Adventures in Egg Making

This Easter I was determined to get crafty and make some sort of chocolate related gifts for my friends. I embarked on several days of research and was utterly inspired by all the pastel, spring coloured candies I found - But my only problem was, its not spring (in Australia anyway) I got so carried away with my ideas and imagination, that I forgot about that one important point! Once I put my (somewhat) sensible head back on I ran across these golden eggs posted on The Kitchn. What a fantastic idea! and the gold felt more Autumn appropriate to me.

So I ran with it! I made either a full or a half carton for my friends and tied them up with a ribbon, and a small tag that said " I found the Goose that lays the golden eggs.."

And this is how they turned out -

I must admit, when they were all complete and wrapped up, I was pretty thrilled with the end result. BUT, if I were asked to make them again, I would flat out refuse. And the likelihood of these being requested is little to none.

The idea of these eggs is fantastic, its dreamy and quirky and fun - On the flipside the execution is tedious and fiddly, and the consumption is far from enjoyable.

I started with about 3 dozen eggs. I had my apron on, soft jazz crooning and a whole day set aside for some easter fun. First I poked small holes in the eggs and blew out the insides (my check and neck muscles actually hurt the next day, what a weakling!) they then needed to be rinsed out, then boiled, then dried, then painted, then dried..... and all this before I could even get to the chocolate part!

This is the Martha stewart inspired contraption I made for all that egg drying -

I covered two styrafoam cubes (that I got in MY NEW OVERLOCKER box..... but that merits a whole post of its own that is soon to come!!) in paper towel and stuck in rows of flat head pins for the eggs to sit on. The eggs took about 2 hours to dry, and I had three bacthes going! and then there was the edible lustre paint that never actually dried! I gave up waiting in the end and just went ahead and filled them with chocolate.

I read several articles about these eggs, the majority of which instructed " pipe in the melted chocolate and roll it around to coat the inside" - there was no coating going on here, and I can't help but wonder if this ever actually worked for anyone else. In the end the eggs were half full... but in this instance, I feel I can say that they were half empty.

 

When the time came to actually peel and consume them it was was just a mess! and I actually felt sorry for those that who felt obliged to eat them. Their hands were covered in gold glitter and paint (at least it was edible) chocolate stuck under their nails, crunching on stray bits of egg shell - I must admit it wasn't the presttiest of pictures, but at least it was good for a few laughs!

Did you have any easter disasters?