Chocolate Bunnies

I have always wanted to make the boys chocolate bunnies for Easter.  Last year I waited to long and didn't get the molds.  This year I ordered on time, but didn't read the fine print.  They are much smaller than I thought they would be, but they are so darn cute I don't mind.  This is actually two pieces put together and I added jelly beans to the little "basket" by the bunny.  You could fill it with anything you like.  

The kind of chocolate that you use to make the molds should be something you will enjoy eating.  Once I made a chocolate sucker with semi-sweet chocolate and about gagged.  TOO SWEET.  I like to use Ghiradeli chocolate when I bake.  The yellow bag is okay, but Ghiradeli has amazing flavor and melts so much better.  So here I have melted Ghiradeli Milk Chocolate chips.  If I made these for me I would use Bittersweet.  

Here is the mold I ordered online.  I used Amazon.

Once the chocolate is hardened, I melted a little bit of bittersweet chocolate and used it to "glue" the bunny to the base.

Add a little melted chocoalte and then hold the bunny in place till it stands on it's own.

Two cute bunnies!  I hope the boys love them.  I think they turned out adorable.

One more picture...without jelly beans.  :)

And WITH jelly belly beans!  My boys love Jelly Belly.

Birds Nests

I saw these on a FB post from Ezra Pound Cake, which is a super cute blog I follow.  I thought they were just adorable!  And EASY.  No baking involved!  Well, you have to melt the chocolate, but even that can be done in the microwave.  Now the recipe called for Lo Mein noodles and I don't usually buy them so I really had no idea what they would taste like.  It suggested you could use pretzel sticks too, but I used what the author used.  Next time I would use pretzels for sure....I LOVE pretzels.

All you do is melt the chocolate with the butter, and then stir in the noodles (or whatever you use).

Arrange your "nests' on parchment or wax paper, and add your "eggs."

Let them try completely.

Store in an airtight container until ready to eat!

For the complete recipe visit Ezra Pound Cake by clicking :  Chocolate Easter Nests.

This is a great one for the kids!  Enjoy!

Easter Cookies

Well, I am a huge fan of decorated sugar cookies.  I love eating them, and I love making them.  I love finding new occasions to make them for.  :)  For some reason I find it relaxing and loved how these turned out!  I tried a few techniques that I have seen on some of my favorite blogs, but I have come to love the sugar cookie recipe from Annie's Eats and I use it EVERY TIME.

I made eggs.

And butterflies!

And chicks!

Have fun decorating!

Homemade Peeps

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I had an idea about making peeps ever since I made homemade marshmallows this winter.  I was thinking I would use a metal cookie cutter to cut out the marshmallows, but found a recipe that lets me pipe the marshmallow and make them another way.  I gave it a try, but you have to be quick or the marshmallow starts to get hard.  

I found the recipe at www.marthastewart.com and gave it a try.  

Get all of the ingredients out and ready.  You won't have time to do it once things get going.  The first batch I left the remaining marshmallow in the bowl and it hardened before I could finish.  The second time I filled three piping bags and it lasted a little longer.

 

Here is what it looks like piped in the sugar.  I used a spoon to complete cover it with the rest of the sugar.

I set them on parchment paper and waited for them to set up a little before adding the eyes and nose.  The recipe called for piping black royal icing, but I could only get it gray.  So I decided to use the black circles from Halloween sprinkles.  

I used a toothpick to poke where I wanted the eyes and nose and then put on the sprinkle.  Poking them made the toothpick sticky too, so that is what I used to get pick them up and put them on the faces.

Then I made yellow ones and attempted a peep chick....obviously unsuccessful.  lol

These are just so cute, I can't help but take a ton of pictures.  Can't wait to gobble them up with the kiddos.  Hope you enjoy your peeps!  You can buy them or make them, but it's just not Easter without them! 

Okay, last peep picture!  I promise!  To make your own go to:  www.marthastewart.com Easter Peeps.