Geez!
Just weeks ago, my blogging friends and I have been cooking and baking heaps for Chinese New Year and Valentine day. We had 225 posts linking with us at Cook and Celebrate: CNY 2015 and 59 posts linking with Grace for Little Thumbs Up (chocolate) at here. I like to thank all of you for your participation. Sad that the Tong Tong Chiang (the sound of lion dance) and the romantic kissy kissy season is over...
On the bright side, Easter is arriving... It is the time of the year when supermarkets are displaying racks of freshly baked hot cross buns and Easter chocolate eggs and I'm telling myself now that I have to do something for Easter.
Instead of baking hot cross buns like I did at here and here and Easter bread at here, I like to make something a little different... Not something extraordinary but something traditional with an extraordinary twist. Geez! I need a light bulb, please!
*Think! Think!*Got something here... Remember the easy Tim Tam truffles that I made when I first started blogging? They are pretty unforgettable because they are extremely easy to make and sinfully good to eat! I got an idea here... An idea to make my own Easter chocolate eggs with these unforgettable Tim Tam truffle filling.
Tim Tam Truffle Chocolate Easter Eggs
To start, I need to melt some good quality dark chocolate.
This dline Easter egg mold is one of the fabulous tools that I have received from Donaldson :)
All done... and so I placed these into the freezer for a quick chill.
I like to use these two different kinds of cookies to create two different truffles fillings.
Plus, I like to use the 35% fat reduced cream cheese for a lighter and fluffier texture.
Use either a food processor or zip lock bags to crunch and mix the cookies and cream cheese together.
When the chocolate eggs are semi-set, place adequate amount of cream cheese filling into each half of the eggs and cover the filling with some melted chocolate to secure the filling into the eggs.
Do this step for half of the chocolate eggs.
Remove the other half of the chocolate eggss from the mold and place the empty eggs onto the filled halves.
Notice the condensation of my chocolate eggs.
It has been hot and humid in Melbourne for the past few days with thunderstorm!
The sudden temperature change is causing some of my eggs to crack!!! And I sweat even more when this happened - LOL! ... but lucky me! Most of them survive!!!
I've also made a large chocolate egg for my son. And of course, I didn't fill this enormous egg with any truffle filling... Too much cream cheese can be extremely jelak!!! - meaning food that is too rich in Malay language.
I hope you will like these little homemade chocolate Easter eggs.
Indeed that they are pretty traditional but with an interesting Aussie twist.
I must apologize that I don't really have a concise recipe to make these chocolate Easter eggs as the yield depends on the size of chocolate mold that you used and also how many chocolate layers that you would wish to coat on your mold.
Besides, I must admit that I have gone overwhelmed with the amount of filling that I had prepared and used only the Tim Tam filling to fill my Easter eggs. What happens to the rest? I have used the leftover to make them into truffles like what I have done here. It is a fuss free and easier way to incorporate nice creamy fillings into chocolate. Like it happened before, my husband brought the truffles to "feed" his colleagues and they were loving them! :)
Didn't I (Zoe) say that the truffles are easier to make than chocolate eggs??? Yes yes yes but but but chocolate truffles are never traditional like the chocolate eggs for Easter celebrations! Agree?
This is how I made my Tim Tam Truffle Chocolate Easter Eggs which is partially adapted from here
You need:
chocolate eggs mouldgood quality chocolate (I have used Callebaut dark chocolate callets with 56% cocoa)Tim Tam or Oreo cookies
30% fat reduced cream cheese (same as the amount of cookies that you used)
Brush the Easter egg mold lightly with vegetable oil - optional because I believe the chocolate will be easily removed if they are properly set in a chilled enough temperature.
Using a microwave (with short pulses of medium power and stirring) or a double boiler, melt chocolate until it is smooth and glossy. If you wish to make chocolate with the perfect shine, you wish to adapt the precise chocolate tempering methods from here, here and here to melt and set your chocolate. If you are like me who is happy enough to eat good quality kind of chocolate in regardless how it looks, you can choose to ignore the temperature factor :p
Spoon melted chocolate into the prepared mold. Depending on the size of the mould, use a toothpick or the back of a teaspoon to spread the chocolate evenly over the inside of the mold. Place chocolate in a freezer for a quick chill until the chocolate are properly set.
Meanwhile, crush, mix and combine Tim Tam or Oreo and cream cheese with equal proportion in a food processor or zip lock bags.
Refrigerate the cream cheese mixture for about 30 mins until it firms up slightly. When the chocolate cases are set, spoon adequate amount of cream cheese mixture into half of the chocolate eggs and remove half of the chocolate eggs from the mold - Please see *. Cover the cream cheese filling with some melted chocolate to secure the filling into the eggs and place the empty eggs onto the filled halves making sure that the edges join to form shapes of a full egg. Chill the chocolate in a freezer until totally set.
* If you are using the mold that allows you to align and join the eggs without removing half of the egg (like the large chocolate egg that I made), you don't have to remove half of the chocolate egg. Align the eggs to form shapes of a full egg and use clips to secure the mold. Shake to coat on both sides. Chill the chocolate in a freezer until totally set.
Remove the clips if required. Gently press the top and bottom of the mould, one side at a time, to release the egg and serve!
Enjoy the treats
