It's Master Baker time again!

Finally, a blog entry this week with an actual recipe :-)

With so much going on the last couple of weeks and Easter approaching quickly (and we are hosting brunch), I wondered if I'd really get around to participating in this month's Master Baker challenge. The featured ingredient for the month is Easter candy.

I was having a craptastic day yesterday and I realized that nothing would get me out of my funk more than going home and whipping something up in the kitchen. I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to complete the Master Baker challenge for the month.

So off I was searching for ideas, when the thought came to me *cue lightbulb over head* to make my own Easter candy rather than incorporating an Easter candy into a recipe. So I Googled for a recipe that could re-create Cadbury Cream Eggs and voila! I found one in an instant on Recipezaar.com that seemed simple enough.

Cadbury Cream Eggs, without a doubt, are my favorite Easter candy and the recipe below is a pretty close match to the real thing. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips in my recipe because I thought this would make them even better - I love dark chocolate. Also, while I am including the steps and the related ingredients, you can see by the picture below that I did not make the orange "yolk" filling. Making these eggs was a pretty time consuming process since you do a lot of waiting for the filling and chocolate to chill (as it is, I made a note where I cut down some of the times a bit). I wanted to finish everything all in the same night, so I skipped this part. I figure that as long as it tastes good I can give up on the aesthetics of a fake yolk ;-)

Cadbury Cream Eggs

(from Recipezaar.com)

1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
4 drops yellow food coloring
2 drops red food coloring
1(12ounce) bag milk chocolate chips
2 teaspoons vegetable shortening

Combine the corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt in a large bowl. Beat well with an electric mixer until smooth. After fully combined, add powdered sugar, a little bit at at time and mix by hand after each addition. Mix until creamy.

Remove about 1/3 of the sugar mixture and place in a small bowl. Add the food coloring and mix well. Cover both mixtures and chill for at least 2 hours or until firm. (I chilled for about 90 minutes)

When mixtures are still firm roll a small, marble size from the orange filling then, wrap a small amount of the white filling around the orange.

Form into the shape of eggs and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. (I used wax paper instead). Repeat until done and chill for at least 4 hours. (I chilled for 2 hours in refrigerator and then 15 minutes in the freezer).

Combine the chocolate chips and shortening in a double boiler or ceramic bowl. Melt down and mix well.

Working quickly, take each egg filling and dip into the melted chocolate mixture and return to baking sheet.

Repeat and chill again for 2 hours. After these 2 hours are up, repeat the dipping process, chill again.