When I was a child, every year we spent a day making chocolate candies for Easter. We had several chocolate molds, from eggs to Easter bunnies, and making these treats together turned an Easter recipe into a family tradition.

Some of our eggs were solid chocolate, others were hollow, and my favorites were filled with peanut butter or cream.

Now, my son and I spend one day every Easter melting and molding chocolates to decorate our Easter Basket Cake and to make up little baskets as holiday gifts for friends and family.

Below, you'll find the techniques we use to make decorated, hollow, and filled Chocolate Easter Eggs. Maybe you can start a tradition of your own!

Ingredients

• chocolate molds for Easter eggs (or other Easter shapes)
• melting chocolate in white or varied colors
• food or chocolate coloring
• several bowls

• decorator or pastry bags
• toothpicks and/or a small paintbrush (new or ONLY used for food)
• your favorite candy filling, homemade or purchased (try peanut butter, cream, chocolate, and/or ganache)

Instructions

1.
Melt the chocolates according to the package directions. If you're using the microwave to melt your chocolate, set the timer for 15 to 30 seconds at a time and stir in between.
2.

TO MAKE DECORATED CHOCOLATE EGGS: If you are using white chocolate, add food coloring or oil based candy coloring or to make the colors you'd like in small bowls. You can also use pre-colored chocolate wafers if you want to keep it simple.

NOTE: You have to work quickly because the chocolates will start to harden as they cool. Work with a couple colors at a time. If your chocolate is hardening faster than you can use it, a couple seconds in the microwave will soften it back up.

NOTE: If the food coloring makes your chocolate seize up, add a couple drops of candy color oil or some wax crystals to the mix to make it flow better. You can find found both of these at the local craft store in the candy decorating section.

3.
If you want to add different colors or details to your chocolates, do that first: use a small paint brush (new or used ONLY for food).

4.
You can also use a toothpick to add tiny bits of melted chocolate to the inside of your chocolate mold. You can also use a pastry bag with a small round tip to fill in small details on your chocolates.

5.
Once you're done adding the details, fill the rest of the mold with chocolate. You can use a spoon or a pastry bag to pipe the chocolate into the mold. If you don't want a solid chocolate egg, you can also make hollow eggs or hollow eggs with filling in them (instructions below).

6.
MAKE HOLLOW CHOCOLATE EGGS: For hollow eggs, pour a small amount of chocolate into the bottom of the mold. Tilt the mold from side to side until the entire shape is filled with a thin layer of chocolate all the way to the top edge

7.
Set the mold aside to cool and harden.
8.
MAKE FILLED CHOCOLATE EGGS: To make filled chocolate eggs, follow the above instructions for hollow eggs; then, once the chocolate is hardened, add your favorite filling.
NOTE: There are many different filling flavors available, or you can make your own. Make sure you read the package directions, many fillings will need to be refrigerated. You'll want to refrigerate any chocolates made with these fillings.

9.
Once your chocolates have cooled and hardened, remove them from the molds by turning the molds upside down, and gently shaking them into your hand, or onto a clean towel or soft surface.
10.
Use your molded chocolate eggs in an Easter centerpiece, package them up as gift for friends and family, or add them to an Easter Basket Cake.

Tips

Place your chocolates in small baskets with some other candy and give them out as party favors or Easter gifts to friends and neighbors.

Make edible Easter grass by adding green food coloring to shredded coconut.

To cool and harden your chocolates faster, slip them in the refrigerator or freezer for a couple minutes.