These were originally posted on Facebook April 12, 2009. I did an insane amount of Easter baking/cooking this year so this will be a huge post. I ended up giving quite a bit of this stuff away.
So for the last several days there have been strange tin foil covered cookie trays in the fridge at my house. There was a sign on them saying "No Peeking, if I find out you get NONE!" Today my family got to find out what was under the tin foil. Amazing amounts of Easter Treats! Because I'd made them all in small batches, I didn't realize how much I'd made until this morning when I finally was able to pull everything out and take a look.
So here goes....
Chocolate Cover
ed Easter Eggs
My Grandma's Recipe
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 lb butter
3 lbs icing sugar (or more or less depending on the dough consistency that you want)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt
Chocolate Chips
Cream together butter, condensed milk, vanilla and salt. Slowly add in icing sugar. You may need to use your hands near the end. Knead until smooth. Divide into 2/3 and 1/3. Dye one part yellow and form into balls, these are the egg "yolks" Wrap the plain dough around the yellow dough and place on cookie sheet. Refrigerate 1-2 days or more. Then melt some chocolate in a double boiler and dip the "eggs" in the chocolate, roll them around with forks until they are well coated and then pull them out and put them on a cookie sheet. Refrigerate until chocolate is hard.
My grandma made these for us when we were little kids. My dad loves them, but they're really really sweet and so my Mom doesn't make them and my grandma doesn't make them anymore either. Anyway, I decided to make them for my Dad as a surprise this Easter so I called my grandma and got the recipe. I also promised my uncle I'd freeze some for him when he comes for birthdays in a few weeks. Anyway, I did cut the recipe in half though but it still made a couple dozen and because they're not my mom's favorite I tried another recipe as well.
Allrecipes Chocolate Covered Easter Eggs
Base:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 pkg (250 g) cream cheese
2 1/2 lbs icing sugar (Again, more or less depending on the consistency of the dough, I don't actually know how much I used I just kept dumping in sugar until it felt right)
Add ins (Optional):
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup coconut (RJ hates coconut, so I didn't use this one)
Sliced Almonds
Almond Extract
Chocolate Chips
Mix together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Slowly add in icing sugar until it is the right consistency. You will probably need to use you hands near the end. Split into parts for add ins. Leave one part plain. Add peanut butter to another. Add cocoa to another. Add almonds and almond extract to the other part. Roll dough into egg shapes and put on cookie sheet. Refrigerate for a few hours until hard. Melt some chocolate in a double boiler then dip in the eggs, make sure they are well coated and then pull them out. Refrigerate until the chocolate is hard.
I haven't had a chance to try these yet but apparently the peanut butter ones taste exactly like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and my brother's friend says the cocoa ones are amazing. These aren't nearly as sweet as my grandma's ones.
I also made some fudge for my mum.
Triple Chocolate Fudge
This recipe I created by modifying/combining a bunch of Allrecipes fudge recipes.
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Line a 8x8 pan with tin foil/parchment paper/wax paper. Heat 1/3 of the sweetened condensed milk with the semisweet chocolate chips until smooth. Remove from heat, stir in half the vanilla and spread into pan. Heat another 1/3 of the milk with the milk chocolate chips. Remove from heat, stir in the rest of the vanilla and spread on top of the dark layer. Heat the rest of the milk and white chocolate chips. Spread over top of the milk layer. Refrigerate until hard.
Allrecipes Foolpro
of Chocolate Fudge
3 cups chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup nuts (optional)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Melt together sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips until smooth. Remove from heat and add in vanilla and nuts. Spread into lined 8x8 pan. Refrigerate until hardened.
This recipe I halved because I had to use up the other half can of sweetened condensed milk from halving my grandma's recipe. It turned out nicely.
Anyway, so long story short we have about 6 dozen chocolate covered sugar eggs and two pans of fudge in our house. But it's all tasty.
And I made truffles a few days earlier. But I can't find the photos to go with.
Chocolate Truffles
3 cups chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Your choice of: Chopped Walnuts, almonds, sprinkles, coconut, whatever you can think of for toppings.
Melt together chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk on low heat until well combined. Put into a bowl and if you want to make some almond flavoured ones, separate dough into a separate bowl. Add vanilla to one bowl and almond extract to the other. Cover and chill in fridge for an hour or so. Then form into balls and roll in your choice of toppings
The whole train! And a little skating rink full of hockey players.
The train passes a snowman.
The 'logs' are marshmallow sticks, strawberry flavoured ones.
The coal car is full of chocolate covered jujubes and black jelly beans. The freight car carries saltwater taffy and hard candy.
Jujube hockey players on a shiny rink
The engine working hard at the front of the train.
Merry Christmas!
