see method below) and “Happy Eater” egg-ing!!

Renee x

Fancy Easter Eggs

Preparation time 30 minutes , plus 1 hour freezer time

Makes 6 medium eggs

Ingredients

300g milk chocolate

150g white chocolate

6 clean medium egg shells

Method

1) Tap gently to create a small hole in the top of the egg. Clear any stray egg shell pieces from around the opening, and firmly shake egg contents into a bowl. Once the shell is empty rinse with hot water until the water runs clear ( 4 or 5 rinses).

2) Repeat the process for all 6 eggs. This can be done well in advance.

3) Break chocolate into pieces, milk chocolate in one bowl and white chocolate in another.

4) Microwave the milk chocolate for 1 minute 30 seconds (in an 800W microwave). It is important that the chocolate is not fully melted, in order to minimise the chance of it being burnt.

5) Once out of the microwave, use a spoon of spatula to mix the chocolate until all of the solid pieces are melted and you have a smooth chocolate mixture

6) If you wish to achieve the marble effect of the pink and green chocolates above repeat method steps 4 and 5 with the white chocolate.

7) To colour the white chocolate, separate it into 2 bowls. Using a toothpick full of gel food colour for each bowl, colour the separate portions of white chocolate pink and green ( or whatever colours you’d prefer).

For Pink/Green Eggs

8) Loosely cover inside of egg box with a layer of cling film, pushing the film into the crevices.

9)Using a funnel or teaspoon, half fill egg shell with couloured white chocolate.

10) Gently turn the eggshell side to side, trying to fully coat the inside of the shell with the white chocolate.

11) Shake the shell , hole down, over the bowl with the corresponding coloured white chocolate, allowing the excess chocolate to drain back into the bowl. We only want a thin coating of the colour.

12) Repeat with as many eggs as you would like marbled.

13) Place eggshells, hole down, into egg box.

14) Place egg box in freezer for 15 minutes.

For Milk Chocolate Eggs

15) Remove box from freezer and fill all egg shells with milk chocolate.

16) Place eggs, hole up, into egg box. Cover eggs with another layer of cling film before closing the lid.

17) Place box in freezer for 45 minutes to set chocolate quickly. You can set in the refrigerator of a cool room if you are prepared to wait for hours/overnight.

n.b. If your eggs are larger you make run out of milk chocolate, but you can use your left over white chocolate to top up your eggs.