Lucy Waverman's Chocolate Easter Eggs

Lucy Waverman is "a chef, the food columnist for the Toronto Globe and Mail and food editor of Food & Drink, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario's glossy magazine" as I wrote in Rethinking Recipes for Allergies.

She's been making recipes, like this Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake recipe, available on the EpiPen of Canada website for those who register there.

And in a timely gesture, I've been given permission to post another of her recipes here, one for Chocolate Easter Eggs. You can also find this on the EpiPen of Canada site.

This new recipe contains no common food allergens like peanuts, milk products or eggs.

Chocolate Easter Eggs

With a little work these eggs are great fun for allergic children who have not been able to have Easter eggs in the past.

Tips:

You can change the colour and the taste of the marshmallow by adding in peppermint essence, orange essence or unsweetened cocoa. Beat in a little food colouring to dye marshmallow yellow, pink or green.

You can make these eggs and not fill them, if desired or make another filling that your child is not allergic too. You can make whole eggs by sandwiching the two halves together.

The eggs are a bit fragile because the chocolate is not tempered (a professional technique that keeps the chocolate from melting on your hands).

For children who are not allergic to eggs, the easiest way to make them is to use real eggs as the mould. The plastic peels off easily from them.

If the child is allergic to eggs, plastic egg moulds are available around Easter at grocery stores, bulk stores, dollar stores and toy stores. Spray with baking spray before wrapping in plastic to make them easier to separate.

Leftover chocolate can be poured onto a sheet of parchment paper, let dry and broken up into pieces to use in other recipes or for eating out of hand. You need the extra chocolate in case some chocolate shells break.

If you do not have a sugar thermometer, drop the sugar syrup into a bowl of ice water. It should form a soft ball.

Special Tools:

12-16 plastic egg moulds
Plastic wrap

Ingredients:

1 lb (500 grams) dark chocolate, chopped*
*always read the label carefully to ensure chocolate contains no dairy ingredients

Marshmallow: ½ cup (120 mL) water, divided

1 package unflavoured gelatine (equivalent to 1 tbsp or 15 mL)

½ cup (120 mL) cold water, divided

½ cup (125 mL) sugar

½ cup (120 mL) corn syrup

1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) salt

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla

Wrap 12 large egg moulds or eggs tightly with plastic wrap, leaving plastic twisted at one end to make a kind of handle.

Place chocolate in a small, deep heavy pot over low heat and melt stirring occasionally until liquid. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Holding plastic handle, dip eggs into chocolate until coated half way up each egg.

Carefully place eggs (chocolate side up) in a mini muffin pan or egg carton and put in refrigerator for 10 minutes, or until chocolate has set.

Remove chocolate covered moulds from mini muffin pan or egg carton. Carefully ease plastic and chocolate from moulds. Next peel plastic from the inside of the chocolate to leave a chocolate shell behind. Set shells into mini muffin pans or egg cartons and chill while you make marshmallow fluff.

Fluff:

Pour ¼ cup (60 mL) cold water in the bowl of a stand mixer, and sprinkle with gelatine. Let stand.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining ¼ cup (60 mL) water in a pot and heat over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Turn heat to high and boil syrup until it reaches 240ºF (118ºC) on a sugar thermometer.

With the mixer on low speed, carefully pour boiling sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl into the gelatine mixture. Turn mixer to high and beat for 5 minutes or until mixture is white and shiny. Beat in vanilla.

Transfer fluff to a large clean piping bag and pipe into prepared chocolate eggshells. If you do not have a piping bag, cut a corner off a baggie, add the marshmallow fluff and pipe it in through the corner. You can also spoon it in but it doesn't look as pretty. Sandwich egg halves together if desired.

Leave to set at room temperature until firm. Refrigerate until needed. Makes 12-16 filled eggs.